Friday, December 12, 2008

My Experience with a Cytotec (Misoprostol) Miscarriage

Dear friends and family,

You are welcome to read this post, but I am posting it more for people who may be about to go through a medical miscarriage with the use of Cytotec, because I couldn't find many people's experiences when I was searching online. I will warn you that I'm not going to mince my words, and this is certainly not material for anyone under the age of 18.

Love you all,
Abbie

_______________________________

Before taking the pills, I had a very large lunch with a lot of protein and vegetables, drank a lot of water, and also took a prenatal vitamin. I lost a lot of blood during the miscarriage, and I think that the food and extra iron in my system was helpful towards not fainting. Plus, the Cytotec does create nausea, so I wasn't able to eat a whole lot later. I also took two Advil at this point (my doctor recommended an hour before placing the Cytotec), to help lower the pain of the initial cramping.

Yesterday at 1:50 pm, I inserted the 4 tablets of Misoprostol into the posterier fornix of my vagina. Emotionally, this was difficult to do, but not physically. I say it was difficult emotionally because this felt very much like an elective abortion (as if I was choosing to get rid of my baby), but of course it was not. Our baby died long enough ago that we couldn't even find a body on the ultrasound.

By 2:30, the cramping began. The instructions said it would probably take 2-4 hours to begin, but I think they might have meant "the cramping that will make you want to die" starts in 2-4 hours. The cramps started as very harmless cramps - they felt like the lightest ones I have before my period is going to start.

By 3:30, I was extremely nauseous and had bad gas that was causing the cramps to hurt a bit more. The nausea was very different from pregnancy nausea - I knew when to expect my pregnancy nausea because I was near a bad smell or brushing my teeth near the back of my mouth, but this was more of a spontaneous spasm of your stomach which I thought might cause me to throw up (although I never did). At this point I started using a heating pad, although it would have been nice to have two - one for my back and one for my stomach. A hot water bottle actually might have been better for this, since my heating pad just wouldn't stay on long enough and I kept having to unplug it to get it to come back on again.

By 4:00 pm, the cramps were at the level that I normally experience as the worst cramps during my period. They will get worse. I recommend at this point that you take the prescribed painkiller. My doctor gave me three doses of percocet, which took about an hour to kick in in my case. I waited far too long to take the percocet. Take the percocet before it gets too bad!

By 5:00 pm, I truly felt as if I was going to die from the cramps, backache, nausea and gas that were all causing severe amounts of pain. I imagine this is what labor feels like. In this case, there is no baby for you to worry about a painkiller's effect, so please, please take your prescribed painkiller when you reach this point, if not earlier. This is when I took mine, and then I passed out from the pain.

At 5:30, the percocet began to kick in slowly: I still felt the cramps, but my mind was like, "Who cares! This is fun! Everything's funny!" I think that the percocet hit my brain before the rest of my body. :) This is when I got up and started moving around. Moving around makes the bleeding begin and the miscarriage happen faster, so I highly recommend moving around if you can. At this point I was able to eat dinner without feeling too nauseous, and if you want to eat, I recommend doing it before the bleeding begins.

6:00 is when my bleeding started. It trickled for about 2 minutes and then whoooooosh. An extremely full pad in about 15 minutes. At 6:15 I felt as if I was going to pass out, so I got up to go to the bathroom and see if I needed to check my pad (oh yeah I did), and that is when blood clots began to come out. Because the percocet had kicked in by this time, I felt no pain during this. I don't know if it's normally painful or not. I also realized that the cramps were very good, because they did all of the work for me. I didn't have to push, I just had to catch what was coming out (for my doctor to do testing on it). I *thought* that the miscarriage was over by 6:30, cleaned up, and headed back to the couch to watch Rocky.

6:45: Oops, I was wrong. Two more really large blood clots fell out into my pad. I went back to the bathroom and sat and waited for about 20 minutes, during which my body expelled many more blood clots. I caught a few more, bagged them (I thought these were pieces of the sac!), and let the rest go down the drain. I cleaned up again and headed back to the couch.

7:15: At this point, I could actually tell when things were coming. I was able to get up and walk to the bathroom before my body expelled more clots. I also stopped collecting things, since I thought they had enough material. I continued to lose large clots until 9:30 pm (plus one at 5:00 this morning)!

9:30: Most of the clots were gone by this point, but I was extremely faint from blood loss. I kept myself drinking plenty of water (actually, juice might be better to help keep your blood sugar levels up) and laid down with my feet above my head.

11:00 The intense cramping returned. Time for a second percocet! Most of my bleeding was done by this point in time. I was able to fall asleep when the medicine kicked in. Jonathan set his alarm to wake us up every few hours, just to make sure I had stopped losing large amounts of blood and wasn't in trouble.

This morning I passed a few small clots, but since the cramping had basically stopped, I had to push these out myself. This is a difficult concept for someone who hasn't been in labor before, and I had quite a hard time figuring out how to get them out. But I think most everything is gone by now! The bleeding is very, very light, and except for the lightheadedness from blood loss, I feel pretty good.

***Note: I updated this post to be more accurate. I accidentally collected blood clots, which are useless for testing, since they were made of my own blood. The majority of what you will pass during a Cytotec miscarriage are clots (which are large, perhaps as long as 6", and dark red, don't be confused by their size, these are not pieces of your sac!), and you may or may not pass your gestational sac at this time (which is a white/grayish ball). Mine didn't come out until Sunday, three days post-Cytotec.

UPDATE: If you are reading this post because you are about to use cytotec for a medical miscarriage, please do leave a comment. I would love to know who you are and what your story is - I know there are many, many people who find my site by searching for "experience with cytotec" or something similar, and my heart hurts so much knowing that you may be alone while you are going through this. Even if you leave an anonymous comment, at least I can use that to pray more specifically for you!

446 comments:

1 – 200 of 446   Newer›   Newest»
Elizabeth said...

i am not sure that you read these, but I wanted to tell you that your post about the cytotec was very helpful to me, the night before I was given it to complete a miscarriage. That was on the 15th of December, but it turned out for me it did not work, and I miscarried naturally on Christmas Day -- it sounds even more depressing to write it than it was to experience it. I found your blog by doing a google search and just wanted to thank you for sharing what I know was a really sad experience.

Thanks, Elizabeth

Anonymous said...

I appreciate your post. I'm going on my 2nd consecutive missed miscarriage. The first I waited and did naturally but I can't wait any longer with this one and have decided to go with the Misoprostol. Your post was very helpful as it really outlined what to expect. All of what you described was very similar to the natural miscarriage I experienced except the process seems shorter when you induce.
Thanks again and good luck with your future pregnancies.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! Even as a nurse and mother of two, I was hesitant to take Cytotec for my miscarriage. It's such an emotional decision and the waiting/researching is overwhelming, reading your blog really helped me prepare. My doctor described the pain as mild, thanks to you I asked for prescription pain meds which are definitely necessary! Bless you and your family :-)

Anonymous said...

It is so nice of you to put this online.I found this while doing google search. I am in a long distance relationship which has made all this very hard to cope with emotionally.
This was my first pregnancy which has turned out to be a miscarriage and had to use the misoprostol yesterday. I have some cramps since then, but not as painful as u describe yours to be. The blood clots are there but i still haven't experienced any kind of bleeding apart from spotting once in a while. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try moving alot to see if it works faster.
Thank you very much for sharing, it has helped me very much.

Liz said...

Abbie,

I too just went through my first pregnancy resulting in miscarriage and had to take the cytotec last night (after waiting an agonizing 3 weeks hoping my body would do it on it's own!). I found your blog by doing a search on google and just want to thank you so much!! The information helped me know a little better what to expect and not feel so alone in the experience.

My body responded much more slowly to the meds and I ended up needing to use the second dose, but I'm hoping that I won't need a follow-up D&C or anything.

Again, thanks so much for being honest and open about your frustrations and hurts regarding your little Max. I could relate so well to many of your posts as I read through the last several month's worth. It's amazing how experiencing similar circumstances can make you feel an intimate connection with someone -- even if it's someone you've never even known!!

I pray the Lord blesses you with many children in the future. God Bless!!

In Christ,
Liz

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Ps. 34:18

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your discussion about cytotec! It was very helpful for us to know what to expect and our experience was very similar to yours. The suggestion to drink a lot of fluids is important. Also, I would add to make sure you don't change positions too quickly with all the bleeding or you might pass out. As my doctor said, right when you think the pain or bleeding is intolerable, things should start to improve. Also, I would recommend taking your first dose early in the morning to try to have it done with before it disrupts your sleep. It was a good option for us with a missed m/c after waiting for 3 weeks for it to happen naturally. By that point, we were ready for it to happen and it wasn't as emotional as it would have been if we had done it right away.

Anonymous said...

thanks for having this post out there. you are right, there isn't much information, or personal stories about using misoprostol for a missed miscarriage.

this is my first pregnancy and sadly we learned at the ultrasound at 10.5 weeks that the baby had no heartbeat. i knew going into the appt that something was wrong-my pregnancy symptoms were gone and i had spotting and cramping.

thus, my doctor and i discussed cytotec, especially as my body already seemed to be in the process. Like you i took the 800mg vaginally. I experienced some uncomfortable cramping, as well as some bleeding. After 12 hours, I passed a large clot, which i believed was the gestational sac. In fact I collected it.
I thought i was done, though i took a 2nd dose to be sure, though now the research i've done suggests the 2nd dose may not make much of a different
After that, i had 2 more days of bleeding, but nothing major. By Friday, my bleeding seemed to be much lighter. So when i went for the follow-up ultrasound i thought i was done.
But the ultrasound showed the gestational sac and fetus. Very sad.
The doctor recommended another round of cytotec. Unfortunately, i haven't experienced much bleeding.

I am sorry for this long post. Misoprostol seems to work in the majority of cases. I wish it worked quickly for me, as my husband and I feel like we are in limbo, and we want to move on.
I will say last week I was under a lot of stress in addition to the miscarriage. My husband has suggested that my body kind of shut down, and this sounds plausible to me.

again, thanks for letting me tell my story. it is also nice to hear of other people's experiences

Sarah said...

Thanks for your posting. This is my first pregnancy but last week, after I had experienced some bleeding, we found out that there was no heartbeat. After another week of waiting we chose to use Misoprostol. I took the initial dose (600 mg vaginally) 7 hours ago with a second dose (200 mg) one hour ago. My physician prescribed addition 200 mg doses every 6 hours for a full 48 hours. So far I have only had a little bleeding and general, moderate cramping. I usually have really painful, heavy periods so I don't know how much worse this may be than those experiences but I am a little worried. I have not needed anything other than Ibuprofen but I have Tylenol #3 if needed. I guess time will tell how my experience will go. Thanks for sharing all your stories.. it helps to feel less alone in this experience. God bless all you!

us said...

Ah! I just wrote a novel comment to you, and my computer shut down.. deleting it all!!
Real quickly: I just wanted to Thank you for sharing! I found out I had miscarried at 11 weeks. I waited 3 weeks hoping to naturally miscarry but to my discouragement nothing happened so i decided to go ahead with the Misoprostol. I currently am actually in the process of Misoprostol.. I took the pill at 9am (which was extremely emotional) it is now 4pm and not much has happened. Some spotting and few clots have passed. With minor cramping and fever. Im hoping something will happen soon, but it seems every ones experiences are different.
With this miscarriage, I have been overwhelmed with the amount of comfort that has come by realizing I am not alone, and unfortunately miscarrying is common and a natural part of life, even though we may not know all the answers now.. someday we will, and it will make sence.
Thanks again for sharing your story... Hopefully this will be a painless process for me.. and I can heal shortly and try for another baby soon.

-Tiffany

Sarah said...

Update... Hello everyone. Just an update on my experience. I successfully completed my full course of misoprostol and it was not nearly as painful I as I thought it might be. I was able to manage my discomfort with plain old Ibuprofen. I did not have heavy bleeding... just passing clots during the first night. I had another ultrasound and the miscarriage is complete. Pretty emotional moment... I guess if felt truly real at that point. Thankfully my husband is an unbelievably supportive man and has held me up throughout this.
At this point we need to wait for my next cycle so I can have a specialize uterine ultrasound to look for specific abnormalities and whether or not they will impact future pregnancies. Its going to stressful to wait for this information but we trust God has a plan for our family!!
Thank you so much for your postings... I do not know any of you but I have felt supported by know that I am not alone in this experience.
God Bless!

Anonymous said...

Thank you SO much ladies! I've been searching and seaching for this kind of information, and not only is it comforting to have found it, but even more comforting for the fact that it is so recent!! :)

I found out a couple weeks ago my pregnancy is not viable. I don't think it was a blighted ovum (happened to me this time last year) but whatever it was stopped growing. I was hoping to wait for nature to take its course, but am getting tired of waiting. My husband and I want to move on, and try again. I have a prescription for Misoprostal and am very scared to take it....there's something about forcing my body to cramp that worries me! I am also very emotional about this, and these posts have helped me understand that I am not alone! Sounds like even though the cramps can be painful...the drug allows us to control when the miscarriage happens...so we can move on. I am leaning towards taking it....Thank you all once again! Maybe the third time will be lucky for me!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for all of this information. I was trying to work up the courage to take the cytotec, as I had a missed miscarriage at 6.5 weeks, and now at 11 weeks, the fetus has still not expelled from my body.

I took it last night, and felt well prepared. Can you believe that it did absolutely NOTHING to me? No cramps, nausea, bleeding, fever... NOTHING. I slept through the night like a baby and still no kind of discharge or bleeding whatsoever. So frustrating after all the energy I put into making the decision and working up the courage to do it.

Now I guess I have no other option but a D&C, which I DO NOT want to do, so it's very upsetting. I am just too afraid about upsetting the sensitive ecosystem in there, with any scrapes or scar tissue. I have always been a very healthy person... and don't want to jeopardize that with a D&C. Sigh.

I don't understand why my body doesn't seem to want to let this go. I am ready to move on and try again. :(

Anonymous said...

I have been diagnosed with blighted ovum at 7 weeks and 2 days. Waited for a week and got the second u/s. My OBGYN prescribed me Misoprostol. I inserted 4 200 mcg of misoprostol into my vigina (=800mcg at once)at 1pm.(First I got the pills wet and pushed in as far as I could) At 4 pm I had very intense cramping. I took Tylenol #3 and during the following 2 hours I passed 3 large blood clots and 1 mid size blood clot. All bright red and some mucusy (sorry). No tissue looking parts at all. Cramping was very intense. It made me cry. I should have taken the Tylenol #3 much earlier. It took one hour for Tylenol to kick in. I took another Tylenol #3 around 9 pm. Hot water bottle helps a lot. I went to bed, and slept all night. Today (after 24 hrs of inserting the first 4 pills into my vigina), I inserted the next 4 pills. It was 1pm when I did it today, and so far I have not passed a single drop of blood or clot or anything at all. It is now 9pm, 8 hrs after the second set of 4 pills, I am not sure if everything is passed. I will not insert the third set of 4 pills tomorrow. I have a u/s schedule withing 5 days, and I hope in confirms complete miscarriage. Again this week is my 8th week into pregnancy (starting with LMP) and I believe my gestataional sac was 5 weeks when it stopped developing. (That is when I lost my symptoms) I had 2 D&Cs in the past 14 years, and I do recommend this option instead. IF YOU ARE LESS THAN 63 DAYS PREGNANT. If more, you may need a D&C after all.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your post on your experience with Cytotec.

I was told at 11 weeks that there was no fetal heart rate and most likely the pregnancy had stopped growing about 4 weeks prior to that. I was sent home to wait it out and let nature take its course. Yesterday I woke up sick to my stomach and vomited several times and had some pain, but no bleeding. in the 11 days of waiting I only bled twice and it was only after having intercourse and only for a hour or so.

Yesterday I was frustrated and sick and mentally couldn't sit and wait it out any longer, My doc discussed all options with me and my bf. We decided to use the cytotec.

At 930pm lastnight I inserted 2 pills for the first dose, by 11pm I had cramps and by 1am when my bf got home from work he found me curled up in a ball on the couch crying from the pain of the cramps, I have had 2 yrs of gall bladder attacks which ended in surgery and none of those experiences came close to the pain I felt lastnight after taking the cytotec. My bf sat down beside me and started to rub my back and I felt a pop and a gush, I went to the bathroom and discovered that I had filled a pad to over flowing in that one gush.

We went to the hospital for monitoring I never did take the 2nd, 3rd or 4th doses. I spent the night in the hospital, where every 10 minutes I had to get up to change the four pads I was wearing, I would go to the bathroom everytime and I would pass several very very large clots and peices of tissue, around 3am they final gave me a shot of demeral and gravol for the pain and I slept off and on for the next couple hours. all the while I continued passing blood and large clots, the doc did a vaginal and even had to pull a few of these clots out so that he could look at my cervix.

I stopped passing these clots when i left the hospital at 930am this morning, I am still bleeding but now it is just like a normal period, some small clots, and taking tylenol 3 for pain as I am still cramping off and on quite badly.

This I must say is the hardest thing I have ever experienced in my entire life.

Anonymous said...

I just completed a miscarriage using Misoprotol a few days ago.
I was about 11.5 weeks pregnant when I went for an ultrasound to find no heartbeat and baby had died at 9w 1d.Mind you, my husband is an OB and was guiding me through this experience, but he had never actually watched someone go through this experience first hand.On Tuesday, i began the Cytotec. I had light cramping and a little bleeding, but nothing that required more than a panty liner. I continued taking the Cytotec, a couple at a time by mouth and a couple at a time vaginally for 3 days with only light cramping and light bleeding. On Friday night, I became frustrated and emotional because I wanted this over with. So, at 4:30pm, i inserted 3 pills vaginally. By 9:30, I started to cramp more than previously and I took 4 ibuprofen. At 10pm, I began to realize this was probably "It" as my cramps worsened. I took one Vicodin (Lortab). I knew that it would take time to work, but by 10:15 or 10:30, my pain was so great in both my abdomen and my back, I took another. (the directions were 1-2 as needed). At 10:45, I felt a small "pop" like a little bubble inside of me popping, it did not hurt.It was my water breaking,watery blood just GUSHED out of me, running down my legs, soaking a brand new pad, my underwear, and my shorts.It did not hurt. After a couple of minutes,it subsided.About 15 minutes later, I felt like something was moving downward.I got up to run to the bathroom, only for it quickly to gush again, this time bright red blood, running down my legs, soaking everything, dripping all over the floor, and pouring into the toilet. I sat on the toilet then for about an hour, just having blood gush out of me. This did not hurt. I passed some clots, but smaller than I had expected. I passed what I believe to be the fetus, but could not see it through the bloody water, but it was larger and more dense than the clots felt and I heard it plop into the water. I never saw the sac, though I was expecting a larger, grayish, tissue. I bled heavily until about 1am. I became very weak and dizzy. I began to want to vomit, but nothing came out, i just dry heaved into the toilet. I was sweating, could barely hold myself up or open my eyes. I just wanted to lie on the bathroom floor as it was cool. None of this hurt, it was just scarry seeing myself lose all of this blood. I did lie on the floor and pass out from the blood loss, but only for a couple of seconds, my husband was calling my name and taking my pulse when I came to. I put on an adult diaper (highly recommend these as a pad is no competition for all of this blood!) and went to bed. I was breathing very heavily. I drank lots of water and fell asleep while my husband watched over me. I did get up about every 2 hours the rest of the night to change my pad and empty out more blood and clots. I had read others say they felt 100% better after this, but I only felt about 75% better. I did not feel pain, but felt that my uterus was still "working" on something. The next day, I resumed normal activities but was just very tired and weak. That afternoon, as I went to the bathroom, I felt that something was hanging and reached down to feel a large piece of tissue which was the sac, hanging out of me. I tried to pull on it, but it was stuck way up in my cervix. I kept pulling until the part that was hanging out broke off. I continued to wear a diaper fearing that the rest of the sac and a lot more blood would come out unexpectedly. But 2 days later, it was still there, I could reach up into my vagina and feel it there, but still could not get it out. I ended up having my husband insert a speculum and retrieving the rest of the tissue. This was not painful either. I am hopeful that my body would have eventually expelled this on its own, but just knowing it was there bugged me. I read other posts where people said they had a little tissue left in their cervix that their doctor removed. I am now having normal period like bleeding with occasional small clots or small pieces of tissue in it.

