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Positive Pregnancy Test after a complete Hysterectomy
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RachelSwafford posted:
I am 32yrs old and had a complete hysterectomy 10yrs ago. I have been having trouble with joint pain and just had knee surgery last Wednesday. The day before surgery the nurse called and said that my serum pregnancy test came back positive. Why would I show a positive result?
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georgiagail responded:
What did she say when you told her you had a complete hysterectomy 10 years ago?

Gail
 
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Anon_6061 responded:
It sounds like they must have confused you with another patient. Since you had a complete hysterectomy especially at such a young age, are you on HRT? Joint pains are common after ovary removal due to the loss of hormones. And if you're taking estrogen but it isn't enough, your joints can still hurt. My knees hurt when my estrogen gets low. Some women who've had their ovaries removed say that testosterone helps their joint pain.

Here's an article citing a study showing a link between sex hormones and osteoarthritis. Although it's about HRT in joint fluid, it seems that systemic HRT would also have a positive effect on joints - maybe not enough to regenerate cartilage but to maintain what's there.
Hormone Replacement in Joint Fluid Has Potential Regenerative Effecthttp://www.rheumatology.org/about/newsroom/2010/2010_01_07.asp
"German researchers determined that concentrations of the sex hormones, testosterone in men and estrogen in women, may have a positive effect on the regenerative potential of cartilage tissue. The study suggests hormone replacement in the joint fluid of men and women might be beneficial in treating late stages of human osteoarthritis (OA) by regenerating damaged tissue. Details of this evidence-based study appear in the April issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology."
 
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Jane Harrison Hohner, RN, RNP responded:
Dear RachelSwafford: Both GeorgiaGail and Anon_6061 have given correct information (as usual). I would hope that your blood pregnancy test was repeated. If it was still positive there are some VERY rare medical diagnoses which can cause an elevated HCG level in a non-pregnant person.

Here is a list of those conditions taken from a US FDA website:

Low levels of hCG are present following an early, spontaneous abortion. In gestational trophoblastic diseases, serum hCG is persistently elevated. However, one to five years preceding malignant gestational trophoblastic disease, persistently low levels of hCG (e.g., <50 IU/L) may be present.[6>

Pituitary hCG circulates in low concentrations in men and premenopausal women, and the concentrations rise in perimenopausal women and older women.[1> A variable proportion of many nontrophoblastic tumors, such as transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder and urinary tract, renal cancer, prostate cancer, cancers of the gastrointestinal system, neuroendocrine tumors, lung cancer, breast cancer, gynecological cancers, and hematological cancers, also express hCG at various level
s.

Yours,
Jane


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