My experience of Medical abortion at 5+3

[beepboppa]

No doubt, just like yourself reading this, I franctically read every last bit of information that I could find on the internet regarding medical abortions and I found that tths litle hideaway in Mumsnet was probably the best (and at times the absolute worst) when it came to the topic. Firstly, I am 36 years f age and single. No kids, and I realised I was pregnant at the end of October before I even missed my period. I was cranky and my boobs were so sore. I had been lighty spotting all week but I just knew that my period was not coming and it was prob implantation.
I suddenly started to check my calender and realised that I had gotten myself into a bit of a situation. I immediately contacted my local doctor and I was booked in for a phone consultation for the following Monday. The waiting part was the absolute worst part as I had myself so worked up about ectopic pregnancies and what if I needed to be rushed to hospital. Literally every worst fear and thought hen through my head. I even started to manifest a pain in my side but I knew it was just stress. On the Thursday before my assigned phone appointment, the doctor rang me and said that she had a free slot and would i like to do the consutation early. I lept at the chance. So on Monday morning, I did a cleablue digital test for myself and it came up '3 weeks +'. I popped down to her and we had another quick chat (and confirmatory test) and thats when I took my first Pill. To say that a certain amount of weight was lifted from me is an understatement.
I had no side effects from the Mifepristone. I took it at 9.10am on the monday and went straight home. I then prepped for the next day. I stocked up on large sanitary towels, painkillers and had plenty of food and fluid in the house. I made sure to have some sugary sweets nearbytoo and a choice of tv programmes to watch to distract me.
DO NOT KEEP READING POSTS ABOUT IT. That's the best advice I can give you. I worked mysef up about it so much. I did this fully alone and told no-one, and just reading horror stories had my Nerves shot. I had my first panic attack in 7 years that first night...all because I read the what could happen and failed posts.

I slid the 2 Misoprostol tablets between my gums and cheeks the following day at 9.30am. I grabbed my hot water bottle and hopped into bed. I was so paranoid about the tablets dissolving that I left them in my gum for about 45 mins to an hour. Then I swallowed them with some water.

Te cramps started about an hour later and lasted for about 4 hours in total. They weren't excrutiating. I normally have a heavy period so for me it was fine. I didnt take any pain relief at all and I felt I i didnt need any. As weird as this sounds, the pain helped me to understand what was going on and if things were 'moving along' but thats just me. I bled into th pads but i mainly bled on the loo. the clots were small and constant for 3 days with me. Day 4 the flow was light but then on day 5 and 6 it hit with vengeance. basically my body emptied...strong flow those days.

My doc had told me that I could start back on my pill 'yasmin' the very day after I took Pills 2 (Misoprostol), so I did. This ended up being a bad idea as I hadnt been on the pill for a while and forgot how crappy the side effects can be....one of the side effects of the pregnancy fo me was really sore boobs and I had read that symptoms should disappear after a few days....my boobs didnt stop hurting. I now know that this is because the pill I started on 'yasmin' caused me to be extrmemly tender to the point that after 10 days I had to stop as I couldnt bare the tenderness anymore.So as you can imagine I goton the internet and once I saw that my boobs were still aching, I presumed the worst and belived the med abortion had failed. I the got myself so worked up again.
8 days after th Medical abortion I took another Digital clear blue test and it now said that I was 1-2weeks pregnant. That felt like a relief and that my HCG was lowering in the way it should after a successful abortion.
This morning I took my low sensitivity test that the doctor provided, exactly 2 weeks after the abortion and it came back negative. The relief was wonderful. So much weight lifted off of my shoulders and I feel I can move on now.

I know this was so long but I really felt that there's not enough positve and successful stories out there. People tend to only write about their negative experiences but when you are in a situation where you just need a little bi of hope and realism, the success stories and honest ones really do help mentally. If you are reading this, I wish you he very best. You WILL be ok. Take a few deep breaths and remember that evry problem has a solution. Take one step at a time and don't read into everything. This is your choice and no matter your situation, you know yourself better then anyone else. Trust your gut, listen to the professionals and know that you are not alone. xx

side note.....sorry about all the typos....new keyboard is on the Santa list!