Tessa Ann* said...

I am so sorry for your loss, but appreciate you sharing this information. I need to read this.

Sorry My story is so long.

-I am on hour 13 of Cytotec. I was prescribed this medication, because either I am experiencing either an Eptopic Pregnancy or an actual pregnancy that isn't viable. I've had an U/S and many HCg tests and though they couldn't see anything on the U/S, my hormon level still shows I am pregnant. They have no idea where the "tissue" is. I was really scared to take this medicine and had to come to grips that this pregnancy was not going to be viable. I guess I still had a bit of hope that maybe a miricale would occur and my HCg levels would significantly increase and by some mircale a healthy sac would appear on the U/S, but unfortunatly.....I have to accept this just isn't going to happen :(

I inserted 3 pills of the Cytotec last night at 8:30. I made sure to have a filling dinner, as I was concerned with possible nausea. It wasn't painful to insert the pills and they are pretty small in nature....... and I didn't feel anyting "in there" like I thought I might. I was also afraid of it (sorry) burning me and causing some infection, but all seems well so far.

-It has been 13 hours now and I have had consistent cramping since about 10pm last night. I have not had ANY bleeding yet and the cramping is completely tolerable (at this point) I have not taken anything for pain since inserting the meds.... and it was not prescribed or offered to me either.

-My fear is that I will have to have the next option...some sort of shot that is like a form of Chemo and has high risks, but would clear the remaining tissue if it indeed was a tubal pregnancy.

My #1 thing is I DO NOT want to have a D&C. That frightens me to no end. I am hoping Cytotec will take care of the remaining pregnancy (that was sad to type..) and I will be able to move forward with the possibilty of trying for another baby.

Sorry this was so long. It was really therapeautic to just get it all out. It feels so lonely being in this situation and above all....so devistating.

Wishing everyone healthy, happy Babies in the futre :)

Tessa Ann
PS: I will try to remember to come back to update how everything ended up.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this post. I've been searching the web frantically for information about other people's experiences. A couple of days ago I went to the emergency room because I was bleeding and 9 wks pregnant. They did an ultrasound and couldn't detect a heartbeat. I was given two doses of Misoprostol to induce a miscarriage. I inserted 4 pills vaginally at around 5:30 pm and nothing happened for several hours. At around 9:45 pm I started having minor cramping, but no blood. Then, within 15 minutes the cramps became severe. It was as painful as being in labour. I took an ibuprofen for the pain but it did absolutely nothing. From 10:00 pm - 2:00 am I experienced extreme pain, diarrhea, chills and passed a lot of blood. Compared to my previous miscarriage, however, the blood loss was minor. Around 2:00 am I passed the fetus and immediately the pain started to subside. Within half an hour I fell asleep without any more discomfort. The next day I continued to bleed lightly. At 5:30 pm I took my second dose of the meds and braced myself for another night of hell. To my surprise absolutely nothing happened, other than a slight increase in bleeding. The blood mostly comes out when I sit on the toilet, but not enough to fill a pad. I'm worried that there is A LOT of blood left inside me based on my previous experience with m/c. Also, I don't recall passing a sac as others have reported. I'll be having a follow up ultrasound in about a week to make sure everything has passed. If it hasn't, they will give me a D&C. Hopefully between now and then everything will make its way out naturally.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for posting this experience of yours.I went through the same as you,the same clots of blood about three times,the same pain and the same waking up evry hour n feeling that something heavy is coming through.
I am scared though whether consuming cytotec will put a bad effect on my future.

Willa C. said...

I found your post while sitting here trying to do anything. The pain is horrible. My back is killing me, I want to tear out my cervix. Sorry, but it's true.

I began with my first dose 2 days ago. Took the first pill at 3pm and waited. 4:30 I had cramps that were painful but tolerable. It felt like the beginning labor cramps - more stretchy and burny. I didn't have a whole lot in this time time come out. Just blood, but I was already bleeding. By the next day (yesterday)... for the most part it was still just bleeding. I decided to take the second dose.

I took the second dose 7 pm. All night there was no pain. I went to bed taking a vicodin and an ambien just in case. I slept all night, but woke up at 7 am in intense pain. This pain was unbearable, I almost went to the ER. From 7 am to 10:30 am the pain was difficult to stand. I felt nauseated. I felt dizzy. I took one vicodin and 2 motrin 600 within the course of 3 hours. It is now 12:15... and the pain has subsided.

This has been a horrible experience and honestly, if I ever have to do this again (please NO!) I will firmly request the d&c. With this experience I have been in pain since last Thursday. It didn't begin with the mistoprostol for me.

I will update and let you know if this worked at least - or if I have to have anything else. I am still not passing clots or tissue like they said I would :(

Laura said...

Hi
I have to take cytotec today for a missed miscariage at 11 weeks. I'm doing some research online as I'm terrified.It's very helpful to read people's experiences, thank you.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much Abbie and everyone else for sharing your stories and advice. I took my only dose of Misoprostol, 4 pills inserted vaginally (in order to complete a miscarriage) at 4pm today. I am two hours in and the cramps are becoming moderately worse. There is no bleeding yet. I was going to wait until the cramps became untolerable, but thanks to your advice, I just took the Tylenol #3. I am praying it won't be too bad and that I will be able to successfully pass the miscarriage. Thanks again for sharing your story!

Shannon McCoy Cohn said...

Hi - Thanks so much for your comments, everyone. I have a missed miscarriage with a fetus that measured 6 1/2 weeks with no heartbeat. This is my third pregnancy and second miscarriage. My second pregnancy resulted in my beautiful 21 month old daughter Sofia. I am sitting here looking at the Cytotec my doctor gave me to take tonight and have been scaring myself by reading all of the risks involved with using the drug in this off-label way. However, the thought of a D&C terrifies me as I want to try to avoid any type of surgical procedure whenever possible. I took Cytotec with my first miscarriage a few years ago. It worked relatively well with cramps and bleeding starting with a couple of hours. I passed everything within 24 hours and bled for a week or so afterward. I remember the last time having severe gastrointestinal symptoms - mainly diarrhea - I lost almost 10 pounds in 2 weeks. And let me tell you, THAT is not a recommended way to lose a few pounds. So, here I am again, staring at my Cytotec, contemplating this terrible, emotionally and physically draining procedure again. It has helped me so much to read your stories as I sit here. Hang in there ladies. Also, as an aside, although this miscarriage was to due a Sub. Hemorrhage, the first was due to decreasing progesterone. With my 2nd pregnancy, my doctor caught it. One day my progesterone level was fine, but due to my earlier miscarriage, the doctor really wanted to monitor me, so he did tests on progesterone every other day for a week or so. At around 5 weeks, the levels started declining so he put me on progesterone supplements until week 10 or 11 when the placenta takes over. I just wanted to mention this, because this very simple monitoring saved my pregnancy. with all subsequent pregnancies I have to take progesterone. My doctor said it is one of the most common, yet easily remedied causes of miscarriage. Be your own proactive advocate, if you have repeated miscarriages, MAKE your doctor monitor your levels. A big hug to all of you girls going through this.
Shannon

Jpbaker said...

After our first ultrasound today we saw that the baby had no heartbeat. I decided to go home and consider my options. I am going to go with cytotec. Thank you for posting your story, I feel as if many people don't talk about these things and it was so amazing to hear it from a first person POV rather than from doctors.

I also wanted to know how long the bleeding lasted (on average) for everyone and what was done with the remain of the baby if you weren't taking them to the doctor?

I wish you the best of everything and anyone who reads this please keep a prayer in mind for me as I go through the process tomorrow.

Thank you,
Jillian Baker

Anonymous said...

Thanks to everyone who has posted their experiences. I just had my first miscarriage after 2 healthy pregnancies. It's been 3 weeks since the fetus stopped growing, so now it's time to make a decision. Reading your stories of what Cytotec is actually like is incredibly helpful. After reading everything, I don't think I can handle it emotionally to see the sac and fetus, and to bleed for so long. I think I may opt for a D&C. I can't thank you all enough for taking the time to share your stories.

Good for you Abbie for being courageous enough to start this conversation.

Lyndsey said...

Thank you for posting your experience. It's difficult to find many first hand accounts of women who used this medication to help along their miscarriages.

About a week and a half ago my boyfriend and I went in for our first ultrasound. I was supposed to be 9 weeks 6 days. They could not find a heartbeat and the size of the sac indicated that either it was not a viable pregnancy, or that i was not as far along as we thought based on my LMP. They sent me for blood work to measure my hCG and over the course of two days there was a slight drop indicating that I would likely miscarry. One week and two days after the initial appointment I had a follow up ultrasound which confirmed that there was sill no heartbeat and no additional fetal growth.

My midwife has estimated that growth stopped at 6 weeks (only 4 days after my pregnancy was confirmed). I am now at 11 weeks 3 days and my body is showing no signs of miscarrying naturally-- no cramping or spotting.

We agree with my doctor that a D&C is not the best option for me and so she told me I can either wait for my body to naturally do the work or I can insert the Cytotec. I haven't made up my mind yet, but I'm leaning towards the Cytotec.

Although I've only known for about a week and a half that I'm miscarrying, I have been carrying around the "products of conception" for over 5 weeks now and the thought of doing it for much longer seems emotionally unbearable. I'd like to attempt to put this behind me and get some closer, but I don't feel like I can do that until I physically miscarry. I'm scared though--not of the physical pain, but of the additional emotional stress for both me and my partner.

This pregnancy was a (pleasant) surprise for us. I'm 25 and I have Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome and Endometriosis-- the odds of me getting pregnant naturally were very low to begin with. On top of that I was on the pill. There's nothing in the world I have ever wanted more than to have a child. Some say to look at this experience hopefully--they say look you CAN get pregnant even when you thought you couldn't. But now I'm even more nervous because I felt like this might be my only chance to have a child and now that chance has passed.

I will be making a decision tonight on the Cytotec. I just hope whatever decision I make brings me some amount of peace.

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to let you know that not all experiences with cytotec are horrific. At the end of my 9th week an ultrasound revealed an embryo of about 6 1/2 weeks, with no heartbeat. Having miscarried naturally in the past, I waited for nature to take her course. I bled lightly for 3 days. On day 4 I started to bleed very heavily (changing pads every hour, or less) and passed some large blood clots. I got scared and went to the hospital. While waiting for the doctor, I passed a very large "something" and the bleeding tapered off. I thought it might be over. But the doctor examined me and confirmed that the gestational sac, et al, where still in tact, inside. Since the bleeding had calmed he asked me to come in the following morning for cytotec. The doctor then inserted 4 pills in my vagina and told me to go home, rest, have a lot of pads ready, and take Advil at the first twinge of pain. After 3-4 hours I started bleeding heavily. It lasted 1 1/2-2 hours and I passed "something". I never took the Avil. An u/s 2 days later confirmed that it was sac and the pregnancy was over. I had no contractions and none of the other side effects discussed here. It could be because I had passed so much blood and other matter the previous day. I don't know and never will. I'm glad it's over and I'm praying for another baby. Hugs to all.
Debbie

Anonymous said...

I had to use cytotec 2 days ago for a miscarriage and while I had, like you, extremely painful cramping with heavy bleeding for hours, unlike you I never passed any extremely large clots or "somethings." Since my baby stopped growing at 6 weeks gestation (we discovered this when I was 9 weeks past my period in an u/s) maybe the reason i didn't have huge clots was because the fetus was so tiny. Anyway, I assumed that I had passed the fetus without knowing it during that period when I was actively experiencing the cytotec. I had period like bleeding after the cramping had mostly stopped and into the next days. Today, two days since taking cytotec, I suddenly got some cramping (not painful though at all) and passed this HUGE "something." Huge compared to whatever I had expected anyway, and I realized that that must be the baby's sac. I was very upset because I had assumed based on my doc's description of cytotec that the miscarriage would start and finish during those 6-ish hours of intense cramping and bleeding. But turns out that just got things going and I technically didn't miscarry until today. I personally found this emotionally upsetting because I had to "relive" the experience psychologically. I wish someone would have warned me about the possibility that this could happen because I had had no idea.

Anonymous said...

I found your blog by googling misoprostol. I am so sorry for your losses. This is my first pregnancy, unfortunately ending in miscarriage. I am 5 weeks, 4 days. Had u/s yesterday and the dr could see nothing and my HCG levels were not rising appropriately. I was prescribed Cytotec. Last night around 6:30 I inserted 4 pills and took two Tylenol #3's. By 8:30 the pain was unbearable. The cramping was horrible, my back was killing me, I was freezing and shaking uncontrollably. I felt sick to my stomach but never actually threw up. I also had horrible gas and gas pains. I literally felt like I could die. I have never felt pain like this. Around 10:30 I took two more Tylenol #3's and finally was able to fall asleep on an off..the cramping slowly subsided. It is now 10 am and I am bleeding slightly, but haven't passed any clots. I am so scared because I physically don't think I can handle inserting 4 more pills tonight.

g said...

Abbie, thanks for posting your experience. It's very similar to mine, four months ago. Tomorrow I'll have to go through it again.
Please, please, tell me about the analysis of the tissue you passed. Did you collect it correctly? How? My doctor keeps saying that it's no possible for me to collect it properly and have it analyzed, unless I do curettage in her office. I don't want to do that, I want something less invasive, but I really want it analyzed, especially after two miscarriages. Was is possible for you? [English is not my first language. Please forgive the mistakes]. PLease, write me back.

Abbie Burnham said...

Glayston-
It is really difficult to collect what you need on your own (unless your baby is further along, like 11-12 weeks). I know that I tried for my second miscarriage and ended up missing the baby and only getting some of the gestational sac. They need to have fetal tissue to test, so you may need a D&C if you want the baby to be tested. I'm really sorry. :(
-Abbie

Anonymous said...

I took Misoprostol 12 days ago after I had a missed miscarriage with my twins at 13 weeks. I think because of how far along I was I was in the hospital - and the intent was to do a D&C as soon as the bleeding started. It took 6 pills, 3 vaginal and 3 oral over 6 hours, and then 10 hours later woke up to extremely painful contractions and then I passed the sac,placenta babies everything whole (they were in one sac, which is very rare - called monoamniotic twins, and basically why they died). There was hardly any blood leading up to it, but a fair amount of blood came out during. Unfortunately I had to share a room at the hospital and someone had to listen to me labor for about 40 minutes at 5am. They didn't give me any pain meds, or just not in time because I woke up because of the contractions, which were constant and very intense. I would still choose the misoprostol because I was able to be the first to see my babies when I opened the sac, and was able to spend some time with them alone - and took them home with me for burial. It was more painful than the doctor had prepared me for, but I think passing everything whole at 13 week twin size was not what they expected would happen. Still the experience physically is not even remotely as bad as the emotional reality of losing two babies from a much wanted pregnancy. Next time though I would make sure there was more pain medication available.

Anonymous said...

Hello im 7 weeks pregnant and have extremely low hcg levels, so doctors advised me to take cytotec as i will miscarry eventually. Started taking the pills vaginaly today, took 2 pills three times in a day.The cramps are unbearable but i have no bleeding. Is this normal?? Really worried about whats going on. Going for an ultrasound tommorrow.

Anonymous said...

Hi, thank you all for sharing your experience.. this is really helpful and big hugs to all the ladies out there who are going through the same experience. Does anyone have knowledge of how you can tell whether everything has been completed? After taking the misoprostol within an hour I had unbearable cramps, fever, vomitting everything mentioned before and I had 2 blood clots soaked pads within 4-5 hours. But that was the end. I still have mild stomack ache and something going on feeling with light bleeding. Is there anyway to induce the sac to come out? I was not able to put in teh misoprostol deep enough could be the only reason I can think of.. also, can we take lunesta (sleeping pills) at night after 48 hours of using misoprostol? Any comments will be very helpful. Thank you all....

Sarah said...

I'm so sorry for your loss(es). I am about to use cytotec and googled the symptoms even though I've used it once before. This is my second miscarriage, in between them, I gave birth to my stillborn son. Anguish is my middle name, but I am fortunate to have 3 and 4 year old girls. My fertility journey has had a very bad ending with 3 lost babies.

Unknown said...

I was told last week (8 weeks pregnant) that the baby had died, probably because it wasn't genetically viable. It's my second pregnancy. I got married last year and I have a 9-year old boy from a college fling and my husband and I wanted to try and have a baby before we got too old (I'm 32. he's 36).

The doctor recommended a D&C, but we don't have health ins. and it would cost $800. Not to mention the fact that I wouldn't have wanted one anyway. So, I asked about alternatives and he prescribed me Cytotec.

The difference is that most of what I've read have been stories of pills taken vaginally. Mine are going to be oral, so I'm not sure if my experience will be the same as what I've read here.

I'm starting my first dose of 200mcg, orally, in about 10 min.

I really appreciate all I've read here. It's helped me a lot. I've been dreading the inevitable, but I think having some idea of what to expect has helped.

I'll keep everyone posted on my progress. ... :'(

Unknown said...

7pm: I took my pills at 2:30pm. At about 6:30pm, I started having terrible churning in my stomach and a lot of nausea. The churning feels more like gas pains than miscarriage cramping and I have terrible diarrhea. (sorry, all). My upper stomach is killing me, but nothing else, so far. Just some mild period-like cramping in my pelvic area. I feel like I'm going to throw up any minute so I'm carrying a bucket around with me, just in case....It comes in waves. That's all so far....

