ERPC: what to expect etc

[sprinkles77]

I had a MMC diagnosed on 19th December. Repeat scan yesterday shows despite lots of pain and blood / clots etc there are still loads of "products" left so I am having ERPC next thursday. Hooray!

Anyway, I have some questions...
Firstly, I assume that as my bleeding etc is very stop - start, there will still be lots left by next week, but will they check that the ERPC is definitely still required before they put me under?
How much pain am I likely to have after?
How much bleeding am I likely to have after?
How long after would I expect a BFN?
How soon after can we have sex (the fun sort)?
How soon after can we TTC (i.e. do we need to use contraception)?

TIA

hi sprinkles
sorry to hear of your loss. i sympathise, we lost ours at a similar time. i'm afriad i can't help with the answers, one thing i have learnt from these pages is that peoples experiences are so different and i found when i had to take the medical management that the fear of pain was worse than the pain itself, so now i think i'll just have to take what happens. sure staff will help with questions about ttc, wishing you tonnes of luck. x

I'm sorry to hear about your loss. I had an erpc last year so I'll try to help you with the answers, but these things are always different from person to person.

1. In my case they did not check, but I was not bleeding before the operation. You will know if you pass the sac beforehand in any case. If you think you have had a complete miscarriage naturally in the meantime get in touch with the hospital and ask them to rescan.

2. You shouldn't have too much pain afterwards. A bit worse than period pain at first perhaps. I was given co-codamol to take home, and I used a hot water bottle. Think period pain on a bad day and then a bit worse.

3. Bleeding is different for everyone. I had a bit of a nightmare but other people say it was fine for them. I think my operation was not quite complete. I had "normal" bleeding for two days (normal for a particularly heavy period) and then I ended up going back to the hospital because I had heavy bleeding with clots. But that was over quickly, it was nothing to worry about in the end. All bleeding was done with a week after the operation.

4. BFN - took 2 weeks in my case but I was not testing daily by any means.

5. Sex - fine as soon as you have stopped bleeding and you feel up to it.

6. TTC - tis up to you really. If you want to go for it straight away you can. They only tell you to wait for a period for "dating purposes". I never used contraception after either of my miscarriages as I would have found faffing about with condoms upsetting when I wanted to be pregnant, and it would have reminded me of the mc, and put me off having sex. But some people don't feel ready to go for it right away and want to have a break while they deal with their emotions and let their body recover. It really is entirely up to you.

Sorry for your loss. Everyone's erpc experience is different and most people will tell you that it's not as bad as you think it's going to be.

Mine didn't go too well, nothing too catastrophic but not what I was expecting after hearing from other people on here. I'll tell you about it if you want to know but I understand if you'd rather not!

Thanks, that's helpful. The doctor suggested I would feel no pain and have very little bleeding , so it's helpful to have it confirmed that that might not be the case.

velvet it's useful to know about other people's experiences, in order to have some idea of what can be considered normal. I guess there has to be some range, people with minimal pain and bleeding, and others who are pretty bad, neither of which warrant medical attention. So yes please!

Last night I was really up for it for some reason, but decided that DTD could have made a big mess and increased the risk of an infection. Is that mad? It probably is best to wait till its all over isn't it?

Ok, I was in a lot of pain for 2 weeks afterwards. I was taking paracetamol and ibuprofen every 4 hours and was very much clock watching for when I could take the next dose. I couldn't go back to work in this time.

I haemorrhaged during surgery, so much so that the surgeon said he had no idea if he'd gotten everything out as he couldnt see for all the blood. That made me very weak and faint for a good couple of weeks after too, I had to get dh to have a shower with me as I just sat on the floor and let him wash me.

The surgeon also said that they were unable to dilate my cervix past 2 cms so they lacerated it when they pushed in the hoover tube thing. I found out at my 12 week scan for this years pregnancy that the scarring is quite bad and that I luckily have a long cervix otherwise I'd have needed a stitch.

I did ask for another scan before the erpc because I'd had no bleeding and I wanted to be certain that there was no hope and they did do one.

I really do think that complications and lots of pain are rare though. Good luck with your surgery and with ttc in the future. Take care of yourself emotionally, it's a really tough time.

Thanks velvet. The doctor warned me about damage to the cervix, and that a stitch could be necessary. He was pretty matter of fact with me (I'm sort of medical myself), saying that this is very very run-of-the-mill surgery, they do several a day and complications are unusual. It sounds like you were really really unlucky, and that under the circumstances you'd expect to feel like shit and be in pain after. Do you feel that you were told at the time that things had not gone as well as hoped, and warned that your recovery might me prolonged?

TBH, going by what they said about my last scan, unless I get absolutely loads of bleeding and clots before I go in, there will be lots for them to suck out. The scan also showed that it was an "anembryonic" pregnancy, so I know there is absolutely no hope in that sense. Somehow, hearing that just underlines that though DH and I are terribly disappointed, this just was never ever meant to end up with a baby.

I had an ERPC in April when I miscarried at just before 11 weeks. I had a ghastly 2 days miscarrying then bleeding for a week until the ERPC. The actual ERPC was absolutely fine with virtually no bleeding or pain afterwards and actually just a sense of relief that the awfullness was over with. I hope yours is ok.

pudding that sounds like what the doctor suggested. I also had 2 wretched days followed by now a week of light spotting and no pain. Hoping the rest of my experience mirrors yours.

Everyone is different but I'll tell you how I found it

Firstly, I assume that as my bleeding etc is very stop - start, there will still be lots left by next week, but will they check that the ERPC is definitely still required before they put me under? No idea, sorry
How much pain am I likely to have after? I was given painkillers while I was under which meant I didn't have any pain for about 4 hours. As soon as I started to feel pain I was on the ibuprofen and paracetamol but it was less than period pain
How much bleeding am I likely to have after? I started off with just spotting but it got heavier when I lifted things or walked around a lot
How long after would I expect a BFN? I wasn't told to take a pg test so don't know
How soon after can we have sex (the fun sort)? When you have stopped bleeding
How soon after can we TTC (i.e. do we need to use contraception)? anytime but you might want to use ovulation tests or temperature taking as you may have a longer cycle first time round and it would probably be hard if you thought you were late but got bfn's and then if you had a scan and the baby was a couple of weeks younger than you thought you might worry.