False Pregnancy: Symptoms and Treatment

What is False Pregnancy?

A false pregnancy, also known as pseudocyesis and clinically termed as a phantom pregnancy, is when a person thinks they are pregnant but in reality they are not. With this condition, a person has pregnancy symptoms and feels pregnant. However, the tests confirm it otherwise i.e. they are physically not pregnant.

It’s a rare and uncommon condition, and medical practitioners believe psychological and hormonal factors play a role in causing it.

Symptoms of False Pregnancy

False pregnancy symptoms are a lot like symptoms of actual pregnancy, except that there is no baby. The most common symptoms include:

• Distended stomach due to gas, fat, faeces, or urine

• Irregular menstrual cycle or absence of it

• Morning sickness

• Tenderness in breasts, change in size, pigmentation, etc

• weight gain

• Increased appetite

• Inverted bellybutton

• Softened cervix

• Enlarged uterus

• False labour pain and labour

Some people have symptoms of false pregnancy for up to nine months (the length of a typical pregnancy), while others have symptoms for only a few weeks or months.

Causes of False Pregnancy

Doctors are not yet sure about what causes pseudocyesis but there are some theories. Here are some possible causes of false pregnancy:

• Fearsregarding pregnancy

• Intense yearning for motherhood

• Misinterpretation of some changes in the body as symptoms of pregnancy

• Infertility or multiple miscarriages

• Medical conditions like cancer, uterine tumours, or menopause

• Sexual abuse or depressive disorders

Treating False Pregnancy

The first and most crucial step in treatment is convincing a person they aren’t pregnant. With help of ultrasound or other imaging tools, you can show the person that there is no fetus growing inside their body. Over and above, the doctor will also have to treat the medical conditions causing pregnancy symptoms.

Other than this, identifying factors that led to false pregnancy and coping with those factors is also essential with help emotional support, behavioural therapy & help from a therapist.