Jpbaker said...

Hi everyone. I was just wondering if anyone had concieved after using misoprostol and if so how long it took to concieve after your m/c?

Unknown said...

I'm on day 3 of the Cytotec. Other than completely debilitating diarrhea, I haven't had any other problems. No cramping or bleeding. No miscarriage, as of yet. It's very, very frustrating for me. I've been sick for 3 days running and it seems like the medicine isn't working. I just want to put this all behind me, but it seems as though I may have to get a D&C after all is said and done. I hope not...

Unknown said...

The Cytotec didn't work. Nothing. All I got was VERY sick. I called my doctor 2 days after my last dose and they were perplexed and questioned whether or not I really was pregnant - which was *stupid* because THEY gave me the ultrasound that told me I was pregnant and that I'd miscarried. Anyway, they said all I can do is wait for the pregnancy to pass naturally or have a D&C. So, we've opted to wait a few weeks and see what happens. Again, I wonder if this didn't work because I took it orally, not vaginally? *sigh*

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your post. I am about 14 hours into the process. I have only had light bleeding thus far, but I am planning to take the 2nd dose if things don't pick up after 24 hours. I really do not want to have the D&C. I have my post misoprostol u/s on Monday. Your story helped me to know that other women have experienced this and had the same feelings. This was our first pregnancy at 34 years old. I am looking to pass 3 sacs. We were so excited to have triplets. We never thought it would turn out like this. I'm very sad, but hopeful our next pregnancy will be viable. Thank you again. D

hadashi said...

because what i read here was so incredibly helpful for me before i started the misoprostol, i'll add mine.
this is my second consecutive miscarriage. the first one happened naturally and was complete. with this one after it was confirmed there was not a viable baby, i wanted to wait, but it was getting close to the 12th week and i absolutely did not want a D&C, or risk infection by waiting too long.
after the first dose (vaginally), the bleeding started in about 5 hours. cramping started after about 9 hours. i advise taking pain meds (4 ibuprofin or similar) BEFORE you dose, and then dose regularly -- kind of pre-emptive for the cramps. heavy bleeding, along with clots and tissue, had me changing every hour; tapered off after about 17 hours. second dose was 24 hours later; this time the bleeding was never heavy but 12 hours after that dose -- and i did NOT pre-emptively take pain meds -- i had such strong cramping i can only describe it as actual contractions. it was unbelievably painful. i passed a huge clot/tissue chunk several hours later.
my advice: 1)you cannot be alone and do this. someone needs to be with you for both emotional support and also because all the blood loss and potential pain can really debilitate you. 2)if you can, start the process early in the morning so that most of the worst bleeding/cramping will be over before bedtime and you can get some sleep. 3)i said this before, but regularly and pre-emptively take the pain meds, whether it be the prescription stuff you may get or 800mg of ibuprofin. whatever works. 4)be strong. you can do this, and you will survive it. let yourself have the emotional reaction now or later, but you WILL get through it.

Anonymous said...

My experience was at times painful, but not as painful as I anticipated. Not as much blood as I had imagined either. I ate a healthy meal a couple hours after taking the pills orally. The medication took exactly 4 hrs to kick in. The episodes of contractions lasted about 2 ½ hrs. After that, I was worn out physically and emotionally and slept the entire next day and much of the following day.

Keys for an empowered process:

1) Have a compassionate friend with you: She can hold your hand, sit with you, bring you warm tea, keep you hydrated, listen to you, wipe your tears, and even be a warm body next to you as you are shivering cold. Her soft feminine touch and demeanor will be so soothing and reassuring.

2) Hot water bottle (that old fashioned looking thing): filled with warm water held to your abdomen.

3) Modified butterfly pose: this yoga pose can be done while you’re in lying in bed under your covers with your hot water bottle on your stomach. Be sure to support your knees with pillows. This pose relaxes your groin and reproductive area and helps ease menstrual cramping. For info and easy instructions:
http://www.wikihealth.com/Yoga_for_miscarriage#Modified_Butterfly_pose

4) Arnica: Arnica 30 is a natural homeopathic for the relief of pains, bruises and shock. It is good to relieve fear, panic, anxiety. Arnica 200c for any big shock to the body, either physical or psychological. For info:
http://www.yourverygoodhealth.co.uk/firstaid/default.asp

5) Essential oils: Good for smelling to lift your spirits, to break up the moment, to elevate your energy. I chose several gentle high vibration oils: rose, jojoba, and sandalwood. If you mix some drops in with olive oil it makes a very nice moisturizer.

6) Ginger root tea: Cut up some fresh ginger root and simmer it in a pot of water on the stove. This tea is good for easing the pain and building internal body heat.

7) Breathing exercise, called Ujayi (u-j-i-ee): Enables you to take in enough oxygen and helps the body release toxins. It is a balancing and calming breath and builds internal body heat. The breath used in yoga is known as Ujayi (u-j-i-ee) and is a breath taken in to and out of the nose. The breath is drawn slowly in to the body so can help to clam you and also relax the body, stopping you from tensing up and giving you a tool to be able to actively manage your body’s reaction. You can learn to breathe through the pain. For info: http://www.reassur3d.com/pages/R3d_yoga.html

8) Go to your sense of Intuition via the Brow Chakra, also called the “third eye.”
Our avenue to wisdom (our intuition), learning from our experiences and putting them in perspective. The spiritual center called the third eye happens to be the pineal gland, located in the middle of your brain. The pineal glad secretes melatonin during times of relaxation and visualization. The third eye is stimulated by focusing on the center of the forehead between your eyebrows. It feels good.

9) Allow the body to express:

Speak the words that come out: You know all those crazy feelings and emotions you’ve been having for the past few weeks? Well, they came back for me during the moments of intense pain. I don’t know why. Best I can understand is that those painful times were so intense that my whole self was involved. For some reason, somewhere during the ebb and flow of contractions, each time I began to blabber on about all the sadness, anger, confusion, hurt, and crazy stuff. It was an important part of my release process.

Deep sobbing and crying happened immediately after I was in pain for a bit. I’m not sure how long that lasted, but as it subsided I noticed an amazing sense of calm all throughout my body, tingling in my face, and even euphoria. I felt so good immediately following those episodes that I quickly began to look forward to the release of sobbing and tears flowing.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for all of these posts. They have helped greatly, as I had no idea what to expect.

My husband and I got pregnant after a year of trying (we are both 42...obviously we have waited too long before deciding to start a family).

At 7 weeks, just after seeing a heartbeat on ultrasound, I started spotting, and was told I would miscarry. I did miscarry within a few days of the ultrasound. Bled for a week and assumed that it was over. I started bleeding again a couple of weeks later. After another ultrasound I was told there was still 'product' left and was prescribed Misoprostol.

I was given 4 doses to 'repeat every 12 hours as required' - confusing instructions.

I took 2 tablets vaginally last night at 8pm. I started cramping and bleeding within a few hours. Took Tylenol 1's before going to sleep. Awoke a few times to use the washroom - blood and clots - although I'm not sure how much tissue was passed.

Cramps were much like original miscarriage. I have been bleeding for a couple of weeks, but the bleeding has increased.

I was given 8 pills to repeat every 12 hours as required. Problem is I don't know how much 'product' needs to be expelled, or how much has been expelled.

I took the second dose a few hours ago - but nothing further has happened yet. Bleeding seems to have slowed. Not sure if I should take a third dose.

Would be interested to know if others repeated all 4 doses. Also - how long did it take for all bleeding to stop completely.

Shannon said...

I'm glad I didn't read this FIRST. haha :) I took my dose this afternoon at 12:30. My cramping didn't start until 6:30 and it's now 8:15 and it's still not bad enough to need any medicine. I can tell it's increasing though. I have only passed a little stringy mucus--still no bleeding. I'm hoping for progress!

Thanks for your post!

Anonymous said...

Hi Everyone -- I read this blog before starting Cytotec and I thought it would only be fair to share my experience :)
This is my third miscarriage in one year. I let the other two occur naturally, but after bleeding for over 6 weeks after the second miscarriage, I had no desire to go through that type of experience again.
This past Friday, I got confirmation that my third pregnancy was not going to succeed (I was at approx. 7 weeks). My doc gave me a script for Cytotec, as well as some detailed instructions on 1)how to take it and 2)what to expect in terms of side effects. After reading the info available online as well as some of the "horror" stories out there, I was pretty scared.
Took my first dose (4 pills inserted vaginally) this morning at 10 am. Made sure I took two tylenols & two gravol tablets beforehand (per dr's instructions). By 11 am, the crampting starting and by 11:30, I had some pretty big clots that were coming out every 10 to 15 minutes. Not to be too graphic, but it actually did feel like a bit of a cleansing process...
Cramping got more intense from 1:30 to 4:30 with more clotting. It is now 8 pm and though I am bleeding (like a regular period), the cramping is definitely slowing down. I stayed in bed most of the day (running to and from the bathroom with help from DH) and have been eating and drinking fluids all day.
All in all, this has not been a bad experience for me. I was told that I would continue bleeding for 10 to 14 days but the worst would occur on the first day. For me personallly, this is much less painful than the cramping and bleeding I had during my second miscarriage.
In terms of side effects, make sure to take some pain killers in advance. The anti-nausea medication also really helped.
Good luck to all of you....hopefully experiences like this make us all stronger!!!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much Abbie and everyone who has shared their experiences. I had a D & C in September and got pregnant during my next cycle. This pregnancy I was diagnosed with a blighted ovum at 7 weeks. My Doctor and I decided taking Cytotec was safest because I so recently had a D & C.
I took 4 pills orally Monday. I had awful cramping on everything from the waist down. My Doctor gave me Vicodin and told me to take Immodium (which really helped). It was awful and very similar to what everyone else described. I passed lots of small clots and had some light bleeding. So I took round two of the pills on Tuesday. The bleeding got much worse. Its Thursday and there is no end in sight to the bleeding. Late last night I was worried I would have to go to the hospital because I would soil a pad and gush into the toilet. It has gotten better but still very, very heavy. I am also dizzy. I am just tired of bleeding. If I had to do this again, I would have a D & C. How long does this bleeding last?!?!? I want my life back! Thanks again to everyone and best wishes for the new year~

Abbie Burnham said...

My guess is that you haven't passed everything yet, and that is the cause of the continued bleeding. My heaviest bleeding was only the night of taking the pills, and then I probably bled for about 14 days total.

Anonymous said...

Hi Abbie,

My wife was diagnosed with a missed miscarriage three days ago and we were given the three options (wait and see, cytotec, or D&C) we chose to wait. Today she began to have severe cramps similar to labor pains and increased bleeding. The pain was so bad that she needed to go to the hospital. After a few hours and once the bleeding subsided, they did an ultrasound and unfortunately could not determine if everything had passed. Now the doctor has prescribed cytotec to be taken orally. My wife is afraid the severe pains will come back, and also worried about the side effects.

Anyway, just wanted to share another story in progress. I have been searching, but have not seen another case of taking cytotec orally after already passing most of the pregnancy.

Abbie Burnham said...

I think most doctors recommend a D&C for an incomplete miscarriage, probably because they may just end up having to do a D&C in the end anyway (if the Cytotec doesn't complete the miscarriage). Thankfully mine completed both times and I didn't have to go that route. Praying for your wife - I know how scary it is.

Anonymous said...

I've been looking at this bottle of Misoprostol for two days now. I keep telling myself I'm going to take them and everything will be ok, but I'm scared to death. Even more scared of having a d&c. I told myself I would insert these pills this evening when my bf got home, but I had a few minor cramps and was convinced I would miscarry naturally. I don't know what to do, I want this to happen on it's own, but don't know if I'm doing the right thing my waiting. This is my first pregnancy, and I'm 40 years old, it's the biggest heartbreak of my life.

Anonymous said...

I have an appointment to go to my OBGYN for a 2nd ultrasound before taking misoprostol to induce a miscarriage (the 2nd one is just for my own peace of mind). I'm really nervous, but I found your blog somewhat comforting, so thank you for that. I'm glad I have some idea of what to expect. It's nice to read something more balanced than some of the horror stories I've read. I just hope I'm more like you and less like them in terms of my reaction to the drug. Thanks.

Kristen said...

Cytotec hasn't worked for me. I inserted 4 tablets into my vagina yesterday at 8 am, and all that happened was a lot of pain, but no bleeding. I called my OB and he prescribed me four more pills to insert. At 8 pm last night, I inserted the meds and curled up with my husband, waiting for something to happen, but I woke up at 6 am with no bleeding, no pain, no nothing. I have a 9 am appointment with my OB and I'm afraid he's going to tell me I need a D & C. I know that having a D & C can affect fertility, and so I was really hoping to avoid it. Plus, it's surgery. I mean, if I wait long enough, won't my body take care of itself? I'm hoping that letting nature take its course is still an option.

Anonymous said...

I too took misoprostol to induce a miscarriage after my ultrasound at 7w4d showed a blighted ovum. My husband I were absolutely devistated as we have been trying to get pregnant through fertility treatments for 3.5 years. This is our 2nd miscarriage.
My experience was very similar to Abbies. I took 4 pills at about 2:30pm and by 6pm my "contrations" were very strong, percocet barely made a dent in the pain. At that time I passed a lot of blood, tissue and clots. By about 7pm the cramping slowed down and I was able to have something to eat. We went to sleep around 11pm and by morning I felt much better. For 2 days things seemed fine, I was only spotting. On the 3rd day something changed. I started contracting again and the pain medication was not working. After about 5.5 hours I started to bleed and pass more clots and tissue. The pain slowed down after about 6 hours and I was finally able to sleep. My body is exhausted. Emotionally I am a mess. We had just announced our pregnancy to our family's at Christmas and only 4 days later we had to announce our loss.

Thank you all for sharing your experience. It helps to know that I am not alone.

Anonymous said...

At 12 weeks I went for a regularly scheduled check-up and the doctor was not able to detect a heartbeat. That was followed up with an ultrasound and HCG level check that confirmed I had blighted Ovum.
Debated between cytotec and d/c and opted to try the medication first.
4 200 mg pills were administered vaginally at 1pm. By 3pm I was starting to have some pressure in my lower abdomen and opted to take two Tylenol 3. By 4pm I was experiencing pretty intense cramping, diarrhea and lower back pain. This continued and around 6pm I took two additional 400 mg Ibuprofen and cradled myself around a hot water bottle. By 7pm was feeling less pain and fell asleep. Got up at 8pm, walked around a little, felt some blood gush out of me, went to the washroom and passed a very large clot. It was definitely a "product of conception". Physically feeling fine now although I am having continued bleeding, all other pain and discomfort has ended. Certainly not a plesant experience and I hope never to have to repeat it, but I am relieved it is over and that I did not have to go the d/c route.

Jillian Baker said...

Dear Ladies who want to use misoprostol to induce abortion: In case you have not noticed this place is somewhere people can come and learn about others loses as well as share their own experience and grieve. We are not doctors here, we are women who don't want to feel alone in our heartbreak. I suggest you take yourself to the doctor for advice as well as the store to get some condoms.

Anonymous said...

My experience with misoprostol was not bad at all. Missed miscarriage at 12 weeks and baby was about 6 weeks along.

I inserted 4 tablets and laid down to watch a movie. I took a vicodin when the cramping started, about 4 hours later, which totally controlled the pain.

About 9 hours after inserting the pills, I had heavy bleeding and passed large clots. By 12 hours it was all over.

Other than feeling light headed from the blood loss, I had no bad side effects. I will definitely take this route again if I sadly find myself in this situation.

I am so glad this is all over. Waiting for a natural miscarriage was getting to me.

Anonymous said...

wow. thanx for all your posts. I am sitting at home alone as my husband could not take time off being his second day at work in a new job. I really needed to know what to expect. I was diagnosed abroad and felt that they had not informed me sufficiently of what to expect. Should be in my 13th week now but before the xmas break they told me that there was no heartbeat. After days of crying due to our hopes of a new baby being crushed I decided to take the pill at 12 noon. It is now 15.23 and Im a bit nervous as i have not experienced anything yet. The gino told me to take 2 tablets orally and 2 inserted. Then to take 2 orally every 4 hours. Is this correct? I've read here that most of you have taken 3 and then after 6 hours the next dosage. a bit of advice pls... worried

Anonymous said...

My heart goes out to everyone that has gone through the pain and misfortune of experiencing a miscarriage.

I would like to share my experience with Cytotec. I had read many of the stories on the internet, some were horrible, others less so. I was really not sure what to expect so I had prepared for the worst.

I was 9.5 weeks along, but my baby was measuring only 6.5 weeks, and an ultrasound indicated there was no heartbeat. The nurse said that i would be a good candidate for the Cytotec given that the baby was measuring under 9 weeks, i was already experiencing some spotting, and I had previously had a live birth (after birth, apparently your cervix opens easily). I was very apprehensive but decided to take the tablets.

At 3 pm i inserted all four tablets (200 mcg each for a total of 800 mcg) vaginally. It was a little weird inserting them, kind of like putting four aspirin inside of you. By the time i inserted the fourth one, i could feel the other tablets in there. I lied down for 30 minutes afterwards so I wasn't fighting gravity, and let's face it. Even though your baby has died, inserting these tablets is sort of like saying a final good bye, and i felt it was important to honour that and rest for 30 minutes and think about everything.

At about 6:30 pm I started having some mild cramping and bleeding with small clots. I decided to take a Tylenol 3 (the doctor had prescribed these for me.) At 7 pm I was feeling heavier cramps and decided to take a second Tylenol 3. The rest of the evening went pretty smoothly. I took it easy, had my dinner, watched TV and talked to friends for support. I went to the bathroom several times to check and see how things were going. More red blood with lots of clots, but nothing super heavy. I took another Tylenol 3 at 10 pm and went to bed. I had some cramping during the night, but nothing so severe that i felt the need to get up and take more Tylenol.

I slept through the night fine and got out of bed about 6:30 am. I still had bleeding but nothing too heavy, took a shower, took my son to daycare and came home about 8:30 am. I had read that being up and moving around helped get things moving, so was hopeful that this would be the case for me after having slept through the night. I went to the bathroom and starting peeing, and then i heard a "plunk" sound. I stopped peeing, and decided to fish out what had fallen into the toilet bowl. I wanted to be sure that I had passed the pregnancy, although of course touching what had fallen into the toilet felt very strange. It was a solid mass about the size of my pinky finger, and i was able to make out what looked like the start of an arm or leg. I phoned the nurse and described what had happened, and she said that this was indeed the passing of my pregnancy. I'm still having some cramping and bleeding, but that should get lighter with time.

