Medical management of miscarriage - taking abortion pills damage fertility?

[Amandaspies]

Hope it’s ok to post again in the same day.

Just wanted to hear from anyone who has taken mifepristone and misoprostal and then later gone on to conceive with a healthy pregnancy.

I am so worried about the procedure but mostly worried it will harm fertility.

Particularly worried that they won’t know if it’s all passed and then I get an infection.

Yes I have had 2 healthy pregnancies after taking this.
And they check you and you report anything abnormal to them they will tell you what to do. I had a D&C the day after and it was all sorted out.

This is a hard thing to go though so my thoughts are with you

Thanks. I am worried it won’t all pass and I don’t understand how they know for sure that it will. I am so scared. I am scared I will never have a child after doing this.

So they ask you to check for excessive bleeding and large clots. They also check over what has passed and look for anything that might not be right - they check the placenta. They also do this when you have a birth. You then have to tell them about any extreme pains or any unusual smells or unusual coloured discharge or a temperature

They should give you some information about after care when they see you and you can ask them what you are worried about x

I'm sorry you're going through this OP & I've read your other thread.

I'm a bit confused. Have you had a miscarriage or an abortion - I haven't heard of the medication used in the context of a spontaneous miscarriage.

Either way, you'll be fine. How many weeks pregnant are you?

You can follow up with hospital or your GP afterwards. 💐

Menora if this is before 12 weeks there won't be evidence of a placenta, or am I wrong?

Sorry I don’t want to give you wrong information it does depend on how many weeks and if this takes place in hospital which mine did.

If you are at home then the symptoms to watch out for are what they will give to you in information

Yes sorry mine was in hospital after 20 weeks so this might not apply

If you have medical management of a missed / incomplete miscarriage, they'll ask you to take a home pregnancy test a couple of weeks later. If you have any retained products of conception, you will still be testing positive and may need to go back for further treatment.

So you’d still have a positive test even if a tiny tiny bit is left?

Thanks Menora and sorry to hear of your experience.

It's very unlikely OP but if anything was retained, it will begin to cause some issues for you, including raised temperatures, pain, maybe a discharge.

But all of this should be explained by the hospital and given to you in leaflets.

It probably is relevant how many weeks you are. Under 12 weeks, the medical management should work well. After 12 weeks, and certainly by 15 weeks, surgical management is more likely. (I've had a relatively late MMC and did require surgery).

Thanks it’s under 9 weeks. They’ve explained stuff but hard to take in. Worried about the pain

I'm not a consultant obstetrician, but when I had my MMC they said that if there was RPOC I'd have a positive test or show signs of infection (like a raised temperature).
It's a personal choice whether to wait and see, have medical school or surgical management. Personally I felt that, as it didn't seem to be happening naturally, I didn't want to wait even longer, and my personal feeling was that medical management carried a slightly lower risk for damage to the cervix or uterus, and avoided the need for a GA, so I opted for that in the end.

Yes I have, I also took them and had an infection and was ill but still conceived
My son and had a good pregnancy xx

How did the infection happen? I am worried I wouldn’t know and it would just stay there!

Amanda you'll know if you have an infection 😞

Things to look out for are feeling unwell, flu-like symptoms, raised temperature, unusual / bad smelling discharge.

You will know - but hopefully you won't have to worry about it & all will be ok. Take care 💐

Thanks, I am just worrying. If you do get an infection how do you know if it’s caused any damage? Can they tell or will you never know?

It'd be very rare for that to happen (but I'm not medically qualified). Many many women have miscarriages. If you've any concerns, contact your GP. They'll look after you.

I know you've a lot going on. Can you talk to friends / family IRL to get some support?

I had a mmc and the medical management in hospital, and at the end I felt it hadn't completely worked, the nurse organised a scan and I had a d&c. I went on to conceive and have a baby without problems, it was about a year later.

It isn't a nice thing to go through wishing you the best. I was in bed at home for a few days afterwards.

How many weeks were you soss? Xx

When I was faced with the same decision, I asked the bereavement midwife who was supporting me what she would do. She said she would opt for surgical management over medical management. She said she would never choose to go through the medical management process as it can be incredibly painful and awful, particularly depending how far along you are.

I opted for a d&c on her advice and very glad I did. It was very straightforward, painless, I had some soreness and bleeding after, but not at all traumatising and I felt I had amazing support.

I ovulated again 14 days after (we did not try right away) but was pregnant again the next month. He’s 2.5 now. I’m 40 this year and have no plans for more babies but I would absolutely make that choice again if I ever was faced with the decision.

No, I don’t think medical management will harm your fertility at all, but I wouldn’t choose it if I had other options.

Being less than 9 weeks makes a difference tho.

In your other post OP you mentioned bleeding? So I'm guessing you got it checked out & got the sad news that there was no heartbeat. If you are less than 9 weeks, it's a very early pregnancy still, and if you have already experienced bleeding, there are indications that the MC is underway. It's surprising that medical management is needed, but you can expect it to work successfully.

For comparison, I was nearly 14 weeks, had no indications anything was wrong, only that I didn't 'feel' pregnant. I found out at a scan. As it had been a number of weeks since the heartbeat had stopped, surgical management was recommended. I had to wait about a week for surgery. In the meantime I began to miscarry naturally & it was pretty awful - I lost a lot of blood, eventually had emergency surgery and took a while to recover. A lot of that was due to the fact I was further along.

(I went on to have 3 children subsequently 🙂)

Yes, I used misoprostol when I had my second MMC at around 12 weeks (had a d&c the first time) I went on to have a healthy pregnancy about a year or so later - in fact, it was my only healthy pregnancy that wasn't induced with fertility medication, my fertility was already subpar.

I'm glad I went with the misoprostol but it was an experience. I went back for scans twice, and bled for 10 weeks. I didn't get any infection.

You'll feel an infection, the usual symptoms, temperature, smelly discharge etc.

I know all too well that it's hard to trust your body after a miscarriage, but it would be very rare to get an infection you don't know about and, if you treat it early, for it to cause lasting damage.

Misoprostol, yes, that's standard to manage MMC but use of mifepristone first surprises me. The effect of mifepristone is to stop progesterone which doesn't allow a pregnancy to continue. If OP's pregnancy is no longer viable and is already a MC, I'm not sure why it's needed

OP, maybe double-check all the details with the hospital / your doctor?