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My Experience - Misoprostol (Cytotec) For Miscarriage
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Hi again ladies it's Beth again (seem my previous post on Nov. 30th, 2007). I know its hard to believe BUT in Jan I found out I was pregnant again and then on Feb 28th discovered there was no heartbeat...again (this time I was 9/12 weeks). I was given the option of cytotec OR the D&C. However, I was warned that since I was further along it might be more painful than last time if I chose cytotec. Well just so yall know why I have such an aversion to the D& C is b/c I have a major fear of being 'put under'. So once again opted for cytotec. I felt like I knew what I was up against since I had done cytotec before. And here is my story. |
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Beth523, |
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I am so happy to have found information on this website regarding Misoprostol, yet I am so sad to hear about everyone's experiences. I felt the need to share mine in case someone should find themselves in a similar situation. Hopefully this helps.This is my second miscarriage. The first one ended at 9 1/2 weeks (09/06) with no heartbeat followed by a very traumatic D&C. (highly recommended by my obgyn) I finally get pregnant again with clomid January 08. I started spotting brown on March 1, followed by red bleeding on the 2nd. An u/s measured me at 8 1/2 weeks,showed no baby, only a sac, and that my uterus was already contracting. At that time my Dr told me I could choose to wait it out at home, or have another D&C. After a day of waiting and wondering, I felt I just wanted it all to be over with. I felt comfortable this time having a D&C because there was no baby inside of me, only a sac. However, my Dr wasn't too thrilled considering my body had already started the miscarriage process. She said there wouldn't be enough tissue to run tests, and a D&C might cause possible scarring. She spoke with other Dr's in her practice and they all agreed that I was the "perfect candidate" for Misoprostol.She gave me 4 tabs, and instructed me to place them "high up in the vagina" after dinner, and to stay in bed. (she said you can take them orally, but it will cause intestional problems)She also gave me tylenol with codeine. She said the problem with other pain meds like advil causes the uterus to stop contracting, slowing the process. So, last night at 7:30pm, I inserted the 4 tabs(800mg)and waited. I expected heavy bleeding and cramping like I was told, and from what I read. At 9:00, I had a MAJOR contraction, so I immediately took 2 tabs of my pain meds. They ended up being no help at all. What I needed was an epidural!I never had any cramping, only contractions every 3 minutes, then 2 minutes then every minute. At 10:20, I got up to go to the bathroom, and passed this large mass. I have a strong stomach, but this even grossed me out. It was like something out of a movie. Of course I completely checked it out so I could tell my Dr. I guess it was the sac with the placenta in it? Anyway, my contractions stopped immediately. It was like my body just knew that it was done with the job it had to do. I used a heating pad on my abdomen the rest of the night, but never experienced any more pain, or cramping. My bleeding was't bad at all. I only changed my pad once throughout the night.This morning I feel exhausted from the whole ordeal, but no pain , and light bleeding. My experience on Misoprostol felt exactly like when I was in labor with my son, fortunately it didn't last as long. I never experienced any other symptoms from the drug. Thankfully I trusted my Dr's opinion because if I waited this out without help, and happened to be out in public somewhere when the sac finally came out, it would have really upset me. I'm glad I was at home in a controlled environment. I can now move on without having to worry over the next two weeks thinking when is this gonna happen??? I know every pregnancy and person is different. I think by knowing all the facts and asking the right questions, you and your doctor can decide it Misoprostol is right for you. In the same situation, I would do it over again if I had to. Hopefully I won't. Good luck to all, and stay strong. |
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I found out yesterday at 8.5 weeks that my baby no longer had a heartbeat. Exactly a week ago, it did have one and it looked healthy, so we think I lost it just within the last day or two... so it was too soon for my body to realize that the baby was gone. My Dr. gave me the choice to wait it out or to have a D&C... I chose the D&C so that everything could be done and I didnt have to go through the agony of waiting it out. She prescribed me to take 2 cytotec tabs vaginally at 6 am this morning. My procedure was scheduled for 2:45. I had actually read all of your posts before I took the cytotec and was extremely nervous and scared to take it. At 6 am I put the tabs in, put on a pad, climbed back into bed next to my daughter and tried to force myself to sleep. By 9:30 am I woke up with cramps in my