All in all, my experience with Cytotec was relatively pain free and simple, for which i am very grateful. I am so sorry to those women that have had terrible experiences with it. I wish that everyone that has the misfortune to have to go through this in the first place can have an experience similar to mine. I also had the doctor write me a doctors note excusing me from work for 2 days, and that took a huge load off of my mind to know that i had no obligations and could just relax and miscarry at home.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your post and the posts of your readers. I took my pills at noon today and after 8 hours and 4 of severe cramping I have passed the sac and feel much relief. My doctor was unclear about the start time of the effects and without your post I would have had not known when to take it. Thank you for sharing and good luck to all in this difficult process.

Anonymous said...

Hello Ladies, I've just taken Misoprostol about 2 hours ago - haven't had any reaction as yet - but am terrified about what is to come. Thank you for your posts with your experiences - I will definatley update once this ordeal is over. This is my second pregnancy and first miscarriage - it hurts a lot.

Anonymous said...

I was glad to find this blog where everyone shared their experiences with Misoprostol. I am going to start the tablets tomorrow hopefully as I found out few days ago (at 12 weeks) that my baby's heartbeat stopped at 8 weeks. I have started spotting already but nothing else. This is not my first miscarriage I had so many.. I have done a D&C in the past but this time wanted to avoid it if I could. I feel scared to start the process but reading this blog has helped a little. I am a little confused on the instructions my doctor gave me. They told me to take 4 tablets and repeat in 72 hours as needed. From your comments I see different instructions and also in the misoprostol.org website I read that the pills should be taken again after 3 hours? Does anybody have any input on this? I will post my experience after I am done. I just hope everything will be ok.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for being so brave and sharing your experience. I am going through my 2nd "missed miscarriage." Last time I had a D&C and then pitocin to help pass clots, the pain of which I imagine is similar to Cytotec. I had a healthy baby last year but by C-section due to long, painful natural labor & no progression (even once I finally caved & tried pitocin & an epidural). I am scared thinking of reliving the pain of both the miscarriage & labor, but thank you again for sharing how you got through it, & bless your heart.

Anonymous said...

I am following up on the comment left on Feb 25. I started the process yesterday at 1 pm with the pills. Cramps started lightly at 4 pm but then became very strong in a short time. I took the pain reliever at 4 pm but I wished I had taken it earlier as I had the worst hour and a half with pain. At 5:30 pm I started bleeding heavily and that did not stop until 11 pm. The doctor told me that heavy bleeding for about the first 6 hours is normal. I took another pain reliever at 1 am then at 3 am I fell asleep until 7 am. I felt better this morning. At around 8:30 am I pass the sac so the worst is over for me. Everything went faster because I had started bleeding on my own already. I am so relieved that it happened so quick but sad at the same time. I feel weak now and to top it off this morning I had to watch all these people parking in front of my lawn as they were going to a baby shower of my neighbor!

heather.wheatley said...

I am 24 yrs. old me and my husband have been trying for a year and a half after 3 rounds of clomid i found out i was pregnant. Went in for my (what i thought was my wk 7 U/S) dr. said i was only 5 wks. bc there was no heart beat. Went back 2 wks later and still no heart beat. I have now been waiting for 4 wks to pass the tissue and not. SO i started taking cytotec orally around 730pm tonight. At the moment (12:20am) i have not had any bleeding but pretty bad cramps. I can still feel them a little over Loritab. I am hoping that this process works i can not think about having a D&C feels to much like an abortion for me. This blog has really helped me know what to expect and how to handle it. Thank you all for the stories. I was scared at first but i am feeling more comfortable now. I will keep you posted. Taking 2nd round in about a half hour. Prayers are out to all you mommy's who have lost little angels.

Anonymous said...

I really appreciate all the posts here. It really gave me the courage to use the medication. This was my first pregnancy. I had some minor bleeding initially but had two subsequent ultrasounds showing a heartbeat, the last one at 7 and 1/2 week. So, I was surprised and disappointed to say the least when I found out there was no longer a heartbeat at what would have been the 9th week. I wanted to have the miscarrage naturally but after two weeks of waiting, I decided to use Cytotec.

I took 4 tablets (800mcg) intravaginally at 6pm last night. At about 9pm, I started having mild cramps. At about 11pm, I started have waves of more intense cramping. I took a Vicodin at that time which helped a bit. I really would suggest taking the pain med at the start of the cramps and another when the more intense cramps come on. Soon after the intense cramps came, I started bleeding lightly at first. Then, at around 1am, I felt a gush of fluid and lots of blood and small clots came out. From 1am to about 6am, I was getting up every hour to relieve more blood and clots but the cramps had subsided around 3am. The next morning until noon, I had bigger clots come out but only very mild cramps. I saw my doctor at about 2pm and she found the gestational sac along with clots stuck around by cervix and vagina. She was able to remove these. I had one more big clot that came out after I got home but for the most part, the bleeding has subsided. I'm going back to the doctor later this week to make sure everything has passed.

All in all, it has been a tolerable experience. My advice would be to take the pain medication early and drink lots of fluid through out the process. My thoughts and prayers to everyone here and thank you for helping me through this tough experience.

heather.wheatley said...

this is an update from a post last night. Today around 5 am i woke up and went to the bathroom. I had a light spot on blood on the tissue. i went back to lay down and coughed and WOOOSSSHHH a big amount of blood came out so i went to bathroom and sat on the toilet for about 10 minutes. when i stood up i noticed there were 2 larger clots in the toilet. I went back to bed after taking another loritab. around 7 30am i had a few smaller clots but nothing bad. Cramps are 90% gone at the moment it is almost midnight. every once in a while i get a bad cramp but it goes away soon. The bleeding is pretty much gone, i get some when i wipe but nothing in my pad.
I hope this helps all you others out there and prayers and thoughts are sent to you

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this post. I "get" to go through this over the weekend and I have been scouring the internet trying to find a schedule of what to expect.

My long-awaited, very much wanted baby died at 7 weeks, but we didn't know 'till 9 weeks. We don't want to make it to 10 weeks so this weekend it will be... There are no words so I'm sticking to just the facts.

Anonymous said...

Update from Anonymous of March 5:

Inserted the tablets at 7AM. Had horrible cramping by noon, the percoset was essential. The blood started fairly strong, but quickly tapered off. I had no clot larger than a pencil eraser.

Now it has been about 36 hours. I called the emergency line at my hospital, they told me that if progesterone levels are too high the uterine lining does not release and we may have to repeat the procedure. They don't do it until 72 hours from initial insertion, and she also got really negative with me, it almost sounded like she thought it was my fault that her colleague did not run a hormone check before starting this. There were many things she said that made me question her competence/her time since graduating from Med School, but if future readers could learn something from my experience it would be to question the timing proposed by the clinician to ensure that they're not pushing it too fast to succeed. When I challenged the doc she said accusingly that most (good?) mothers want to get on with their lives, and refused to accept that I wanted to do this one successful time regardless of when that happens to be scheduled.

Anyway, sad, angry, frustrated, my poor husband feels the same way... and dreading/wondering about the next step. Oh, and I have a pile of unused maxi pads. What a strange weekend.

Anonymous said...

I wish I had read this before I took it. This was my 5th pregnancy (I have 4 healthy sons). I have never had the slightest problem in any of them. At 11 weeks, we found the baby had stopped growing around 8 1/2 weeks. I took cytotec & spent 13 hours of agonizing, screaming pain and extreme bleeding passing large clots, etc. I was throwing up from the pain, fainting and in absolute agony. I honestly thought (and at some points WISHED) I would die! Thank you for sharing.

Anastasia said...

Hello all, and sorry for your losses. I'm 13 weeks, although we found out last week the baby didn't have a heartbeat, and it was 9 weeks along when they measured it.
They couldn't get me in for a D&C for another 3 weeks, so I'm opting for the cyto. Thanks, Abbie, for posting your experience -- I'm hoping for something similar so I can move forward.
None of us deserve something like this, and I'm thinking of all of you who've gone through this process before me...

Anonymous said...

So sorry to those who have had to have this experience, and to those in the future.

I just went through with the miscarriage this past weekend.
I took 800mg Misoprostol around 2PM on Friday. By 4pm Friday, I had a lot of bleeding and some small cramping.
About 4-5 hours after taking the medication, the heavy cramps began. I have always had very painful menstrual cramps so my experience might be skewed, but the cramps were very intense and the percocet didn't help. The cramps continued for hours as I thrashed around and cried as well as vomiting from being in so much pain. I finally took a Vicodin about 8 hours after taking the medication and passed out from exhaustion, waking now and then in pain but falling right back to sleep.
I am hoping that all the tissue has passed, but after reading other's posts, I don't know if I ever passed the gestational sac. I definitely passed MANY clots and the lining of the uterus. I will go in 2 days for a follow up ultrasound to confirm.

I am very glad that I didn't have to have a surgery in the hospital (so far at least), but this was a hell of an experience. There was a point where I thought that I just couldn't take the pain anymore, so I definitely recommend taking pain meds. My pharmacist wasn't sure if I could take ibuprofen with the medication, but if you find out that you can, DO IT! And stay on top of it, I'm sure that would have made a huge difference in my pain.

I am so sorry for anyone who has to go through this, but I am glad there is medication that can help us heal and move forward.
Good luck to all.

Anonymous said...

I wanted to add my experience to this thread for girls who are looking for feedback. And it is a bit therapeutic for me to talk about this.

I've used birth control pills for years. Recently, my birth control was switched from the generic manufacturer to the name brand. I didn't think it was a big deal, but to err on the side of caution, my fiancee and I used spermicide as a backup, but I still wound up pregnant.

About 6 weeks ago, when my bc pill was switched, I was experiencing breast soreness and strange cramping in my lower abdomen and lower back pain. About 4 weeks ago, I had some abnormal bleeding that lasted about 4 days that was brownish and did not look like my normal period. Additionally, if it was my period, it would have been two weeks early. I attributed all this to the switch in birth control.

I was experiencing a lot of cramping and at times, had to just go lay down (luckily I was working from home on those days). Finally, I decided I was either pregnant or perhaps had a cyst. I bought a box of pregnancy tests and took THREE of them, and they all came up postitive.

This was on a Thursday. On Saturday, I went to a dr. and they did a gestational ultrasound. She indicated that it wasn't clear what was being shown in the ultrasound and would have to do a vaginal. I had looked up some of the symptoms online and she said I was correct, that I did have a miscarriage, but it was not complete.

I spoke to the doctor and she was very nice and told me to stay positive. She explained the surgery vs. the pills, but I thought I would rather be at home and not go through a surgery. She then gave me the misoprostol and I was TERRIFIED of the cramping because I read so much about it. The dr. told me to eat breakfast about 30 minutes before taking the pills, and to take ibuprofen BEFORE I experienced cramping.

I took the misoprosotal (4 pills) orally at 7:30. I took Ibuprofen about 8:15 or so. I had some minor cramping, then went to the bathroom and was bleeding at about 8:30. Around 9:30, I passed some larger clots. I was not emotionally able to look in the toilet. I knew that I was supposed to, but I was afraid of what I might see. I am not good with seeing blood, and even if a small amount of blood mixes with water, it spreads and looks like so much more than it really is.

The cramps seemed to come about every hour or so, but they were not bad enough to cause me to double over in pain or cry. I was taking ibuprofen (400mg) every two hours and eating pretty lightly (toast, fruit cups), and drinking lots of water.

I continued passing clots from about 10:30 till around 1 or 2PM. I laid in bed most of the day, and when I got up and walked around (to the kitchen, or just to stretch and get out of bed), it did seem to stimulate additional bleeding.

I did find myself to be very hungry around 2:30 and was strongly craving some meat and sugary foods- perhaps because of the loss of blood?

Today, it has been about 28 hours since I took the miso, and I have some light bleeding that I would compare to my last day of my period. It is not enough where I am soaking through a pad, but there is still definitely some blood.

I have to go for a follow up exam in about a week and a half to see if the procedure is complete, and I REALLY hope it is because this has been such an emotional time for me, and I am just feeling drained with all this.

From what I'm reading - it seems like those who had the pills inserted caused significantly more pain than those who took it orally. I hope this helps someone else. Thank you for reading.

Anonymous said...

This blog has been wonderful for me. Yesterday I was finally diagnosed with a blighted ovum at 7w1day. This was my first pregnancy, and my husband and I was clearly beside ourselves. After discussing options with my doctor, we decided a medical miscarriage would be best. Last night at 8pm, i took 2 200mg of Cytotec orally. I felt ok, so I put older sheets on the bed, in case the bleeding was terrible overnight. I even wore a depends underwear with a pad in it...I was prepapred! Around 2 hours later, at 10pm, I had some mild cramping. 1 hour later, I took a percocet that my doctor had prescribed because the cramping had ramped up. I felt a bit dizzy, but nothing too terrible. My cramps were getting worse, so I got out a heating pad, but it didn't do much for me. The only thing that helped honestly was just rolling around in bed moaning. I left our bedroom around 12:30am so my husband could get some sleep and went into a spare room in our house. I took a second percocet at this time, which put me 4:30am, I woke up to use the bathroom and passed a small bit of blood and a tiny bit of clotting passed. I was sort of gassy, but again, it was not too painful.
I woke up for the day at 9:30. Nothing more passed. Gah! So frustrating! I talked to my doctor, who called in a script for 400mg more. He said the good news, as upsetting as it is, is that this means my body is great at incubating babies. My body doesn't want to give up! So tonight I take the next dose. I am a bit more prepared at least, and will take the two percocets at once before going to bed in hopes it knocks me out again. I really want this to happen naturally.
On another note, I'm frustrated this pill keeps coming up as the "abortion pill" when I google misoprostol. Although I'm pro choice, it isn't fair to put what is happening to me in the abortion category. I did not choose this, it is not an abortion.

Melissa said...

We found out yesterday that the baby stopped growing at 7.5 weeks. I should have been 9 weeks.

I started spotting on Monday night so I figured something was wrong. I never bled/spot before in my last pregnancy.

I went to the doctor Wednesday morning and they did an ultrasound. It was so sad to see our little baby with no heartbeat or movement :(

I was given the 3 choices (wait, cytotec, or D&C). I certainly did not want a D&C because I had a c-section in my last pregnancy and I do not want to cause any more harm to my uterus if possible.

I decided to go for the cytotec since I was already showing signs of a miscarriage with the bleeding. I took 2 orally at 12 noon and cramped some. I took another one at 6 pm and I could tell I was dialating some. The cramps got worse but I was also taking hydrocodone to help with the pain. I suggest anyone getting this done to ask for pain meds.

The pain really was not too bad for me. I got up to use the restroom at 8:25 pm and as soon as I sat down I felt a gush and passed one big clot. My husband looked through it to make sure I had passed everything (the baby, placenta, etc.).

It is now Thursday and that is the biggest clot I have passed so far. I am still bleeding (like a period - no more gushing so far) and cramping some. My uterus does have some pain/feels sore but I assume it will get better soon.

My experience with Cytotec has been good given the circumstances. Hopefully I will never go through this again but if I had to I would choose this over the D&C.

I have an appointment Friday morning to check my levels again and she may give me another u/s to make sure I have passed everything. Hopefully I will not need the D&C.

Good luck to everyone trying to get pregnant again after going through a miscarriage.

Melissa

Elle-Marie said...

I went for my first ultrasound on Monday and the fetus was exactly 8wks 4 days and there was no heart beat. I had no bleeding, no cramping and I was still having pregnancy symptoms. I was in shock and decided to get a second ultrasound to make sure on Thursday which confirmed that the baby was no longer growing and was now measuring at 7wks when I should have been 9wks. At first I was going to wait for the miscarriage to occur naturally, but I still had not had any bleeding or cramping. After talking to my OB/GYN I decided to take cytotec instead. I was prescribed pain medication for the cramps and I just started the cytotec about 30 minutes ago. I feel I can better prepare myself for this experience because so many others have shared what they went through. This is not an easy thing to have to undergo, but it's comforting to know that I am not alone and these stories give me hope that I am going to get through this. Thank you all.

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much for sharing your experiences in this forum/blog; I know they are difficult and intimate. I wanted to share mine in return. Mine was not as “by the book” as for most of you have depicted so I wanted to add mine to the pool and maybe reassure some of you. I had bleeding a night before my first scheduled prenatal US at 7 weeks and 3 days. I had to go to the ER of course. They told me there that everything seemed OK; the cervix was closed and the hcG count was appropriate for my gestational age. The next morning I had an US, during which no fetus was evident but a much undeveloped foetal pole. The OB/GYN told me she is concerned about the pregnancy and wanted to do a follow-up US in a week. The next week (8w 3d) there was no apparent growth of the pregnancy. I was told that the fetus has stopped growing roughly at 6 weeks. I was offered the 3 terrible options: D&C, Med. Abortion or wait. I’ve decided to wait and go through another US before I decide. At week 9 and 2 days I had an US during which the gestational sac looked like it was squeezed into a shape of an inflated disk. The OB/GYN said that this is a definite sign of a miscarriage that will sure to come but it can take more than a month to happen naturally. We’ve discussed the options. I’ve decided to go for the medical miscarriage. I was given two sets of 4 x 200mcg Misoprostol (the second was given to me to take after 48hrs in case the first dose didn’t work). I took the 4 pills vaginally. After 3.5 hrs I had a back ache that lasted 30 min. then the cramping started but was very mild. No bleeding yet. After 9 hrs one of the pills dropped into the toilet and I had minor bleeding. The next day was almost the same, mild cramping little bleeding with very small clots but no miscarriage. I decided to consult with my OB/GYN. She has suspected that I didn’t insert the pills properly because I’ve told her that it was very awkward for me and that I am not using tampons especially not without an applicator. Therefore my doctor inserted it for me 3 days after my first attempt. This experience was quite different from the first one. I took Tylenol#3 immediately (also for the first attempt). After 2 hrs I had developed very bad cramping and I bled. I had to take another Tylenol #3 exactly as soon as 3hrs has passed from the first one since the pain was unbearable. After 7 hrs all 4 pills dropped to the toilet (again). Overall the bleeding was much more than my period but was not bad comparing to what is considered normal. I bled even more heavily (for me) the next 2 days plus clots and very bad cramps for a total of more than 3 days. Only after 75 hrs since the (second) misoprostol, I had passed the pregnancy (not at all “by the book”; I was advised and read that the pregnancy should pass during the first 6-12hrs). Immediately afterwards the cramps subsided almost completely. The next day I had an US and the doctor confirmed that the pregnancy has passed completely. I can only guess that the delay was possibly the consequences of my body taking over the miscarriage process after the pills just kick started it.
I hope this helps a little...
Good luck all!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for posting this. It's the only solid information I've found on cytotec. I was 11 wks when I started spotting very light pink. This continued for two days and I was terrified to find out what was happening. I bled for fourteen days with my two year old but had a miscarriage just this last October so I knew it could go either way. Three days later the bleeding had increased to bright red with some clotting and cramps. The following day I saw my doctor and she checked my hcg and said to come back in two days for a recheck. The next morning I passed a large piece of tissue and was told to bring it to the er and have an us. The us showed an empty uterus. We are still waiting for the pathology report on the tissue but when I saw my dr today she told me my hcg had halved in less than 24 hours. My bleeding was still quite heavy and the dr told us we could take the cytotec or wait until morning and have another us if the bleeding was still heavy. We decided to go for the cytotec since I'm already borderline anemic. The dr said the cytotec would stop the bleeding after a few hours. I took it four hours ago and am beginning to have heavy cramping and have already lost several clots. Reading your blog entry on cytotec has given me a better sense of what to expect over the next few hours, though I doubt I will lose as much blood since I already lost the fetus. I pray that you will be blessed with a viable pregnancy and healthy baby!

