Surgical abortion - no anaesthetic??

[LemonadeRemedy]

Currently weighing up my options regarding my upcoming termination and wondered whether anyone else has experienced a surgical termination without anaesthetic?

Currently very early on, around five weeks pregnant, I have an intital consultation booked tomorrow with Marie Stopes and am hoping to have the procedure done in the next week or two so wouldn't be more than around 7 weeks pregnant.

The options on the website are general anaesthetic which I'm reluctant to have; sedation which I've had for a previous op prior to receiving GA and it felt horrible so I'd rather avoid that; local anaesthetic or none at all.

I have anxiety issues relating to taking medication so would rather have little to no pain relief but not sure whether this is the best idea??

One other important detail is that I'm probably going to go alone and the clinic is about a 1 1/2 drive from where I live so GA/sedation is not really an option as I'm assuming I wouldn't be able to drive following either of those?

If anyone has any experiences of a surgical abortion with local or no anaesthetic I would be so grateful to hear them. There isn't really anyone IRL to talk to about this.

Take a friend with you, it will help to keep you calm on the day. I kept myself busy whilst in the waiting room by reading (that way I didn't have a chance to sit and scare myself silly).

When I got into the room where they did the procedure I warned the nurse and doctor that I was feeling very nervous and they were absolutely brilliant. I couldn't fault them, they kept me reassured and calm throughout the procedure. It really only is a few minutes.

Take care of yourself both before and after.

but I'm not sure I can face him being there.

Fair enough!

If you feel comfortable do take your friend. Company of a friendly face may be a huge help to you.

Good luck and best wishes for whatever you decide

I ended up going with my partner and it was fine, unpleasant but fine.

The procedure itself was uncomfortable but certainly not unbearable and it was very quick, once the speculum was in the procedure was completed in under two minutes.

The nurses were lovely, I had one on either side of me, holding my hands and talking me through it. They were lovely and made me cry as they were so lovely and calm with me!

The pain immediately afterwards was very much like strong period pain but I was given a heat pack which helped a lot. Ended up taking pain relief (only paracetamol and ibuprofen) about an hour after the procedure while on the way home but so far it has not been bad at all.

The fear of the procedure was definitely worse than the reality of it.

Spend the rest of today in bed as I've felt pretty tired and a bit sad about it all but so far have bled very little and not needed to take any further pain relief.

Just wanted to share my experience for any woman considering the surgical abortion without anaesthetic. Turns out I was only 6 weeks pregnant so I'm assuming the procedure is easier when the pregnancy is so early on.

Well done.

I also found no issues/pain (other than a bit of cramping) with the medical option either.

I'm sure early on you don't have to have a medical adoration?

I've known people have some sort of pessary and the baby came out naturally. Albeit it is painful apparently

I had a surgical under local a few weeks ago. It was really the only option available to me. I was past the cut off for medical; I have two children of school age and live 45 mins from the hospital. Because I needed my husband to pick the kids up from school I needed to be able to drive home afterwards.
The ward I was in didn't allow for anyone other than the patient to stay either due to space limitations so I had to be alone for the process.
I had to go in at 11am, I had my tablet at 20 past and started bleeding very quickly. I didn't get taken in for the procedure until about 2pm and it was over very quickly. It was painful, but the pain was over within a minute or less. I immediately felt better and was released from hospital about 4pm.

I hate to say it but Marie stopes are not as good as Bpas, you could take medication with BPAS, if you are super anxious then you can ask to be under general and I’m sure they’ll do it as they do in BPAS.
i had a surgical termination with conscious sedation recently, the choice to have a termination is challenging enough and the treatment should be as stress free as possible.
i will tell you exactly how my treatment went, the day before I went to collect medication I took the one tablet 24hrs before then had an antisickness and 4 antibiotics to take the night before (they made me very unwell) the next day 1 hr before I took 800mg of ibuprofen. The nurse called me in explained the procedure, I took myself to the recovery room had a little cubicle got undressed about 10 mins later a lady came to get me. We walked into a treatment room, they led me on the bed about 6 of them around me. They explained every detail, when you lay on the bed the surgeon gives you sedation and other nurses chat away to you (they’re really nice) the sedation is supposed to make you unaware/feel drunk however I can’t lie I felt every second of the treatment. To the point I thought they’d forgotten the local anaesthesia(they didn’t) . They obviously have to use a tool similar to a smear that felt like it was a lot of pressure then you have the suction, there’s a woman scanning ur belly as you go and it lasts about 10 mins. I did feel everything and it wasn’t comfortable however the sedation did make me feel sleepyish so I don’t know how I’d of felt had I not of had it you do hear the suction but there’s so much going on and people distracting you it’s not overly noticeable. I can’t say it was a lovely experience but I can reassure you they where incredible, kind and caring, the pain after was bearable they gave me paracetamol however still had aches etc. they where lovely and I’ve got to say the sedation was more prominent when I was in recovery very dosile 😂😂😂 I did see other women who didn’t appear to manage the sedation and where completely asleep 😂 I suppose everyone’s different

it’s not nice but I promise you nothing that will traumatise you do be unbearable.