back that were beyond belief. My husband was at work and it was just me with my daughter who thankfully was still asleep. My mom luckily called me right after I woke up and because I was crying and in so much pain she came over to stay with me until my appointment. I literally ended up having labor pains in my back and abdomen just like I was going through full blown labor... my dr had instructed me not to eat or drink anything, so I couldn't take anything for pain, and after reading this site I knew this was what pretty much everyone else experienced, therefore I didn't call the dr because what i was going through was obviously not uncommon, so i thought... I walked and cried and just suffered until noon when I had my mom take me to the hospital. On the way into the hospital from the car I started bleeding... a lot. I soaked right through my pad and my clothes. To do a D&C at the hospital some cruel jack a$$ decided it would be nice to put me on the maternity floor. It was a nice experience to be going through what I was going through while the proud parents of a bouncing baby boy were across the hall getting visitors. Anyways, I begged for pain medication, they wouldn't give me anything at all because they said my dr hadn't ordered any. So when they finally wheeled me down to surgery at 3pm, all I wanted was for them to knock me out and do what they need to do. I found out later, that no one had bothered to let my Dr. know what kind of pain I was in. Since she had prescribed me what would be considered a low dose of the cytotec, she didn't expect me to be in pain or to have any problems. I was just overly sensitive to it and it hit me faster and harder than she expected it would. Since I thought everything was normal due to my "research" on cytotec, I hadn't called her either... if I HAD, she would have had me go to the hospital sooner and I could have gotten IV pain meds. So ALWAYS let your Dr. know when and if you have pain with this stuff, because it's not necessarily ok and you DONT have to go through it. I thought it was cruel to make me go through all of that pain just to go in and do the D&C... if that was the case I could have just waited and had the miscarriage on my own. But as it turns out, it was my own fault for assuming that the Dr. wouldn't do anything for me. Not to mention that by the time I went into the hospital (since I waited until my appointment) I had a fever and I was dehydrated. After the D&C which took about a half hour from what I understand I felt completely fine. I had no cramping and it was a great relief. I requested that they not send me back to the maternity floor for recovery so they didn't. I am having some bleeding now, but it's just like a period... they gave me tylenol 3 for pain, but I don't really need it. I have been taking it because my throat hurts very bad from them intubating me while I was under anesthesia, but not because of any cramping. My advice to anyone that has to go through any of this is to know that you are more than likely going to have a lot of pain, so make sure you talk to your doctor ahead of time and find out what your options are. If you are not having the D&C it is probably different, but if you ARE having one, you have other options rather than going through all of the pain. In my case, the Dr. had no idea the ammount of pain I was in and no one at the hospital had informed her, so basically they refused to give me anything without talking to her. She felt really bad and apologized profusely for the way things went for me.Also, don't be stupid like me and assume that because you read peoples posts on message boards and searched 234 websites that all said "this is what you should expect" that everything you are going through is normal, because chances are you'll do more harm than good. I got lucky and it only took being on the IV for a few hours and starting an IV antibiotic to knock my fever out, but that was me. You could be different. I'd also try to find out where they put you in the hospital for recovery and while you wait to go to surgery, because if they try to put you on the maternity floor, I'd ask to be somewhere else. It's hard enough losing your own child and knowing that your going home empty handed but being wheeled past the nursery and the people walking in with balloons and gift bags makes it almost torturous. Most importantly though, don't try to go through it alone. Wait until your husband/boyfriend is home or ask them to take the day off work, or a parent or a friend... I would have someone sit with you because it's an ordeal that takes a toll on you emotionally and physically. If my mom had not been there with me all day I don't know what I would have done. |
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Hello all, |
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Hi Sue, |
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I am so sorry that all of you have been through this. it must be very difficult. I wanted to share my experience with misoprostol so that other people understand that it really isn't that bad. often it seems to be the best option. |