Anonymous said...

Thank you everyone for your comments. I learned last week that my 11 week old fetus stopped growing at 10 weeks. I was initially told that my options were only (1) D&C or (2) wait it out. I learned about Misoprostol on the Internet, and am planning to get some today and start the process, as I really don't want to wait another three weeks for my body to get the ball rolling naturally. Reading the experiences of others on this site is a great comfort, and I'm grateful to everyone who shared their story.

Unknown said...

I want to thank you for creating this blog. I too could not find any information on what to expect other than what my dr. shared. I was very fortunate because I had been told I could not have children due to endometriosis but I happily becamse pregnant naturally. I was/am under the care of a high-risk dr. because of my age. At week 7 we were able to view the heartbeat, at week 8 the heartbeat had slowed and my dr. informed to prepare for the worst. At week 9 the heartbeat was gone. I was prescribed the Misoprostol and prepared for the worst. I had light spotting for a few days followed up with heavier bleeding. Then about 5 days in I had a wave of dizziness and a gushing feeling where several large clots came out. I still spotted for several days after but I thought all was well. I went to my dr. this morning to find out that I had residual tissue left and my HCG had not dropped completely. I am now awaiting the affects of the 2nd round of Misoprostol and hoping this eliminates the remnants. I am feeling very sad and frustrated as I just want this to be over with. I want to start trying again and in my mind this is just holding me up. Thanks for listening everyone and best wishes to you all in the future.

Victoria

AngelInHeaven said...

Your post really gave me some idea regarding what to expect during this painful experience. I was given Cytotek (Misoprostol) to complete a miscarriage. I was 10 weeks and three days when my doctor confirmed my miscarriage. My ultrasound confirmed that my angel went to heaven at 6 weeks three days. That news was horrible. I thought could be strong, but the thought of not being able to one day get to bring my baby home horrified me. I was sent home with four pills and pain meds...the strongs ones and the mild ones. I took a mild pain medicine at 7:40pm. Then, at 8pm, I began the Cytotec-two pills instead of the prescribed four---I would be stupid to cripple myself with the pain. At 9pm, I began to feel warm and strange in my pelvic area. I also became a bit nauseated, so I got into bed to rest. I ended up watching TV instead. At that point I was in no pain and only bleeding minimally. Wasn't as heavy as normal cycle. Around 10:15, I had to urinate. As soon as I did, I felt something slither out of me. I thought it was a blood clot until I looked into the toilet. There it was. Words cannot describe the pain, I wanted my baby. I just sat there in tears, afraid to flush. I knew my baby would be gone forever. That experience emotionally was way worse than the meds. I was never in pain and I never bled heavily. Thanks for your post. It really gave me strenght to get through such a tough time in my life.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for creating this blog. Unfortunately I too am planning to take Cytotec tonight after a missed miscarriage at just over 6 weeks (8 weeks along when we found out). I will update my experience later this weekend. I am dreading the weekend but would like to avoid surgery if possible.

Alycia said...

I was planning to induce a miscarriage using Cytotec and decided to search the internet to get a better idea of what I could expect. I came across this website which unfortunately made me extremely terrified before taking the pills. I felt that I needed to leave a post to tell others to please not let what they read here scare them. It is not always a horror story.

I took 4 pills (two vaginally, two orally) this morning. I did not need to take more than that. I started feeling flu-like symptoms, and then about four hours later I started cramping and bleeding. The cramping was similar to menstrual cramps...painful but definitely manageable. I did not take any pain medication. This lasted about 3-4 hours upon which time I passed a large clot, and the cramps subsided soon after. I am still bleeding but believe that the worst has past. Please don't let these stories scare you! Good luck and be brave! :)

Thank you! said...

I wanted to update as I took Cytotec this past weekend and also want to let everyone know it's not always that bad. I am very thankful to say that I went for an ultrasound this morning and everything passed properly this weekend and I do not need surgery. I was a little worried because although I did pass 2 large clots on Saturday I didn’t not bleed as much as I expected after reading these posts or talking to the doctor but it was enough. Here is an overview of my process. I took the medication orally - 3 pills every 4- 6 hours for 48 hours. It sounds like the vaginal form works more quickly with less medication needed but for anyone who has to take it orally I can say it also works. I took Friday night at 10pm and started having cramping a few hours later. I would recommend eating before the medication (I ate at least something small before each dose and I believe this kept me from getting nauseous). I did get pretty bad diarrhea from the medication but had no other side effects beside the pain from cramping and bleeding. I was given darvocet for pain and I would recommend (as others have also) to stay on top of the pain medication. I have experienced bad cramping in the past and although it was bearable the pain medication made the process a lot smoother. I took pain medicine an hour after taking the first dose of cytotec and continued to take it regularly over the next 2 days. I did not bleed to heavily at all throughout the weekend but did pass 2 large clots (overfilled a pad – tennis ball size) on Saturday late morning. After that I did not have any large clots and just a steady flow – similar t o a period. On Sunday I had very little flow at all but continued with contraction like cramps until I fell asleep. (I took my last does Sunday afternoon around noon). When I woke up this morning I had light bleeding throughout the night but no cramping. I went to the doctor worrying I had not passed everything but was so thankful to hear after the ultra sounds that everything passed properly. Although it was not a fun weekend I am thankful the process is over and would recommend to someone who wants to try and avoid surgery if possible. It is painful but not unbearable and you just have to be willing to give up a few days. Thanks to all who have posted I the past – it helped prepare me.

Anonymous said...

Just finished the process last night. Inserted 4 pills vaginally at 6 p.m.. Cramps stared at 8-11. At 11 gush of fluid, ent to bathroom noticed clot in toilet. Had taken 800 mg motrin and vicodan prescribed at 5:30 so not much pain. Wore two pads and kept gushing through the night, with a large tissue coming out at 3 am. Bleeding has gotten lighter and hrdly any cramping. Will go for ultrasound next few days to confirm. Wanted this pregnancy, but had a missed miscarriage. Will update soon. Thank You for this site.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this. This is the information I needed, beyond the printed handout from the doctor.

Anonymous said...

i started miscarrying last weekend, really didn't pass much except for a few small clots. very small. I was 6 weeks along. my hcg levels were at 600 on Friday and the nurse said I still have a ways to go and nothing happened over the weekend so I called my doctor to request the medicine. I took at 11:00 this morning, been cramping all day, down the legs but actually stopped bleeding. I keep thinking it's coming, but really right now if feels like cramping during my period. I have read some blogs where it took almost a whole day for all the tissue to pass. I'm avoiding surgery as well. thanks for posting, all of them help.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for sharing your story. It's 6:30 am my time, my husband has finally fallen back asleep, and I'm on hour 7 of misoprostol. By counting from my last period, I'm at 12w1d, but my u/s on Monday indicated that the fetus stopped growing at 7w6d. I've been spotting and bleeding a teeny tiny amount for two weeks, and my midwife was worried about possible infection, so sent me home with misoprostol and percocet this afternoon, with instructions to take the misoprostol vaginally right before bed, which I did at 11pm last night.


I woke up in a moderate amount of pain at about 4am. I tooke a percocet "in case it gets worse" and two regular strength ibuprofen "in case the percocet doesn't work." (Codeine has no effect on me so I wanted to have my bases covered.) I fell asleep again then literally woke up screaming in pain an hour later.

My midwife told me to expect "some pretty heavy cramping and a bit of pain," so I panicked when the really intense pain started. I took a brief respite between contractions to look for more info, and am so so *so* grateful for your post and all the stories in the comments. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Same anon from 6:30 this morning.

If anyone is reading this, I'd like to specially request prayers for my husband. We both wanted this baby very badly, but he's generally much more private with his emotions than I am. Our priest and friends and family have all been wonderful and caring and supportive of me, but have mostly either ignored the husbeast or assumed that he was doing fine because he wasn't a soggy weepy mess like I was.

This is probably the worst experience of his life, since not only is his child-to-be gone, but his wife is in pain and there's *nothing* he can do to make it better.

Meghan said...

I have just been prescribed cytotec. Thank you for your frank discussion of the experience.

Kendra said...

Thank you for posting this! I just had a miscarriage on 9/26/10. I am still no done on my own and my Dr. prescribed me these pills. I was VERY nervous about them from reading. I hope it isn't as bad as the initial miscarriage, which I ended up in the ER with such bad cramping and bleeding. I was advised to insert at night, but by reading this, I think I will take them now. I would like to get some sleep...This is hard enough.

Kendra

Anonymous said...

My story:

Mon. 3:30 - There was no heartbeat at my dr. appointment. I went to get a second ultrasound to confirm it...still no heartbeat. So then I had to decide to 1. wait to miscarry naturally 2. use cytotec 3. have a D&C. I decided I wanted to try Cytotec first because I was scared to have the D&C.

Wed. 3:30 - The dr. inserted 4 Cytotec pills vaginally. Within 30 min I started getting severe cramps so I took a Norco. It took about 45 min. for the pain meds to start working and those cramps were the worst thing I had ever felt. Once the Norco started working I didnt feel 100% better but the pain was tolerable. I also couldnt eat and was freezing. I only had some slight spotting so I had to go in for a second dose of Cytotec.

Thurs. 2:30 - The Dr. inserted 4 more Cytotec. But this time I was ready and took a Norco before I went to the doctor's office. This time I didnt feel much pain at all and I could eat fine. But again...no bleeding. I went to sleep around 10pm really upset because I thought I would have to get the D&C after all.

Fri. 9am - My Dr called to see how things were going. I told her the pills didnt work so she said she would schedule a D&C. But right when I hung up the phone will her I felt some cramping and went to the bathroom. A lot of blood and some tissue or maybe blood clots came out. I was really happy and relieved at first. But then I just broke down crying. This happened about 4-5 more times.

Fri. 1pm - Now I am just bleeding slightly, and whenever I go to the bathroom I need to change my pad. I am having blood work done on Monday to check my hormone levels. Im not sure what will happen after that.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your post. I just finished the pill induced miscarriage and it was the worst pain of my life. All seemed like it went well, but today i passed a hard mass of tissue covered in blood. I had a blighted ovum so i know it couldn't have been a fetus. After the miscarriage, i wore tampons....which was stupid. Maybe the blood clots collected and hardened. Did you have anything like this happen? I just am really concerned what the mass was. Thanks.

Abbie Burnham said...

I also passed a hardened mass, which was my baby's sac, since I also had a blighted ovum. If you saved it, bring it to your doctor (refrigerating it in the meantime) and they will tell you what it is.

Anonymous said...

Hi All,

I came across these posts after taking the misoprostol two days ago to see if anyone had any further description of what to expect after passing the worst of it. I thought I was 10 weeks pregnant during my first ultrasound but the fetus measured 7 weeks and there was not heartbeat. My doctor recommended waiting 7-10 days and having a second ultrasound to be sure, so I went in on Tuesday since I hadn’t had any spotting or cramps. There was no additional growth to the fetus or sac so the doctor recommended medical inducing to avoid infection and I was glad to do something my paranoia was growing with every day that the fetus remained.

My experience went as follows:

I took the first dose of 400 mcg vaginally at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. After about an hour I started cramping - nothing more than your average period (I was laying on the bed the whole time). By 10:00 p.m. the cramps were getting worse and I took 2 extra strength ibuprofen (kept taking them every 4 hours). I had some light spotting. The worst feeling to this point was the pressure every time I tried to stand up or sit up. The doctor recommended taking the second dose of 400 mcg vaginally 4 hours after the first, but I felt uncomfortable enough, had already had 2 rounds of diarrhea (1 uncontrolled – sorry… gross) and the bleeding had started lightly so I decided to wait until the morning to get some rest.

Overnight I woke every few hours with what felt like contractions. They only lasted about a minute each and were spread far apart so I was able to sleep most of the night. Still only had light bleeding or spotting (similar to a period).

Got up in the morning and walked around the house a bit. This must have gotten things going and the cramps got worse and I felt really weak and dizzy. The contractions really got going at about 10 a.m. and similar to labour started getting more frequent and lasting longer. At approx. 1:30 p.m. I was curled up in a ball on the living room floor screaming in pain. I had about 3 long contractions of a few minutes that were extremely painful with only about a minute in between before I managed to crawl to the washroom since I had the urge to push (about 2:15 p.m.). Felt a large clot pass along with another round of diarrhea and a fair amount of blood. I’m assuming it was the sac since it felt much larger than the small clots I passed during a previous natural miscarriage at 6 weeks. Once that passed the cramps subsided though it was still very painful to walk around. I continued to bleed pretty heavily – needing to change pads about every 2-4 hours (the big overnight diaper-like pads). There was occasionally tissue which didn’t get past the top layer of the pad (sorry… gross again) which I’m assuming is part of the lining (light pink to dark red).

I slept really well last night, probably due to exhaustion, but other than what felt like muscle pain and sensitivity the pain had passed. Woke up this morning to regular period-like bleeding. It’s still a bit sore when sitting or walking, but otherwise I feel pretty good.

I’m wondering if I passed enough tissue to complete the miscarriage? I’ll be going back to the doctor in about a week to have another ultrasound performed.

Best wishes to all who have to undergo this. Advise that I can offer – ask your doctor for prescription-strength pain killers, take a bit of ibuprofen/advil ahead of time if you can plan that (I suffer from endometriosis as well and this helps with thinning blood and reducing clots), and have a helper on hand for moral support and to help with things like getting in and our of the shower (the warm water helped immensely and getting clean helped mentally) and with meals (always eat something before taking the pain medication if you can – without food I got quite weak and this may be the cause of some stomach upset). I’m not sure if the lower dose kept my pain levels manageable up to the last hour or so before releasing the sac – ask your doctor.

Anonymous said...

Hi All,

I came across these posts after taking the misoprostol two days ago to see if anyone had any further description of what to expect after passing the worst of it. I thought I was 10 weeks pregnant during my first ultrasound but the fetus measured 7 weeks and there was not heartbeat. My doctor recommended waiting 7-10 days and having a second ultrasound to be sure, so I went in on Tuesday since I hadn’t had any spotting or cramps. There was no additional growth to the fetus or sac so the doctor recommended medical inducing to avoid infection and I was glad to do something my paranoia was growing with every day that the fetus remained.

My experience went as follows:

I took the first dose of 400 mcg vaginally at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. After about an hour I started cramping - nothing more than your average period (I was laying on the bed the whole time). By 10:00 p.m. the cramps were getting worse and I took 2 extra strength ibuprofen (kept taking them every 4 hours). I had some light spotting. The worst feeling to this point was the pressure every time I tried to stand up or sit up. The doctor recommended taking the second dose of 400 mcg vaginally 4 hours after the first, but I felt uncomfortable enough, had already had 2 rounds of diarrhea (1 uncontrolled – sorry… gross) and the bleeding had started lightly so I decided to wait until the morning to get some rest.

Overnight I woke every few hours with what felt like contractions. They only lasted about a minute each and were spread far apart so I was able to sleep most of the night. Still only had light bleeding or spotting (similar to a period).

Got up in the morning and walked around the house a bit. This must have gotten things going and the cramps got worse and I felt really weak and dizzy. The contractions really got going at about 10 a.m. and similar to labour started getting more frequent and lasting longer. At approx. 1:30 p.m. I was curled up in a ball on the living room floor screaming in pain. I had about 3 long contractions of a few minutes that were extremely painful with only about a minute in between before I managed to crawl to the washroom since I had the urge to push (about 2:15 p.m.). Felt a large clot pass along with another round of diarrhea and a fair amount of blood. I’m assuming it was the sac since it felt much larger than the small clots I passed during a previous natural miscarriage at 6 weeks. Once that passed the cramps subsided though it was still very painful to walk around. I continued to bleed pretty heavily – needing to change pads about every 2-4 hours (the big overnight diaper-like pads). There was occasionally tissue which didn’t get past the top layer of the pad (sorry… gross again) which I’m assuming is part of the lining (light pink to dark red).

I slept really well last night, probably due to exhaustion, but other than what felt like muscle pain and sensitivity the pain had passed. Woke up this morning to regular period-like bleeding. It’s still a bit sore when sitting or walking, but otherwise I feel pretty good.

I’m wondering if I passed enough tissue to complete the miscarriage? I’ll be going back to the doctor in about a week to have another ultrasound performed.

Best wishes to all who have to undergo this. Advise that I can offer – ask your doctor for prescription-strength pain killers, take a bit of ibuprofen/advil ahead of time if you can plan that (I suffer from endometriosis as well and this helps with thinning blood and reducing clots), and have a helper on hand for moral support and to help with things like getting in and our of the shower (the warm water helped immensely and getting clean helped mentally) and with meals (always eat something before taking the pain medication if you can – without food I got quite weak and this may be the cause of some stomach upset). I’m not sure if the lower dose kept my pain levels manageable up to the last hour or so before releasing the sac – ask your doctor.

Anonymous said...

I read this thread the day before I used cytotec for a medical miscarriage and it was very helpful so I thought I'd tell my story. This was my first pregnancy. I went to the doctor and found out at 8.5 weeks that my baby stopped growing at 7.5 weeks and had no heartbeat. I took the cytotec option because I did not want to wait who knows how long for a natural miscarriage or have a D and C that could result in uterine scarring. I took 4 200mcg vaginally at 9am. 2 hours later I had pretty bad diarrhea. I started feeling cramps coming on 4 hours later. I immediately took some vicodin, but I think I waited too long because the cramps quickly became pretty unbearable. At the same time I became very nauseous. This pain lasted for an hour and then I felt nothing except very minor cramping. 6 hours into it I still did not start bleeding and the cramps were gone. I then took the 2nd dose 4 200mcg vaginally. I didn't feel anything except very minor cramping. I started lightly spotting 12 hours into it. Then I went to bed and woke up with nothing changing. 24 hours into it, the next morning, I felt a gush of blood (no cramping). I was like a faucet. Filling a pad every 20 minutes for the next 4 hours. Toward the the end of that 4 hours, a fist sized clump of tissue/lining came out and the bleeding has slowed considerably since then. That is where I'm at right now. This experience has not been as bad as I thought it might be. The only pain I've felt was that first hour of cramping since then its been ok. If you choose this option, make sure you have a painkiller prescribed for that initial cramping. I hope this helps. Thank you to all of you who have posted and best wishes for your future.

