Missed miscarriage - pessaries not working?

[TwinTree]

A month ago I found out my baby died at 12 weeks (I became aware something was wrong because of light bleeding).

I was hoping for a natural miscarriage but after 3 weeks of nothing happening (except spotting) I used the pessaries a week ago. I had cramping but nothing happened after that.

Yesterday I was given second dose of pessaries. I've had cramping again but not bleeding. I'm concerned it isn't going to work again.

Has anyone else found the pessaries didn't work, or do they sometimes take longer to kick in?

I would be grateful to hear from anyone going through similar.

Thank you

I’m so sorry. Have they not offered you an ERPC? My hospital said they didn’t offer medication for that many weeks along. Have they told you to go back if nothing happens?

Firstly I'm very sorry about your baby.

I have no direct experience of this, but it did happen to a friend. The first dose did do something, but she had retained tissue, so was given a second dose 2 weeks later, which did nothing. She had to have a D&C. Anecdotally, I've heard of a few people saying the pills didn't work well if they were past 10 weeks or so. Were you given a phone number for support and can you phone to ask about the next steps?

Thank you for your message.

I'm hoping to avoid surgical route if possible (I've had trouble accepting that the baby has died and I think it would help me to see it come out).

The hospital said if nothing happens I can wait for natural miscarriage or opt for surgery, but they also said there's no clinical need for surgery at the moment.

I haven't found the hospital great to be honest, and I'm just confused as to why pessaries seem to not be working. Cramps are really light.

Thanks

Thanks for your message, that's interesting to hear that you've heard of this happening to others.

I was only given pessaries, not oral meds first, which is apparently less effective (and not what Tommys/NICE recommends).

Hospital isn't great, no phone number for support or anything but they said they will call me at end of the week.

Thanks

This happened to me. Had to have surgery.

So sorry for your loss x

Thank you and I’m really sorry for your loss too / to hear that you went through this.

If you don’t mind me asking, how long did you wait after taking pessaries? And did you decide on surgery due to long wait or were you advised to take that route?

No problem if you’d rather not share. Thanks

So sorry for your loss. 💐

Oh sorry yes, I didn't realise you've only had the pessaries. That does seem a bit unusual as I also thought you needed to have the oral medication and then the pessaries or vice versa, as a 2 stage process.

Could you maybe attend an EPU and explain what's happening to them? I'm really sorry you're going through this, it's awful.

I really feel for you. I was told after three weeks there was a risk of infection so if I hadn’t mc by then I needed an ERPC. To be honest it was such a relief to get it sorted once it was done. I didn’t really like the idea at first but it was the best in the end x

It was what they decided. As I had waited over a month. Had to have 2 lots of antibiotics in between to avoid infection x

I’m so sorry for your loss, I’ve had 2 miscarriages and in both instances I was initially given medical management, just pessaries no oral tablet. My first mc I was 7 weeks and lots came out so assumed it had worked but turned out not all was out, so then had surgery. 2nd mc was natural at 9 weeks but ended up having a bit of retained tissue that wouldn't budge so again had medical management which didn’t resolve it, so surgery again. I was absolutely distraught both times around medical management hadn’t worked so can sympathise with how you’re feeling. I feel like I’ve read the entire internet at this point on medical management and it’s success rate just seems crap, to put it bluntly, especially in our case where just pessaries are given 🙁
Take care of yourself, and I promise it won’t always feel this horrid, hope you get sorted soon x

Thanks, yeah NICE guidelines say you're meant to have both, but my EPU said "we don't do that here", bit frustrating. Thanks for your message

Thanks for sharing, I'm sorry that you had that experience but glad it was a relief in the end x

I'm sorry that's how it went, hope you avoided the infection and are doing better now. Thanks for sharing x

I'm sorry for your losses and thank you so much for your message and for being so open.

I can really relate to your distress around medical management not working, that's exactly how I feel. It's strange that the hospital don't prepare you for the fact that it may not work.

Yeah I was frustrated that my hospital don't follow NICE/Tommy guidelines and do the oral and pessary for no real reason. Seems like it's a real postcode lottery with miscarriage.

Thanks x