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I'm thankful that I'm not alone in this experience. We learned at our 2nd appt that our 9 week old baby didn't have a heartbeat, even though we had a normal one at 6 weeks. Because my body hadn't realized that the baby had died, I had not completed the miscarriage. So my doctor gave me the 3 options: D&C, Misoprostol, or Wait. Not wanting to carry the baby any longer, I opted for #2. I have to say that if you can survive the news of losing your baby, you can survive Misoprostol. Here's what made my experience bearable: |
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My experience with cytotec is as follows, i was diagnosied with at belighted ovuem at about 7 weeks and bc my first doc was horriable she gave me pills to sustain the pregnancy so that made it almost impossiable for me to miscarry on my own so the second doc told me that i will porbably have to do a d&c and to prepare for that i was to take 1 pill of cyctotec every 8 hrs for 24 hrs a day before the d&c and thats exactly what i did, last friday morning at 8am i started off with the first pill of the cyctotec after 1/2 hour of my intake of the med i started cramping hard for about and hour with minimum bleeding them i went to sleep and the cramps were mild, them came time for the second pill which i took at 4pm and the labour from hell started almost immeditly after the intake of the med i was in soooo much pain exactly as if i was giving birth if not worse (there's no baby pushing from inside) so i screamed, cried, moaned, yelled.....ect. i took pain meds through all of this and NOTHING worked NOTHING. this went on for about 2 hrs continuous then my hub called the doc and he said that i was to go to the hospital at once and that i did and as soon as we reached the hospital i felt something slimy and big fall out of me into the pad so as we entered the hospital i ran to the ladies room and sat on the toilet and the sac fell righ out of i was ofcourse soaked with blood, the pad was completly full and i immedialty felt a huge releif and the pain was much less, the doc at the hospital did a u/s and said that all came down and that i will no longer need a d&c so that was great news. im currently still bleeding and cramping but nothing like before ofcourse and today is my third day the bleeding is quite mild but some solid things are still present in the pad but very small and minimal. well i hope my story was not too dreadful and will be beneficial to some. overall i hope id never have to go through this again but at least i ended up with out an operation. good luck to all of the ladies out there who are going through a similar situation. |
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I just want to say thank you to all for sharing your experiences so candidly. I also never thought I would need this kind of information, but here I am after the loss of my second pregnancy. I am an ultrasound tech, a whole new experience when you're doing your own scan and discover your baby is 2 weeks behind on growth. Talked it over with my doctor and planned a scan for one week later. Second scan showed no heartbeat. I also could not face carrying my dead baby until ? We scheduled a D&C. The day after my surgery the bleeding completely stopped. Dr. suggested another ultrasound. Discovered that nothing had been removed during surgery, sac and contents were still intact. We then tried a less harsh medicine, doctor thought it would be enough after the surgery. Did another ultrasound, no such luck! Uterus was still full. Doctor went to cytotec. Unfortunately I think he was in the dark about all that I would experience. Lucky for me I found this website. He hadn't ordered anything for pain. Lucky for me I had him do that before I started. Took the 2 pills orally. 4 hours later the cramps started. Heavy bleeding didn't start intil about 11 hours after dose. Passed large clots every 1-2 hrs. Heavy clotty bleeding lasted a total of about 8 hrs. Now the bleeding has slowed to about normal mid-period bleeding. I will do another scan this week to make sure everything is back to normal. Just wanted to say thanks again for everyones courage in sharing their experiences. |
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I experienced a missed miscarriage 4 weeks ago had to take tablet and remain in the hospital for an hour in case of possible side effects and then was told to go home come back in 24 or 48 hours (cant remember now everything still a daze) for the vaginal tabs. The night before I was due to go back i passed what i can assume to be the sac I had been in so much pain for previous 5 weeks (and i feel terible for saying this) but it felt a relief, the pain just seemed to go away. Then about 2 hours later the pain returned i was bleeding so heavy and in so much pain i contacted the emergency number that i had been given. They told me to go down to the hospital bcoz they would need to check where the bleed is from. I went to the hospital doctor gave me an internal which was obviously very painful and then sent me for a scan, he told me if there was anything on the scan then i would have to remain in the hospital until the