Psychological pregnancy
The psychological pregnancy, also known as pseudocytosis, imaginary pregnancy, Rapunzel syndrome, utopian pregnancy, false pregnancy, it is a rare syndrome in which a woman, who is not pregnant, not only believes that she is waiting for a baby but also presents typical symptoms of a pregnancy, like increase in abdominal volume and absence of menstruation.
The false pregnancy it's about a psychological trastorn that has nothing to do with pretense or simulation. A woman that pretend to be pregnant does not have psychological pregnancy. To be a utopian pregnancy, the woman must be convinced that she is pregnant.
This is a condition that affects women without distinguishing social stratum, ethnic group or region in which they live. Pseudocytosis is more common in married women and with ages that they range between 20 and 40 years, but there have been cases of false pregnancies in children and older women, even after menopause.
How to detect a psychological pregnancy?
To find out if you have a psychological pregnancy, it is important that you look at what changes occur in your body and that you make the attempt to be aware of your obsession with pregnancy. But, undoubtedly, the best way to detect a psychological pregnancy is through a pregnancy test in blood.
Thanks to a study of blood, the doctor will be able to assess the results and measure the actual level of hormones in your body. A urine test would not be enough, since in a psychological pregnancy the test can be positive, something that can hinder the diagnosis of false pregnancy.
Similarly, for confirm or rule out utopian pregnancy, the gynecologist can also do an ultrasound in which the state of the uterus is seen.
Types of psychological pregnancies
In a large number of women, psychological pregnancy it only presents a unique difference in relation to true pregnancies: the absence of the fetus in the uterus.
All women who present pregnancy symptoms have to make a pregnancy test which is the dosage of BhCG, a hormone secreted by the placenta during pregnancy. As is obvious, women with Rapunzel syndrome can not produce BhCG and pregnancy tests are often negative.
In women who evidence milk segregation through the breasts, it is essential that the presence of prolactinoma is discarded, a tumor of the pituitary gland that stimulates the production of prolactin, the hormone responsible for production.
Treatments for a psychological pregnancy
The treatment of pseudocytosis it can vary and depends on the origin and motivations of each woman, the personality of the patient and the intensity of the symptoms.
Most of the time, only an objective test is enough to show you that you are not pregnant, such as, for example, negative pregnancy test or an ecosonogram, which rules out the presence of an embryo.
Then the most convenient is seek psychological help, more than to treat the psychological pregnancy itself, to find out about the origin of the problem.
