Medical abortion - concerns about failure?
Hi Everyone,
First of all I'd like to thank all of you for your kind words and sharing your experiences online. I had a medical abortion yesterday (took second set of pills yesterday afternoon) at 5 weeks, and in the run-up to the event, it was so comforting to know I was not alone, and to get an idea about what to expect.
I think my experience fits in with what most people have gone through here. I went through Marie Stopes who administer the misoprostol (second set of pills - the prostaglandin) "bucally" (through the membranes of the cheek - you're meant to hold them between your gum and your lip, with the idea that the medicine is absorbed into the bloodstream - apparently this is meant to be as effective, but less invasive than inserting them into the vagina). I had a bad time with this, as the pills took ages to be absorbed, and I'm sure I swallowed some of them rather than them being absorbed through the buccal membrane. I stayed at the clinic as I was quite worried about this, but the doctor said that until relatively recently, everyone at the clinic swallowed them, but the buccal method was meant to mean that ladies absorbed more of the medicine if they happened to vomit. Apparently you're meant to be left with a chalky residue in your mouth anyway (I was expecting them all to be absorbed) due to the bulking agents they put into the tablets; the active ingredients are meant to be absorbed.
Anyway, within about two hours of the pills being absorbed, I started to get strong cramps and felt very nauseous. The bleeding started, and though I wasn't aware of massive clots, I did get big globs/drops, and there has been heavy bleeding. I don't know whether I should have been more aware of massive "clots", even if I purposefully wasn't looking too much? I was only just 5 weeks so maybe I should not get such significant clots? I don't really even know what to expect in a "clot", and whether the globs I described count as such? I was sick about 4 times (the first time about 3 and half hours after the pills were absorbed, and the bleeding had already started), but I actually felt better afterwards, even if the pain was bad. The cramps continued into the night (very hard to sleep), but by about 12 hours after the pills had been absorbed, so about 3-30am this morning, things had settled, though I am still bleeding quite heavily.
I write to ask if anyone here has any idea whether this sounds usual? I'm so worried about the procedure failing though I have tried to do absolutely everything properly. I understand that there's about a 2%-3% failure rate for this procedure. Risk factors include being an older woman, and also multiparity ( having had lots of children), from my research of scientific journals online. I am not within either of these categories but I am still anxious. I have heard that some women don't start to bleed and I was worried about that initially but that didn't happen to me. Marie Stopes advise doing a pregnancy test after 3 weeks, but they give you two, to try another one in four days if the first one is positive. The idea of that happening terrifies me. I honestly don't know how I would cope. Is there any way to check earlier? My breasts were very tender and they are noticeably less so today. I had no morning sickness beforehand so I can't use that as an indicator. Maybe it's a case of just wait and see, but would be so grateful to hear whether this sounds like a "normal" experience?
Many thanks once again for all your contributions to this site, and kind words. I send anyone going through a similar thing lots of love and support.
x
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