treatment was completed. However when I had my scan i was told that there was still something there and it against the protocol to do an internal scan it could be a clot but they have to treat it as tissue and let the doctor decide. I returned to the ward, the doctor I had seen earlier had gone and i seen a different doctor who told me the same results of the scan but said he would give me some more tablets to take home and take every 12 hours the following day instead of having the viginal tabs. Cant remember what they were called something beginning with m???? He then sent me home to take them and i have not been asked to return to the hospital or anything. The doctor had to speak to the pharmicist at the hospital as they said the tablets are usually taken on the premises and the pharmicist even wrote on the prescription that it is against normal practise bt doctor said it exceptional circumstances, I mean what does that mean? :s I am concerned about this as i thought they might want to check to make sure everything had gone, i mentioned this to my GP who said no any problems now and you just come to me and if i need to i will send you to the hospital. I am so confused, I feel really uneasy about the situation. I have been TTC for about 6, i was diagnosed with endometriosis 9 years ago and have PSO. Sorry I have gone on about it i just dont feel anybody has shown an interest i feel like they have just given me the tablets and left me to get on with it and havent checked everything ok. Has anybody else experienced this kind of treatment from the hospital and what should i do? :( are they right? am i just being silly? :( |
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a month and a half ago, at my first u/s, we saw that there was no heartbeat. I tried to miscarry naturally (I was 10.5 weeks) with herbs, but after a week, i decided on Cytotec. I was told it would feel like heavy period cramps. I had two or three pills to take orally at home. About 5 minutes after i took them i started spotting (had not previously bled). The bleeding picked up into the night, with alot of clots, but not unbearable. I was able to sleep with lots of motrin and a HOT heating pad. The heating pad helped the most. The next morning, i woke up feeling fine. Within an hour I had intense cramping. I walked into the kitchen to be alone and had to bend over on the counter. I ended up on my hands and knees in the hallway and eventually on my side curled up. My husband actually chopped up Vicoden and gave it to me. HE called the ER and they told me that yesterday had just been the start and that this was it, it would be over soon. I was in the most intense pain, had to do controlled breathing, felt the urge to push. Had to keep checking pad to see if baby had come out. It lasted about two or more hours. Then i thought the vicoden kicked in and i felt so tired and a rush of a comfortable feeling. i crawled into bed with a heating pad and husband told me that he thought i should go sit on the toilet for a few minutes (everything previously had passed in that position). I did and withing few minutes felt the most awful sensation (not painful) and everything passed. It was about the size of a tennis ball, though not perfectly round. In hindsight, I would have been taking painkillers the whole time. i wish i had known what to expect, as i thought it would just hurt a little. it was the most painful thing i have ever felt. i would do it again though because i did not want a dnc. |
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Hello, |
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I took misoprostol at 71/2 weeks and it got a lot out, but 3 weeks later I still have tissue remaining according to the vaginal ultrasound. The pregnancy test showed positive immediately as well. I have to take another round tomorrow of misoprostol and see if it gets the rest out. I dread the pain but will update you. i would not choose misoprostol again if I had the choice. I am sorry for all of your losses and wish you all the best. |
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Just for anyone who is currently in this unfortunate situation- cytotec is not always the answer. I found out I had a blighted ovum at 10 weeks (about four weeks ago). I didn't want to have a D and C if I could avoid it so my doctor prescribed cytotec to be taken orally. I took it asprescribed for three days and only had very slight bleeding. I ended up having a D and C and my doctor noted that my cervix was still "very tightly closed" when he went to do the procedure. Cytotec does not always guarantee you will avoid a D and C. |
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Update, I took the misoprostol this 2nd time Saturday at 4pm to empty the remaining tissue in my uterus. I laid on the couch for 41/2 hours and cramped a little. I started bleeding Sunday morning around 230am. The cramps were stronger than a normal period but not as bad as the first time I took this med. I didn't bleed much and didn't pass many clots either. I go back for the vaginal ultrasound in 11 days. uhhh.... |
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