Anonymous said...

Thank you to all who have left you stories. They have been invaluable to me. I am so sorry to hear how familiar my story is to many of yours. I found out this week that our first baby had stopped developing at 8 weeks when I should have been 10 weeks and there was no heartbeat. I took Misoprostol on Friday and experienced some moderate cramping and bleeding. It is now Sunday night and I still have not passed anything significant that I am aware of. Can someone tell me- is it likely that I could have passed tissue and not realized or is it really hard not to notice? It seems like some have said both things. I am so scared of having to have a D&C after going through this. Do you think it is possible I could still pass even at this point (50+ hours later)?

heather.wheatley said...

I did not pass mine for a few days after and it was pretty noticeable, it was almost like I had a flung to push so I did and out it came

Anonymous said...

I am a week out from taking Cytotec to induce a missed miscarriage. The pregnancy stopped developing at 6 wks 5 days, but I didn't find out till my scan at 13 weeks. I had been spotting for about 10 days at that point. I am in the UK and mistoprosol is not the normal course at my facility. I was told I could wait or have a D&C.

I waited another 2 weeks of spotting, some bleeding. I tried parsley, black and blue cohosh tinctures, which sometimes brought on bleeding (esp parsley) but still didn't cramp or pass the sac.

Finally I convinced my provider to let me try mistoprosol. I put 4 aspirin like pills up near my cervix at 10 am. I went shopping in town and running errands until I started cramping around 1 pm. At home, cramps gradually got more intense and regular, like contractions, until I could only lie down by 3 pm. I started to bleed more heavily and to pass a sticky, stringy substance.

I went to the bathroom where I bled heavily and passed large, dark clots. I was lightheaded, dizzy, short of breath and nauseous, very surprised by the pain and strength of the contractions. I was given no pain medication and told to take tylenol, which did nothing. About an hour and a half into the intense cramps, after lying down and passing out for a little while, I felt the need to go back to the toilet. I had more contractions, bled freely, and then in a big whoosh! my waters broke and I felt a golfball-sized something pass and plop into the toilet. I couldn't see anything for all the blood and just flushed it all.

As soon as that passed, my cramps immediately subsided and I knew I had completed the miscarriage. I rested and within 12 hours it was all over. I returned to the hospital in the morning and it was confirmed that the sac passed and i only had some blood clots left, which I have passed over the past week. I can't lie, some of the post-miscarriage discharge has been pretty gnarly and smelly. But now I'm only lightly spotting, less each day.

For me cytotec pessary worked like a charm and ended a very long and drawn out miscarriage that needed to end. It was painful and intense, but empowering and quickly got over. I'm very glad I did this instead of the surgical route. My doctor told me they don't give it routinely for missed miscarriage because it has an 11.8% failure rate and because most women don't want the pain and bleeding. But he said it tends to work best on women like me, where bleeding had already begun and fetal demise established.

I hope this is helpful; this was my only source for realistic information when I was going through the miscarriage at home. Good luck to everyone.

Anonymous said...

It is 5 days later after the misoprostol and I still have not passed a sac or anything like tissue. I go in on Friday for a sonogram and am dreading to hear that I need a D&C.

Racbaby said...

I am close to 8 weeks pregnant but sadly it was a case of blighted ovum.
My OB GYN advised me to go for either D&C or medicated abortion. I went for the 2nd option since it appears to be to be less invasive.

When I took out cytotec, I felt very sad. I feel like I was ending the 'life' of my child. My supportive husband has been by my side and convince me that it was 'the house' that I was aborting without no baby inside. Finally, I popped the pills into my mouth and said good bye to pregnancy.

Anyway, my experience with cytotec wasnt that bad. The pain was akin to menses cramp. The tip here is to take pain-killers together with cytotec. After my 2nd dose of cytotec, 2 big dark blood clots similar to the size of golf balls came out.

I am now resting in bed while writing this. Hopefully the 3rd - 6th dose of cytotec will not bring along anymore cramps since the sac has been removed from the body.

SoCaliMommy said...

Thank you so much for sharing your experiance. I wrote about my missed miscarriage that i thought was over but was told today it's not and that i will have to take Cytotec to see if that works. This baby took a little over 3years to get pregnant with all u/s show it at 6wks and i should be 10wks. This is my second missed m/c my first i didn't find out til 10wks started bleeding at 11wks Emergency Room u/s showed a baby at 8wk range didn't pass the baby til when i would had been 13wks along, that was all natural, i wasn't offered Cytotec they did try to offer a d&c though *this was roughly over 4 years ago*

sienna26 said...

Hello all,
I would like to thank you so much for all of your blunt and real experiences. These are what help the rest of us realize that yes what we are experiencing is "normal" or no something is wrong and more medical experience needs to be sought out.

My husband and I recently found out we were pregnant with our first baby at the end of september and exactly one month from the date that we found out we were pregnant we found out we had a nonviable pregnancy. In this month we have had 3 Transvaginal ultrasounds and 3 different doctors visits. We got the diagnosis and 2nd opinion that our MUCH wanted pregnancy would be ending in a miscarriage (baby stopped developing around 6 weeks), I carried until 9 weeks.
We got the three choices(D&C,WAIT,CYTOTEC) and Cytotec was the route we choose. I don't know what I would do if I had to choose again...
Cytotec for me was an awful experience and tips that I would give a person that would take this would be
1. make sure to have pain medication that is more strong then advil or tylenol "just in case".
2.Have someone there to help you!! You will need either someone to drive you to the hospital like my husband did for more strong pain medication or just someone to hold your hand.
3. Eat well before you take this med
4. Take off work for at least 2-3 days; this doesn't always end in the designated 6-12 hrs. I just passed a very large clot monday night and I took the pills vaginally on wednesday morning. I am still bleeding minimally with small clots.

Everyone is different so please don't be scared off by my experience; this was just my bodies reaction.

Many people say that these types of events (m/c) happen for reasons and mine was definetly the case. Because of this m/c and all the close monitoring, my OB/GYN was able to diagnose me with a uterine abnomality. I was found to have a bicornuate uterus. So because of this birth defect I will have to be monitored more closely if I get pregnant again and if god forbid I have another M/C and I need to have a D&C.I will have to have it under different medical circumstances such as general anesthetic and an ultrasound to guide the docs... So from all the sadness that we have experienced and it definetly has not been easy something beneficial has come from this.
Thanks for letting me tell my story and I wish all the rest of you the best. Also know you are not alone. Take care!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for posting this. All I can say is, I wish I had read it BEFORE I took the medication. At 7 weeks pregnant with our first, my husband and I learned via ultrasound that our baby no longer had a heartbeat. Like many accounts I read, my doctor gave me three options: 1)wait it out; 2) cytotech; 3) D&C. When we’d decided on the cytotech (to be inserted vaginally), I was told I would experience cramping, and heavy bleeding for up to 6 hours. I was not given any prescription pain medication, or given any direction at all on what kind of pain to expect. I wasn’t told what other side effects I might have, except that if I experienced dizziness or abnormally heavy bleeding in the form of changing a pad more than every 30 minutes, I should go to the emergency room.

Two hours after inserting the medication, I began experiencing light cramps. These increased gradually in intensity and peaked about 6-7 hours after initial dosage. I started having diarrhea early on, which lasted that day only and wasn’t bad, except the discomfort from that on top of the other unpleasant and painful effects of the cytotech. During the worst of the cramping, I started sweating, and then shivering, and I felt nauseous and faint. To this point, I had only taken Tylenol due to the fact that I am also on a blood thinner. The pain from the cramping got worse, and eventually started to feel like contractions, or least what I think contractions must feel like, since I’ve never been in labor. My uterus would cramp and then ease up repeatedly, and during the “breaks” I felt so exhausted I could barely keep my eyes open. At this point I called my doctor because I was in so much pain, and she told me to take 3 Advil every 6 hours. The Advil did help, but the period of time waiting for it to kick in was me piled under 4 blankets, shivering, sweating, and rocking through repeated, intense cramps that made me feel like I was going to vomit. If my husband hadn’t been there to literally hold a glass of ginger ale to my mouth so I could sip it through a straw, I wouldn’t have had anything to drink because I was in too much agony to move.

The worst of the pain subsided within an hour (after taking the Advil), but once it began to wear off, the cramps became increasing painful again, worse than period cramps but not agonizing like they had been earlier. I must have had a fever, because for about 2-3 hours I just couldn’t get warm. Unfortunately, after going through all of this, I had very little bleeding and only passed some moderate sized clots, which continued into the next day.

After finding out at the doctor’s that the miscarriage was not complete, I elected to try another round of cytotech, this time with additional pain meds (Tylenol with codeine), and that helped A LOT. If you are reading this before trying cytotech, I would not do this again without having sufficient pain meds on hand. It’s hard enough emotionally without going through the physical agony. The second time I experienced minimal diarrhea, no fever, and more contraction-like cramping that was made much more bearable with the prescription pain medication. I had moderate, steady bleeding (about like a period) for several days.

Unfortunately, after 2 rounds of cytotech, I’m still having a D & C. The doctor said the miscarriage still wasn’t complete (diagnosed by ultrasound). As my cervix was still quite thickened, she didn’t think I would finish the miscarriage naturally very soon. I wanted to try the cytotech first to avoid the possible risks and complications of the D & C, since it is a surgical procedure and I’ll be under general anesthesia, but it was not to be. Now I just want to get this over with.

Sorry about the length of this post, but I wanted to post a lot of detail so that others would go into this better prepared than I was. My heart goes out to all the women out there who have had to bear the pain of losing a child, even one yet unborn.

Mary - because i like to decorate said...

Thanks so much for your post! I have just taken my first three pills vaginally and this helps me understand what to expect. Thank You!

Anonymous said...

At 9 1/2 weeks we found out that our baby had failed to progress past 7 1/2 weeks and there was no heart beat. It was heartbreaking considering it took 3 years to get pregnant (we are both 38).My heart goes out for all the other women that posted their experience and went through similar losses. Thanks Abbie for sharing your story…here is mine.

I wanted to write this because my experience was no bad at all. Everyone reacts differently and the more prepared you are the better. I had to go through this almost 20 years ago and a D&C was the only option back then. I am so grateful that I had the option for Cytotec.
Since I had already been spotting for about a week and started to have cramping and contractions I thought I might let things happen naturally, but not knowing how long that might take really helped me decide to take the Cytotec.
My Dr. explained that Cytotec could be taken many different ways, but the most effective way for most people was vaginally. She also told me to wet the tablets before I inserted them to make sure they absorbed better. Basically, the medication helps open the cervix and causes contractions.
I took into account the worst case scenario and planned accordingly. I had got a good night sleep and had a nice breakfast in the morning before we got started. I made sure I had plenty of water, electrolytes, snacks and heating pad handy.
At 10:00am I inserted 4 wet (200mcg each) tablets vaginally all at once and then laid down for about 45minutes. I had some mild cramps but I'm not sure if that was due to the medication because I was cramping before I started.
At about 12:00pm I began to feel very intense contractions and cramps. At this point I took 800 mg of motrin and laid on a heating pad. This helped a lot. I experienced intense contractions for about an hour and then it subsided...I'm not sure if that was because the motrin kicked in or not. At about 1pm I started to actively bleed. I continued to feel crampy and occasionally had some intense contractions, but all of this was very bearable. I changed my pads every hour to just feel clean. The bleeding was heavy but it did not soak a pad in a hour. It wasn't until 5pm I went to the bathroom and that was the first time my pad was completely soaked through so I just stayed on the toilet and that's when a hard round mass came out. I sat there a few more minutes but nothing else happened so I went back to bed. I continued to have some more contractions and about 5:30 I went back to the bathroom and another round mass come out. After this I continued to pass some clots and have heavy bleeding which lasted until about 7pm. After this my cramps were practically gone and the bleeding decreased to just something you would expect if you had a heavy period.
During this whole process I continued to eat and drink lots of water. I never felt sick . At one point during the heaviest of bleeding I felt a little light headed, but other than that felt fine.
I have two children from a previous marriage and had both naturally without an epidural or medication. I had never been through a miscarriage and it was like being in labor but went so much faster.
Labor is not without pain or cramps. If you fight it and tense up you will increase the pain. Pain medication will help and I found that the heat on my back helped a lot and I hardly noticed the cramps...I just felt like I had an achy back.
Nourish your body and hydrate. Your body is going to work hard and it needs energy. Be prepared to lay around for about a day. .I laid in bed and watched movies all day with my husband by my side in case something happened. Knowing someone was there to help also brought me comfort.
For those that are worried, please know you can do this. Be prepared and have some pain medication on hand and even with the medication just know you will probably still have some discomfort and pain. Relax, breath through the pain and it will ease up. ~Liz

Johnny said...

On Friday, at 11.5 weeks into our first pregnancy, my wife began bleeding while at work. We were able to get an ultrasound yesterday, and unfortunately it confirmed the worst: we had lost the baby.

The size indicated that we had lost the baby at around 7 weeks, so we were given the choice of either misoprostol or a D & C. It's funny how you can love something so much without it ever have even been born. Every night before going to bed we would put our hands on her abdomen and talk to him/her. And now we feel that properly saying goodbye needs to be done privately and intimately. For us, that means misoprostol. It is definitely going to be sad, but for us it feels like a better way to say goodbye to our little one who never came to be,

We're planning to be together all day tomorrow while she takes the misoprostol, so I was just doing some reading the night before in my sadness and came across these series of posts. I want to wish all of you the best in your future attempts to have children, and please do not allow these experiences to cause you to give up. Nothing in life worth attaining comes easy, and if you've come far enough to read these posts then you clearly are someone who cares. The world needs more people like you to be parents so please, don't give up hope - it will happen for you.

Mary said...

I may be the only one without a horror story!

I was diagnosed with a Blighted Ovum at 8 weeks 4 days (Thursday Dec 30th). So depressing! I was given the standard 3 options (wait for natural miscarriage, take the misoprostol or go for a D&C). I am scared of surgery so I opted for the pills. My doctor said if I tried to wait it out, it may take months before my body realizes it and then I may need a D&C because the sac just keeps growing. It took me 2 days to bring myself to use the pills.

I took 4 (200mg each) pills vaginally at 3am and went to bed. (It took me till 3am to do it, I was so scared due to everyones story on here!!) I woke up at 6am with diarrhea, no bleeding. Then back between the bed and bathroom about 3 more times with diarrhea, still no blood. Around 7:30am I had what everyone describes as the "cramps that make you want to die". I took forced myself to eat a tiny bit of something and took an 800mg ibuprofen my doctor prescribed. It says on the label "Take with food". I also put a heating pad on my stomach. The pill kicked quickly and I fell fast asleep. I woke up about 10am and the bleeding started. When I went to the bathroom, two clots slid out. I quickly flushed them away and went back to lay down. Only light cramps at this point.

For the rest of the day, I had moderate bleeding and passed one more clot. When the clots pass, they don't hurt AT ALL. They just quickly slide out before you even realize it!

12 hours later I was to take the second dose of 4 pills vaginally. I did this at 5pm and took the ibuprofen at the same time just to be safe. I fell asleep for another couple hours and woke up with no pain. I am assuming that the sack must have passed earlier. I still had moderate to light bleeding. I never in the whole process filled an entire pad. Probably because my clots did not pass in the pad because I was laying down the whole time unless I was on the toilet.

I slept through the whole night and woke up today feeling much better. I have only had light bleeding today, my stomach feels a little sore probably from tensing during the initial cramping. The worst is behind me. I am going to the OB/GYN in a week for an u/s to make sure everything has passed. Can't wait to try again for a baby. This whole process was so emotional and sad.

For everyone out there who is scared to take the pills, it is not so bad. Just make sure that you read the directions on the prescriptions. If they say "take with food" make sure you do so you don't feel sick. You will also probably need a heating pad. Try and stay in bed the entire day and if you need to use the bathroom get up very slowly. Also, have someone around to basically be your servant for the day (my husband is a saint)!

Good luck. It's not as bad as these stories make it seem. Just do it, the faster it is over the faster you can move on and hopefully have a successful pregnancy! Wish me luck!

Anonymous said...

First let me thank everyone for all their comments... it is such a hard thing to go through and hearing other people's experiences helped quite a bit.
My husband and I found out on New Years eve that our baby never really developed. We should have been three months along but it was apparent it stopped growing weeks ago. Given the three choices I decided that misoprostol was the least invasive... I'd rather use surgery as a last resort.
I tool 4 tablets vaginally Saturday at 2pm. By about 6pm I had moderate cramping, but nothing much different from normal menstrual cramping, and no bleeding. Woke up at 1am however, with the intense, "holy crap" cramps. Started passing some blood clots, however no real bleeding. Cramps subsided after maybe half an hour (felt like an eternity) and I fell asleep. The next morning I had a little bleeding but not very much, so I took another dose of the drugs. This time the cramping happened sooner than before and I started passing more blood clots. I felt better by Sunday night and had a good nights sleep. Monday was a holiday so I took it easy... had moderate bleeding but nothing more than menstrual blood. Thought I must have passed the sac and that the worst was over. That night, however, I woke up at 1am again with horrible cramps... all I could do was lie on my side with a hot water bottle and cry. Probably lasted about half an hour again. Thought the worst was over and went to work on Tuesday. I started cramping again around 4pm and by 6 passed a large "something"... when people previously described it was "golf ball sized" they were right (although not as round). This was much harder to pass than the blood clots. This was yesterday and although I'm still bleeding a bit and passing some more blood clots, I'm having much less cramping. Lets hope it stays this way!
This whole experience took longer than I had anticipated. I took my first dose on Saturday morning, and the sac did not pass until Tuesday night. I was only told to take ibuprofin... definitely does not do a thing for the intense cramps.
Thanks to all for sharing their stories.

Mary said...

I just wanted to follow up to my post on January 2, 2011.

I ended up having more cramping day 4 and 5 after taking the pills. I passed some more clots and tissue. Some of the clots were grey, so I can only assume they were parts of the sac.

I had my appointment for an ultrasound today. It confirms that the sac has passed!! I am very excited. The doctor is still seeing my uterus lining as "puffy" so they said I will probably keep bleeding for another week. No big deal. Im just excited that this is over and I do not need surgery.

Good luck everyone!

Laura said...

