Pseudocyesis: Why you may feel pregnant when you are not

Pseudocyesis, also known as phantom or 'false' pregnancy, is a condition in which a woman's body incorrectly believes she is pregnant and changes to facilitate pregnancy.

According to Grace Kanyi, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, with pseudocyesis or phantom pregnancies, a person experiences pregnancy symptoms and believes she is pregnant.

Pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, however, confirm that they are not physically pregnant and that no foetus is growing in their uterus.

“In Pseudocyesis It’s a rare condition, where the lady manifests as if she is pregnant. Commonly it would affect women who have been on follow-up for infertility for so long and they have entered a phase of depression and healthcare providers believe psychological and hormonal factors play a role in causing it,” she explained.

In the case of a suspected pseudopregnancy, the doctor will schedule an abdominal ultrasound, a pelvic exam, a blood test, and a urine sample to determine whether or not a woman is pregnant.

The tests will come back negative in pseudocyesis, but the woman will insist that she is pregnant out of desire and need to become a mother.

“I have encountered two patients this year, one was in her fifties and the other one was 40 years old. This lady had been transferred to us from another facility and she even had the antenatal care booklet with her, which had several visits and had been filled in by the health practitioner but she was not pregnant,” she said.

Understanding what is going on in the body of a woman suffering from pseudocyesis, according to Dr Kanyi, will help both treat the condition and reduce the stigma associated with the sufferer.

“Patients with pseudocyesis will likely not accept evidence that they’re not pregnant. Slowly you counsel the woman, some even feel the baby moving.  Their reality is that they look and feel pregnant, you have to slowly work on the delusions and accept the reality,” she said

Dr. Kanyi emphasises that treatment necessitates a supportive network and that medical professionals must break the news to a woman who believes she is pregnant gently.

It can be very upsetting for women who have believed they are pregnant for several months to learn that they are not.

Doctors must gently break the news and provide psychological support, including therapy, to help patients with pseudocyesis recover from their disappointment.

“Disappointment of no pregnancy can be damaging to the woman if not handled properly. You gently counsel them because they need a lot of psychotherapy in order to accept their reality,” she said.