Pseudocyesis has been very much in news nowadays. It is a medical term that is used to refer to false pregnancy. It occurs in humans and other mammals. In such cases there are clinical or sub clinical symptoms of pregnancy even when the person is not pregnant. Thankfully, false pregnancy is a rare occurrence.

The emotional turmoil that a person goes through when encountering pseudocyesis can eventually lead to the degeneration of psychological and cognitive condition.

The symptoms are exactly similar to actual pregnancy. The woman with pseudocyesis encounters morning sickness, asamenorrhea, tender breasts and weight gain. The symptoms are so misleading and disguised sometimes that it fools health care professionals too. A survey shows that around 18% of the women with pseudocyesis were declared pregnant by supervising doctors.

The most important underlying fact in all patients undergoing false pregnancy is that all of them firmly believe that they are pregnant. Also, the expansion of the abdomen is very pronounced. It happens in almost 60% - 90% of the women. The abdomen bloats almost in the same way as is found to occur in a pregnant woman. The woman therefore looks very much pregnant too.

The symptoms get resolved by putting the “patient” under general anesthesia. The abdomen shrinks back to the original dimensions after that. There occurs a marked irregularity in the menstrual cycle of the concerned woman in almost 50- 90% cases. Some women have also reported that they have felt fetal movements without the presence of the fetus. This condition occurs in about 50% -75% women. 1% of the women are also said to experience labor pains.

There is no prescribed medication available for pseudocyesis as no physical reasons could be related to it. Some other names given to it are feigned pregnancy, spurious pregnancy, imaginary pregnancy etc.