Hi Abbie,
First I want to say best of luck with the twins...how exciting!
Thank you so much for your detailed post! I am not as worried about what to expect now.
I was just diagnosed with a blighted ovum & actually started my cytotec this evening. Already having some pretty good cramps & I only took it an hour ago w/pain meds. ugh...I will glad when this is over with!
I didn't think going through this would be as hard as it is...but I am definately at a loss.
I already have given birth to two children, no problems with either pregnancy...I didn't expect this at all.
On a happier note my fiance & I have already decided to try again.
Again best of luck & thanks.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this blog and also to everyone else for sharing comments which has been very helpful. I am currently going through my first miscarriage and reading about your experiences has made me a bit less scared and helped me feel a bit less alone. After four ultrasounds, the doctor finally determined at 9 weeks that the embryo had stopped developing at 6 weeks and prescribed Cytotec. I have taken 6 pills orally today and other then some mild cramping (though I have also taken pain medicine) and a bit of blood when I go to the bathroom, nothing else has happened. I have been instructed to take another 3 pills tomorrow. This is so frustrating as I would really like some closure here (after 3+ weeks of wondering if this pregnancy was going to be viable or not) and to move on. We have been having fertility treatments for over a year now. All of this makes me want to cry but then I see my beautiful 2 year old and I know it will all be worth it in the end. Hugs and good luck to you all.

Anonymous said...

Demand Percocet, and take it an hour before! This is my best advice. I was prescribed Codeine/Tylenol, though I told my doctor that it does not work on me (because it did nothing for me following a surgery once). She ignored this and prescribed it anyway, saying to just take 3 Advil on top of it, and that will be plenty. I had another ultrasound (with a different doctor/same hospital) a week later, and asked her for a different pain med as well. But, she said most women would just need the Advil, so I should be "fine."

I've given ALL natural childbirth (absolutely no meds, no epidural), and though I cannot say it was as bad as the last 3-4 hours of labor pains, it WAS as bad as the first 10 in intensity. I had to go into the ER due to the pain Misoprostol caused me. The Codeine/Tylenol and FOUR Advil did absolutely nothing when my "cramps" were at their worst (about 4 hours after inserting Misoprostol.) The ER doctor told me that about 1 in 5 people do not have the enzyme required to transform Codeine into a pain-reliever n the body, and I must be one of the five. Why the TWO doctors I saw prior to that did not think I may be one of those people when I said Codeine didn't work for me in the past, is beyond me. This lack of thinking on their part cost me a $100 ER room co-pay, and a couple of hours in hell. I was in such CRAZY pain when I got to ER room that I demanded an IV pain med immediately. They complied with one that only last about an hour, after which they gave me Percocet by mouth. The Percocet worked great.

If you go this route, take Percocet, and take Zofran for the Nausea. The ER doctor said that I can take up to 2 Percocet every 4 hours (though the bottle said 1 every 6 hours) on the first day if one didn't help, then taper down to one on the second day if needed. One was fine for me on the first day. She also said that I can take Zofran every 4 hours (though the bottle said every 8) as needed for the nausea.

It's upsetting that this was way more painful and traumatic than it needed to be. I hope this will help anyone who has to go through this.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your honest responses. I miscarried last week and was prescribed Misoprostol last Wednesday. From anyone who has taken these pills, can you tell me how long the bleeding lasted? I am almost one week in and I am still experiencing some spotting and clotting.

Also, is anyone aware of how soon after one is able to resume intercourse? I know the recommendation is to wait one period before trying to conceive again, but what about intercourse in general?

Thank you,

Heather

Anonymous said...

To Heather: You should ask your doctor these questions, but for myself I was still spotting and passing clots 5 days after my first round of cytotech, and my doctor didn't seem surprised. I ended up having to have a D&C after 2 rounds of cytotech didn't do the trick (I previously posted my experience on this blog), and I was told it was normal to have bleeding/discharge for 2 weeks afterward for that, which is exactly what happened. After my D&C, I was told it was okay to resume intercourse once the bleeding/discharge was over, but even then we were careful to take it easy. I would suspect this would also apply to post-cytotech.

I am so sorry for your loss. It is a terrible, terrible thing to go through. Best of luck to you!

Laura

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your experience. I have had such a hard time finding good info to research cytotec. I have been waiting on a missed m/c for over 3 weeks now, but given the size of the gestational sac it looks like it had actually been about 5 weeks since the baby stopped growing. I took 3 pills last night around 8:30pm and started cramping around 10:30pm. Passed a few clots through the night and took another dose this morning. Since then my cramping has pretty much disappeared and my bleeding has gotten increasingly light. I fear I may be in that small percentage that the cytotec is not effective, and we will end up with a D&C anyway. But I so appreciate you posting your story so people like me can get an idea of what can/does happen with the Cytotec. Thank you!

Kristy said...

Hi.
I just took the Misoprostol at 1015am today. The cramping started within 30 minutes. My Dr. told me to take 400mcg every 4 hours until I'm bleeding profusely. I've made it to the 2nd dose. I had passed a large clot. At that point I was in way too much pain, praying for some form of relief. A minute amount came from a hot bath. But once I got out, I developed a fever. It's now 5 pm, the pain hasn't stopped and the fever hasn't let up. I wasn't given any pain relievers, and was told to stay away from anything like Midol or similar since it counteracts the pills. So now I'm waiting for my boyfriend to get home from work. And I'm hoping to find some pain relief.

This is my second miscarriage in the last year. The last one was because my baby was growing but my sac wasn't. This one, they cant explain.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for sharing your story. I feel a need to share my own story, but everything that has happened since my husband and I discovered there was no heartbeat has been so upsetting and traumatic that I can't find the words. I took the misoprostol about 3 hours ago. I've had cramps and nausea and have started bleeding. The physical experience of this makes it even harder to deal with emotionally. But your story helps. I don't feel alone.

Anonymous said...

I inserted Cytotec around 10pm last night and woke up at 2:30 with miserable cramps and bad diarrhea. I've been up the last few hours with intense cramps, back pain, and nausea that made me throw up once. I've had some bleeding, but nothing really heavy. As I wait for things to really get going, it is a real comfort to see all these stories and feel a little less alone. Thank you.

Angeles said...

This site helped me a lot so I am leaving my experience as a post. I have four children, including a set of twins, and have had 8 miscarriages. Don't give up the dream of having a baby, it's worth going through some suffering to get a child. I would not be half as blessed had we given up. Anyway, this last miscarriage was caused by a blighted ovum so by the time I saw the 9 week u/s, there was nothing in the sac. We decided to try the cytotec instead of another D&C. It took a total of four days and two vaginal doses. First day, four hours after dosing, the painful cramps started and were almost unbearable. Regular, moderate bleeding and clots passing. Slept some. Next day, still crampy and told by doc to repeat cytotec. More pain, this time I used the narcotics, but slept. Next day, more bleeding, just clots and stuff. Back pain becoming SEVERE, even narcotics not taking it all away. Woke up on fourth day knowing this was not over. If I am still cramping and have SEVERE back pain, I must still be trying to pass the sac. The moment you pass the sac is the moment of great improvement, so I was still waiting for that. At the moment of the absolute worst pain I've ever had in my back, the Holy Spirit tells me to go be alone with Him in the bathroom. Hubby waits outside and is clearly concerned, but peaceful too. So I start praying to God for protection from excessive bleeding and I tell Him that I release this dream of having another baby to Him, and that I will release it physically now. Amazingly, I feel the need to sit on the toilet and immediately something substantial plunges into the water. I feel instantly better and the pain disappears. I reach down and examine what came out. It's solid, about four inches long and thick as a sausage, with grayish tissue wrapped up in it. My heart says that's the sac and that's why I feel such huge physical relief. My poor husband agrees to look at it, I guess I needed to share this moment with him. After that the tears come, and the mourning begins with the joy that I followed my Lord's prompting and He saw me through. I am sad but touched by His lovingkindness and comforting touch. He truly loves me and wanted to be WITH me in this. It was when I invited Him in that things got better. Thanks for reading and may you reach out to Him and depend on His strength at this time.

Stephanie said...

Abbie, congrats on your twins! So exciting!! :) I took Cytotec on Friday afternoon at 2:30pm and didn't experience hardly any of what I've read on your blog and through your comments. I'm fearful that it did not work and until reading these didn't realize that was a possibility, as my RE never mentioned it. Thank you for your words. Thank you for sharing. Here is our story as we continue our journey and this link goes to my Cytotec story itself:

http://thegeeseandus.blogspot.com/2011/03/vicodin-did-not-help.html

Anonymous said...

I am scared to do this but after about 9-11 days of bleeding with occasional cramping (dark purple and bright red with some clots), the ultrasound this morning showed that the gestational sac was still there. Sucks. I am tired of waiting. I work full time in a demanding job, and have 2 small kids with a husband who travels a lot. I also want to try for kids soon. Without the pills, the natural way can take weeks or longer according to my doc. Then it takes a while for hormones to get back to normal. With the pills, it evacuates >80% of the time successfully. We will see how my night goes. I was not offered pain pills but luckily have old percocets from my c-sec!!

To the one person who thought that stress caused their miscarriage- don't blame yourself. Miscarriage is normal and common. It happens to a certain percent of people probably because of a chromosomal problem. The more people you talk to, you will see that lots of people have had them. It does suck though.

Also finally, my friend had a miscarriage at 11 weeks of a baby that died at 9 weeks. She started to bleed at 11 weeks, that day they offered her a D+C. She got a shot and got knocked out. It was over quickly. No pain. All over. She go pregnant 2 weeks later. She was so happy!

I am scared of a D+C so I tried the pills. Wish me luck.

NOELLE ALOUD said...

I searched for "misoprostol miscarriage." It really helped me to read about your experience.

I knew about misoprostol before I miscarried - specifically that it's not FDA-approved for use on pregnant women, but doctors continue to use it to induce labor, and that it often results in ruptured uteruses. When I saw that the OB I saw in the ER had prescribed Vicodin along with the misoprostol, I thought, "There is no way I'm putting my body through that!" My midwife told me I didn't have to take it if I didn't want to, that not doing so wouldn't hurt me. Now, almost 24 hours after seeing the initial blood clot that sent me to the ER, I'm bleeding heavily on my own. I was 12 weeks pregnant - but not really, I guess, because the ultrasound showed only a sac, and no fetus at all.

Thanks again for sharing your experience,
Noelle

birdie said...

Thank you so much for posting your story! I found out last night in the ER that our baby (7 weeks) had stopped growing and had no heartbeat. This morning we had a follow up appointment with our OB who confirmed that I was miscarrying and we chose to use the Cytotec. I came home with the prescription and found your site which gave me the courage to start the meds. It has been 5 hours now, and things are just starting to happen. In this very hard time while I wait, it is a blessing to be able to read everyone's stories and know that I am not alone. Thank you again, I will update later to share the rest of my story. God bless!

Anonymous said...

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences, the information was very helpful to me.

I decided to take misoprostol for a missed miscarriage yesterday after my fourth ultrasound, second with no fetal heart tones. I should have been 10w4d, the fetus had stopped developing at approximately 6w6d. I had first tried to wait for the miscarriage to happen naturally, but after twelve days, I could not take it emotionally any longer.

9:00 pm - I took 4 tablets of misoprostol (800mcg) orally. I also took 2 percocet preemptively at this time. About 10:30 I started to have chills and shake, some nausea. I had eaten dinner just prior to taking any of these meds.

11:30 pm - This is when the cramping started, even with percocet on board, they were about a 6/10. I took 600mg of motrin to cover breakthrough pain. Went to the bathroom, the bleeding had started, weird but I was relieved. Had several medium sized clots.

12:15 am - The cramping got worse (9/10)over the next two hours, continued to bleed and had two bouts of diarrhea. I took one more percocet about 1:30 am and the cramping finally began to lessen. I actually fell asleep at 2:30 am and slept until about 6:00, but having a heating pad (or whatever you choose) was imperative to me. I slept on my back with a heating pad across my pelvis and even had my bf get up a few times to
reheat for me.

2:00 pm - I am still bleeding, but the cramps have let up for the most part.

I have an appointment in one week to see if all 'products of conception' otherwise known as my baby are gone. If all goes well I will get a clean bill of health and get to think about trying for another baby.

This baby was not planned, but so wanted. I am emotionally spent, but I think I chose the correct route for me with the misoprostol. If I ever have to do it again (please no) I would definitely do it this way.

Good luck to all of you.

Anonymous said...

I am so thankful to have found his blog site. It has been so helpful to me the past few days. On March 23, I found out I had suffered from a blighted ovum at 9 1/2 weeks. My husband and I were completely devastated since this was our first.

I went back to the dr. a week later and she told me I could take the medicine or have the D&C. I knew the meds weren't 100% guaranteed to work, but I figured it would be the best for me personally. I would rather avoid surgery if possible. I prayed about this decision and felt it was the right thing to do. My Dr. inserted 4 pills of Misoprostol vaginally at 11:15 yesterday (Thursday). She prescribed me 600mg ibuprofen and some percocet. I took 1 ibuprofen at 12:30 with my lunch. I start light cramping around this time. I was ok until around 2pm when I started having diahrrea a few times. The bleeding began at 4:30, just about 5 hours after taking the medicine.

The bleeding was heavy and I passed several clots during this time. Really freaky experience, but glad I was in the comfort of my home with my husband to care for me. The cramps weren't too bad, but I decided to take a percocet around 5:30 because I figured they would start to get worse as time went on. Between 5 and 7:30, I passed several medium sized clots and was not able to sit down. I tried to do some things around the house to keep me occupied. It did help!

Around 8:30ish, I started feeling the worst yet and I could not get off the toilet because the blood just kept coming. Then, I passed the sac. It was pretty big and scary. I called for my husband because I thought I was going to pass out. I almost did. I became very nauseated and could not stand up by myself. I fell in my bedroom floor and was shaking. My hubby said I turned green and he was freaking out! He got me some Gatorade and saltine crackers. After 15-20 mins. I came out of that mess. I dozed off on the couch and then went to bed around 10:30. I slept really well surprisingly. I got up about 3 times to use the bathroom and change my pad, but no more clots.

I went back to the dr. this morning to have and ultrasound and blood work. Thankfully the sac was gone, as most of the other tissue. I still have a medium sized amount of tissue left that needs to pass so I am not 100% clear to not have the D&C.

I just wanted to share my experience because it was as good as I could have hoped for. If you decide to go this route, make sure you have someone to care for you and pray the whole time. I couldn't have made it through this experience without God. I know He is the one who gave me the strength to get through this emotional and painful experience. I will keep praying that the rest of the tissue passes naturally over the next few days and go back to the Dr. next Friday to show that everything is clear!

God Bless all of you ladies (and your husbands or partners) who are going through this right now. I never imagined it was so much to go through to loose a baby. Just keep praying and have faith! This verse really helped me get through the process: "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1.

Heather said...

God bless you for having the most informative blog ever on this subject. It is just what I needed right now. Here is my story: I am 41 years old. I happily found out I was expecting just ten days after conception. The test turned positive right away. I was as sick as could be too! My breasts were sore and I was ravenously hungry all the time. I outgrew my clothes almost immediately. I was thrilled with all these great signs of a healthy pregnancy. I had a sonogram at 8w 4d and measured just right. Saw a beautiful baby with a strong heartbeat. At 10w 2d, I went to a local pregnancy center to have a free sonogram, I wanted to let my 13 yo daughter see the baby. But I could tell there was no heartbeat and the technician was very quiet. I had my daughter leave the room and bluntly stated, there isn't a heartbeat, is there? She replied that legally, since they weren't a doctor's office she couldn't diagnose that, but that she recommended I call my OB right away. So I called him the next day. He confirmed that the baby had died at 9 weeks. He offered the three options. I chose to wait, at least for a while. I am now 13 weeks, and since nothing has happened, (no bleeding or cramping) I went back and got the Rx for the Cytotec. He also gave me Vicoden for pain. That was yesterday. I started the Cytotec (4 inserted vaginally) today at 2:30 pm. Within 15 minutes I began experiencing mild cramps. Around 5:30 I took 2 ibuprofen. No nausea, vomiting,fever or diarrhea for me yet. Thankfully. Around 10 pm I took half of a vicoden and just then started having blood tinged mucous. Now that it is midnight, I am trying to lay low, because I am very fearful of bleeding too much and no one is awake to watch over me. Your stories have kept me company, and I appreciate them. This is such a heartwrenching time and such a scary decision to make. You have really helped me. I will try to update later, as things progress. Blessings to you all.

Heather said...

I took my second dose of 4 more cytotec this morning about 4 hours ago. So far, I've only had a few contractions and not much else. I was hoping to avoid a D&C. So, I'm kind of sad. Maybe it will start to work anyway.

Heather said...

Just writing in to let you know that the cytotec finally began working for me after about 10 hours. I cramped severely for about 2 hours and then it began to lighten up. I am very glad I had the vicoden. After it began to lighten up, I went to the bathroom and bled quite a bit into the toilet. I felt the pregnancy sac pass and retrieved it. I put it in a ziplock and my husband and I buried it. I then bled quite a bit for about 30 minutes and now the bleeding is not too bad. I am dizzy and tired though. I never got diarrhea, fever or vomiting though. I will follow up with my doctor tomorrow. That's my story. Thanks for listening.

Anonymous said...

I used Misoprostol after having a pregnancy that never developed a real heartbeat, maybe 6-7 weeks? No spotting on my own, some cramps, tried to just wait, but after 3+ weeks my dr. wanted to schedule a d&c, and said, do you want to try this first, it works about 80% of the time?

There were a lot of horror stories on the internet, and i'm not sure I would have done this if the pregnancy had been further along. I took 2 motrin, followed 1 hr later by 600mcg misoprostol - buccal - which means you hold it in your cheek until it dissolves. I had light cramps for the next three hours, and about 2 hrs of heavy to horrifying cramps (i wanted to throw up every time i got a cramp, and i was sweating), about midway through which the gestational sac came out. I made it through with a bunch of ice water, 600mg ibuprofen, and a heating pad (important!), but there was definitely an hour or so where if it hadn't eased up soon, i would have called the dr. for pain meds. So you might want to ask for a dose or two for the worst part?

My stomach wasn't super happy from the drugs, but i didn't have significant nausea or anything, and I was able to eat a light lunch before the worst of the cramps. Lots of water, and it is kind of scary - happy my husband was at home for reassurance that if something went wrong he would get me to the ER - but I think its a reasonable option if you are generally healthy and want to try it (and you don't live in the middle of nowhere). As I said, if I'd been miscarrying a 10wk baby or something, I think the prospect of more significant blood, fetus, etc would be a little more worrying. In my case, the bleeding was heavy, but not scary. Some high-coverage pads are definitely useful, because you can get clots or clumps that kind of flood off the edge.

Leah said...

I know that you posted this a while ago, but I just wanted you to know the ripple you leave. I actually just inserted the Cytotec, and thank you for the information in your blog....I'm the kind of person who wants to know everything about everything, and this helped a lot. I just found out on Thursday about the miscarriage, I was supposed to go in for the first ultrasound to find out when I was due, and instead was told they couldn't find a heartbeat. The baby was 8 weeks, it's my first pregnancy, it's devastating, but we are planning on trying again once everything is on track. It is wonderful to see that you've overcome the miscarriage and are now a wonderful mother, I can't wait. Thank you. Leah

Leah said...

