Q: I have 4 kids, the youngest is 6 and eldest is 12. My wife is 38 years old, 10 months ago she got pregnant and she went to a gynaecologist to terminate the pregnancy. The doctor did the D&C and tubectomy too (abdominal tubectomy), since then she has been having her regular periods but she missed the last periods so we went back to the same doctor who advised us a pregnancy test. The test was negative. She then prescribed injection Progesterone and injection oestrogen. My wife has taken both the injections the same day but till now she has not got her periods. What should we do, is she pregnant? If yes what should be done, and how long should she wait for her periods to come?

A:There is a chance that the sterilisation procedure has failed which happens occasionally as the doctor who performed it must have explained it to you. But as the pregnancy test is negative it is unlikely that your wife is pregnant. You can repeat the urine pregnancy test in about a week. I am not quite sure why oestrogen and progesterone injections were given to her to bring on the periods. Injectable hormones are not recommended to induce periods. In fact, if it was a long acting progesterone you may not get periods for weeks. Please write in detail the exact name of the drug and the dose given for me to be able to tell you when you can expect her periods. In any case if she is not pregnant please do not get too anxious. Fear of pregnancy itself can cause a delay in periods as indeed a number of other conditions.