Reading posts like this really helps to make you feel less alone in all the crazy feelings you're going through.
Thankyou for posting xx

Thanks for this post OP

I realise that I’m a little late for the OP, but I just wanted to share my recent experience of medical abortion, as these posts helped me so much in the run-up to my abortion.

I found out I was pregnant at 5 weeks & knew straight away that it’s wasn’t the right time for me. I contacted BUPAS the following day & arranged a telephone consultation with a local clinic for 5 days later.

I had the call & the lady I spoke to was really friendly, non-judgemental & very informative. She disclosed that some of the side effect of both Misoprostol & Mifepristone could be vomiting, which terrified me as I suffer from emetophobia.

Being more aware of the medical abortion process following the telephone consultation sent me into panic, and I started searching for other people’s experiences online. The majority of the experiences were negative ones, describing horrendous pain & vomiting, so I went into a huge panic. I’m not sure if the morning sickness was starting to kick in, or if it was nerves, but in the 3 days waiting for the pills to arrive by post I felt constantly sick.

I took my first pill on the Friday afternoon & was terrified of vomiting it back up, as the lady from the clinic & various stories online said this was possible. Honestly, I felt completely fine & had absolutely no side effects at all. I even managed to eat a full meal for the first time that week!

I was due to take the mifepristone tablets 48 hours later. I took 2 paracetamol, waited half an hour, then I inserted the 4 pills vaginally. Apparently there are less side effects if you insert vaginally rather than in the gums. I laid down & the cramps began within 20 minutes, so I was convinced that they would get worse & worse. They didn’t. It was a dull ache on & off for about an hour, that I’d compare to a period cramp. Really nothing dramatic. I went to the loo a few times & nothing was happening so I started to worry that I hadn’t interested the pills correctly. I sat upright hoping that gravity would help & after 3 hours I went to the loo to insert the other 2 mifepristone tablets, which is when I started passing blood. It wasn’t excessive & straight away I passed the pregnancy. It was about the size of a chestnut & was a white, fleshy sac. It did feel strange to pass, but definitely wasn’t painful at all, and I felt much better knowing it had started to work.

Over the rest of the evening, I continued to bleed only when I went to the loo. I wasn’t soaking any pads at all. I could feel lumpy tissue coming out when I was on the loo, but it was just like my heaviest period days & the pain had completely gone, even before the pregnancy had passed. Absolutely no side effects, thankfully no nausea or vomiting!

I’m now 4 days post abortion now & have continued to bleed like a heavy period, with no further pain. Again, I’m only passing blood when I go to the loo. I’m so glad the process is over as it was difficult mentally, but definitely much better than expected physically. I’d rate the pain a 3/10, and it was very short-lived.

I may have just got lucky, but if you’re about to go through this, please don’t torture yourself like I did. Please ignore the negative stories out there & be positive - I regret letting them stress me out so much, as there was really no need. Please believe that you’ve got this, and you’ll be absolutely fine!! Good luck x

I just want to say that I have went through this yesterday evening. I was 6 weeks pregnant with unpleasant sickness. I was really scared of the medical abortion but I must say there was no pain at all. I had codeine 30 mins after inserting the first 4 pills and had my hot bottle with me and watched some Tv shows. 1h 50 mins after inserting the 4 pills, I felt some bleeding so I went to the loo and passed some lump tissue. I tought this was it but after inserting the second set of pills I had two more toilet visits with passing more tissue. There was no pain when passing. I changed 3-4 night time pads all night.

After 6 hours, possibly when codeine was wearing off I felt mild backache which didn’t last long. I didn’t need any more pain killers.

Spend most of the evening in bed watching TV and only walked around when I made a quick dinner. It is in a way good to be active a little so you can pass the tissues out.

All I want to say is the entire process was not painful. I am writing this now in morning and I am so relieved that tha nausea is over and I can continue my life. I hope everything goes well with those who are reading this before they start the process.

Thank you all for your posts. They are giving me some comfort. I hope you have all recovered and are doing ok.