It's me again...just an update, I'll try to keep it short. The first dose didn't work(I think due to user error), but the second one definately did. I'm kind of confused at the moment. I had the heavy bleeding in the first day, then spotting for the next 3 days, then regular bleeding, I'm trying to find out if I'm just having my cycle. But it's been just over 2 weeks since the mc, I still have my moments, but trying to stay optimistic. Thank you so much for everything.

Heather said...

Update again from Heather. It's been 3 weeks and 3 days since I took the Cytotec. This morning I had to have a follow up D & C for retained placenta and tissue and I was getting the beginnings of an infection. Pretty sad about that.

Anonymous said...

Hello Ladies - I went in for my 8 week ultrasound and was told there was no heartbeat. This is was my second pregnancy and I felt like something was wrong but did not have any bleeding or other symptoms except a feeling. The doctor said the embryo was only about 6 weeks. I decided to go with Cytotec because I wanted to get this over with and try to conceive again as soon as possible. I took my first dose ( 4 pills vaginally) yesterday at 8:30 am. Nothing really happened for four hours and I had some pretty intense cramping that only lasted about 20 minutes and passed some small clots. I was not completely saturating pads and it did not feel like I passed anything "big" so I took my second dose this morning (4 more pills vaginally). I again am having mild cramping, small clots but nothing big. My doctor did not recommend I come in for an ultrasound to make sure I got everything out but I don't feel like I bleed enough from reading all the posts on this site. How do you know all the tissue is out?
This is a great site and really helped me through this difficult time.

Abbie Burnham said...

You can know that everything is out by a) ultrasound or b) HCG results falling below 5. Your doctor really should check to make sure the miscarriage is complete - you can get an infection from retaining parts of the sac for too long. It sounds to me like you probably haven't miscarried if you haven't lost much blood or anything large. I would call my doctor again to have them confirm via ultrasound or HCG test that the miscarriage has completed.

Janelle said...

My doctor followed up with an ultrasound 5 days after I took cytotec and there was still a tiny amount of tissue in there, but nothing that she was worried about. I stopped bleeding the day after the ultrasound so I called because I was worried I hadnt passed that tissue seen in the ultrasound, so she followed me for a week with HCG tests until it was close to zero

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I am so grateful for this site! I just found out today (3rd ultrasound) that the pregnancy was not viable. I was measuring at a little over 5 weeks, the same as last u/s and no heartbeat. i technically should be 9 weeks by now. This is my second miscarriage and I have yet to pass my first trimester or hear a heartbeat. I am extremely devastated but know that it wasn't meant to be. My doctor recommend a D&C and i absolutely refuse to do it...i don't want to be under anesthesia.so said i won't need it because i'm only 5 weeks. nevertheless, i got a prescription for Cytotec. I was afraid of this as well but waiting for a natural miscarriage is too stressful. We don't want to waste time so i will fill the prescription tomorrow. Your stories gave me an in-depth look at what to expect and I really appreciated it. Good luck to everyone that's still trying! It will happen on day! =))

Brittany said...

First of all... let me tell you how grateful I am that you wrote this... It has helped me immensely today...

Yesterday I noticed some veeery light spotting however.. called my doctor as my husband is A+ blood type and I am B- so I knew i needed a Rhogam shot.
My doctor is wonderful and very thorough so he decided to schedule an ultra sound just to be safe... (I was 11 weeks and 3 days) so we bumped up the originally scheduled appt...
I was sent to the hospital for the shot and the ultrasound and then returned to my doc's office...
It was there that we were told something wasn't right... the baby was only the size of a 6w4d old fetus and I had miscarried....

This morning at 9a.m. I met with an OB and was given the options of waiting... misoprostol...or D and C.... I opted for the pills...

it has been approximately 5 hours since I inserted the pills vaginally (sorry if TMI) and I am almost certain that I have just passed my sac... is was fleshy in color and semi-transparent.... probably the hardest emotional moment thus far... this was my first pregnancy and my sister in law is also expecting.. due 2 weeks before I was....

I know God has a purpose in this and hold onto the hope he gives as my husband and I grieve the loss of this little one...

reading your experience as well as those who have posted have helped me so much today.... I cannot thank everyone enough for being willing to share their story...

Praying that all of you will never have to experience this again....

xoxo

Natasha said...

Words can not describe how grateful I am for your post- as well as everyone else's . I was scared as scared as I have ever been to take the pills and this was the only site with detailed experiences.
On May 13 I went to my OB for my first apt at 6 wks 6 d. I had an u/s and everything looked 1 week behind. I was to come back 2 weeks later for another u/s & more bloodwork. two weeks worth of waiting & googling filled me with hope and fear. At the next apt I had the u/s first so I could clearly see an empty sac. The following 2 hours were very difficult. The sonographer knew I knew there was not a fetus she should have helped us get somewhere private instead of sitting in a pass through for 30 minutes leaving my husband and myself to grieve in public. We finally were put in an exam room where we sat alone for over an hour and half. The first thing the doctor asked(not my usual OB because of scheduling) when she came in was if we'd heard the baby's heartbeat. I asked her to lookat the chart because there was no fetal pole. She gave us our 3 options all delivered equally. I asked what she suggested she said that was a personal question. I asked to think about it for the weekend. I decided on the d&c and made an apt to see the dr for scheduling & bloodwork. I was able to see my usual OB. She was very surprised at my decision and explained drawbacks of the surgery. the biggest point for me was 1 d&c not a problem but what if you need a 2nd or 3rd because it's an emergency that becomes a lot of scar tissue so in my case it's best not to elect to have the first one.

So here's my time line. Let me start by saying my prescription was called in thurs my plans were for fri night boy do I wish I had 1 dose of some kind of anxiety med because fri was the worst day at work. I was so scared and nervous I could not concentrate.

Ate a medium size dinner at 7, at 845 pm inserted 600 mg of misoprostol. I had a big glass of ice water and a pack of crackers next to the bedside. At this time I also took 2 Tylenol # 3. I was told to relax and lay down so the pills wouldn't come out. My husband and I laid down held hands said a prayer and chatted. Stayed in bed.

12:45. Used restroom no spotting. Took 2nd dose of tyl #3. Glad I did because by 1am the cramps were progressing.
Barely any spotting

3:30 am. Changed first pad but it wasn't full.

6:00 am. 3rd dose of Tylenol #3. All night the level of pain was that of bad period cramps - but I also had Tylenol 3
in my system.

7 am past large clot red with gray squiggles

Between 7 - 7:45 changed pads 2x both with the amount of a heavy overnight. Clotting during this time medium. I did not feel these while they were being passed.

7:45 did feel something with consistency passing. When I looked I saw what I believed was the sac. It was grayish the size of a large grape. It was solid and held it's shape when I touched it. I said goodbye and sent it on it's way.

The rest of they day I took it easy and every thing so far as been ok. Bleeding like normal period.

All in all I'm so glad I took the pills instead of the surgery.

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to share my experience as well. Got pregnant at the end of March and when I should have been 10 weeks last week was only measuring 6 or 7 weeks with no heartbeat. My betas never doubled like that were supposed to either.

So I tried to miscarry naturally for about 2 weeks and when it was clear that my body was hanging on to the pregnancy I opted for the medication. I hadn't really read any experiences with other ladies and the medication and I'm kind of glad that I didn't because I think I would have been even more nervous then I was.

Friday afternoon at 6:00pm I inserted the 4 cytotec and lay in bed watching tv, fell asleep and woke up around 7:30 to really bad chills, felt like I had a fever or was getting the flu. Around 10:00 started to get the cramping and a little bit of bleeding. Took two percocet at 10:38 and it took about an hour for it to kick in. Cramps got really bad in a matter of about 40 minutes. I also had extremely bad diahrea and at 11:30 passed a small amount of tissue. Cramping stopped at around 12:30 and was able to fall asleep and slept through the night.

Took it easy the next day (Saturday) and around 3:30pm went to the bathroom and when I wiped the placenta was there, it was about the size of a key lime and was a gray purpley color. Had a couple of sharp pains after that and then nothing.

On Sunday passed another small peice of tissue about the size of a raisin and have continued to bleed lightly. Today I'm bleeding like a normal period.

I'm really hoping that I've passed all the tissue at this point. My biggest worry is that it hasn't or won't all come out and I'll have to have a D&C.

Bethany K. said...

Thank you to everyone who posted. It is nice to know that I am not alone.

Here is my story. I was diagnosed with a blighted ovum at 9 weeks and was heart broken because this was my first pregnancy, which came after a year of TTC and after a diagnosis of PCOS. My first choice was to have a D&C, but it was too costly due to our high insurance deductible. The next best option was cytotec because I didn't want to wait for things to happen naturally since my hCG levels were continuing to rise and it could take several weeks for the miscarriage to occur. Starting at 6:30 pm, after dinner on a Tuesday, I took 3 pills orally (600 mcg total) every 4 hours until I had used all 12 pills. After the first dose, I got chills right away and experienced slight cramping after about 2 hours. The cramping gradually increased and felt like really bad AF pains. I then took a couple Advil along with the second dose. The cramping increased and I started to get really bad stomach and gas pains. I took a hot bath, which slightly helped, but I had to get out of the tub because the stomach pains increased and (sorry if TMI) I had TERRIBLE diarrhea that had the consistency of water and seemed never ending. I then felt sick to my stomach and vomited into the trashcan several times as I was on the toilet with the diarrhea. By this point, the bleeding had only slightly increased and I was not passing any clots even though I had awful cramping. I forced myself to go to bed and fell asleep in spite of the chills, shaking, nausea, stomach pains, and cramping. I woke up a few times as I felt gushes of blood and/or clots but I only needed one pad, which was nowhere filled to capacity. I also had to wake up to take additional doses of the cytotec. The directions said to take it with food so I ate 4 or 5 saltines right after each dose and I didn’t have any more diarrhea or vomiting. The cramping also tapered off, and by the time I had my last dose at 6:30 am, it felt like a normal AF so I went into work. Since taking the medicine, I have bled for 9 days straight, which is heaviest when I am walking. I have never needed more than one pad a day, but have changed it out more frequently for hygiene purposes. I passed part of the gestational sac on the third day (Friday) and some more of it on the fifth day (Sunday). Also, I have had moderate cramping almost every afternoon that lasts for a few hours. I am going to my OBGYN in a week to see if everything has passed.

My advice is that if you are taking this product orally, be sure to take each dose with food because that might help reduce the risk of diarrhea and vomiting.

Anonymous said...

I am so glad to have found this site. Some of the stories are pretty scary so I thought I would post the beginning stages of mine. I found out I was pregnant on April 29th. My hcg levels were low and didn't always double. I was being watched carefully because of previous tubal reversal surgery. I had two u/s which showed a sac but no viable pregnancy. I was told I would miscarry. On May 13th, I began my mc which lasted about 7 days. I thought it was over and was looking forward to trying again. My hcg went from 555 to 745 three days after my mc! Then finally, they slowly started coming down. On June 6th, my RE said I needed to take the Cytotec because he thought I still had retained product. I wanted to wait and hope my body would do it on it's own and truthfully, the stories online freaked me out! My breasts have still been very sore and I have still been feeling pregnant which is hard. Also, I kept secretly hoping I had conceived again in between. Today my RE called and said my numbers are still too high to be 5 weeks post m/c and I am risking infection so I decided to go ahead with the meds. My other option was a D&C. I inserted 4 pills (200mcg each)vaginally at 11:30am. By 1:30 I started getting cramps but I soon realized they were direaha (sp) cramps. Terrible though I'm sure I lost five pounds. By 3pm, I started getting bad period cramps and started bleeding. By 5pm, very bad cramps and much heavier bleeding. It's now 7:30pm and the cramps really suck but tolerable. I only have T3's and I hate how they make me feel so I'm going to try and stick it out. Maybe I will take one before bed. I'm eating fine though I feel a bit queasy. The cramps are much worse than my m/c which is weird when it's essentially the same process. So all in all, so far I wish I hadn't waited and put myself through all of these weeks of constant positive pregnancy tests, iotas of hope and sadness. I could have already been on my way to TTC again. Fingers crossed for you all that it goes smooth and you don't need a D&C.

Anonymous said...

I just learned that we lost our baby yesterday, I was 10 weeks pregnant with our first. We were somewhat prepared. At our 1st ultrasound @ 8 weeks the heartbeat was 60 bpm and measuring closer to 6.5 weeks.
I was prescribed Misoprostol (Cytotec) yesterday. I took the 1st dose at 5pm. I started severly cramping around 8pm and had mild diarrhea. St 1am I passed my first large clot which was approximately the size of a baseball. It is now 2pm and I am still bleeding and passing clots. The emotional toll is terrible. I too felt like I was having an elective abortion even though I know that was not the case. I feel awful guilt because the only thing I needed to do was provide a safe environemnt for our child to grow and I didnt. I know this is not my fault or anyone elses but I cant help but feel that way. I know this is not my fault but it is hard not to feel that way.
Thank you for sharing your experience its helps being able to share.

Anonymous said...

thank you ladies for sharing.it has been helpful to not feel so alone at this sad time! i found out at my 8wk ultrasound that the fetus died at 6w5d. i waited 2 wks, and had another ultrasound just to be sure nothing had changed/there was no mistake before agreeing to take the cytotec. the ob is sort of pressuring me to take it (shes "not comfortable" with me waiting any longer for it to happen naturally) As ready as i am emotionally to MOVE ON (i got the bad news 17 days ago...) i DO NOT want to take cytotec or have a d&c whatsoever. I really want to wait it out and give my body some more time to try to miscarry naturally. i dont have insurance, and im scared of something going wrong with the cytotec and ending up in the ER.

does anyone know how long i can REALLY wait for it to happen naturally without endangering myself??
so far i have no symptoms of infection, but also no spotting or any indication of an impending miscarriage. i feel significantly less nausoues and a lot more energized, which i assume is a sign the HCG levels are falling..

Also, has anyone tried taking herbs or high doses of vitamin c to induce it naturally? i was going to begin the herbal stuff but now i am nervous about disrupting my natural balance with intense herbs and then still having to take the cytotec and maybe there could be a weird reaction or something....uuugh!! this is a NIGHTMARE...

i am feeling so desperate, and like i cant get a straight answer from the dr....help!

thanks so much....<3

Anonymous said...

My baby lost its heartbeat at 8 week and i chose to use Cytotec to end the pregnancy. I am thankful to finally found your blog as it helps me to prepared for the drug and know what to expect.

My dr. instructed me to take the drug orally. I first took 3 tablets of Mifeprex on day 1. experienced heavy bleeding on day 2 and saw some blood clots. Took 2 tablets of cytotec on day 3. but nothing really happened after the cytotec except for some BM. it's day 4 already, and i am pretty sure that my body has not expelled any tissues or sac yet. will return to my Dr for an ultrasound tomorrow. this is kinda frustrating that the process has not kicked in for me yet.

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to follow up on my post from March 29, 2011. I suffered from a blighted ovum at 91/2 weeks and took the cytotec pills on March 25.

Everything went fine as far as completing the miscarriage, but I did want to note that I did not stop bleeding/spotting completely until June 10. I went to the doctor June 2 and she seemed to think everything was just fine. She said I probably had a period during that time and just didn't realize it since I had been spotting so much.

That is one downfall of taking the meds...you may bleed for a while which is no fun. I would still recommend taking the meds over the D&C, however. Has anyone else bled this long after taking the cytotec? Just curious. My husband and I want to try again soon but I have no idea if I have even ovulated yet since my cycle hasn't been back to normal.

Abbie Burnham said...

To the anonymous poster from June 27, 2011 at 1:15 am:

I would not take herbs or anything homeopathic to induce a miscarriage. There are a lot of things that could go wrong, and you should be careful (especially without insurance) with not having a doctor to follow you carefully. I am not sure how long you can wait naturally before miscarrying without getting an infection... I think it is different for different people. Good luck finding your answers!

Anonymous said...

Hello! I was 8 weeks 1 day and had my first ob appointment and ultrasound. They did a transvaginal ultrasound and informed me that there was no heartbeat and it measured 8 weeks 0 days. I didnt have any spotting or cramping whatsoever. i had another ultrasound to confirm it. The second ultrasound found subchorionic hemorrhage. They gave me the 3 usual choices. At first i thought a d&c would be quicker and easier since they sedate you but the day before i got bad anxiety about it so i went with the cytotec. There are so many more risks with a d&c compared to cytotec. The doctor prescribed me to take 400mg every 4 hours for 24 hours orally. She also prescribed me 30 vicodins. So here is my timeline..

5:45pm: took first dose

9:35: gushes of blood, even went down my legs, took the second dose.
(just mild cramping similar to a bad period.

11:00: I didnt feel like i needed any pain meds but i thought it was getting worse so i took one vicodin.

11:30: cramps were getting worse pretty fast. just barely any bleeding though

11:35: had a very painful cramp. it felt like something shocked my entire stomach and i actually yelled out loud. Felt like blood was coming out so i went to the bathroom. I sat there for a little bit to wait but only a little blood came out. Bright red but no clots. i started to push like women do in labor to see if it helped move things along. I pushed twice for 10 seconds and felt this huge substance coming out. It came out and plooped into the tiolet onto the toilet paper so i was able to see it. It was the size of a golf ball, White/greyish veins (cord?) were visible, along with the fetus-legs, arms, head and body were visible. Lots of other tissue was attached. All of it was a dark dark red except for the greyish vein looking parts.

12:45: very little cramping and very little bleeding.

Right now its 1:15 and still barely any bleeding or cramping.

Its not as bad as it sounded from other websites or what i anticipated. Hopefully everything passed but its still early in the process for me. I go for an ultrasound tomorrow at 11am to see if everything is passed.

i would rather do cytotec than a d&c with all the risks. This experience so far as been sort of like a closure, knowing that it came out.
Thank you everyone for their stories, it helped me alot knowing i wasnt alone.

Anonymous said...

Thank you everyone else for leaving a comment, I was prescribed Misoprostol today for a miscarriage that has apparently happened between my last two ultrasounds, I am sitting looking at the pill bottle and putting off taking it, I am having a really hard time getting myself to take these pills because it feels like it is making it real and I am not sure i am ready to accept it yet, I had no symptoms that I had lost the baby and felt like the pregnancy was progressing as it should so it was a major shock when i was told that my sac no longer held a baby and my body had removed it itself. It has been very helpful reading everyones comments and what to expect, thank you for a place to express how i am feeling, good luck to everyone in the future.

Obadiah and Merideth said...

Thank you for posting this information. I just found out yesterday that our baby died almost 3 weeks ago. I took cytotec at 8:30 this morning orally-2 pills. I have had cramping all day, but no bleeding. I will be taking the 2nd dose in a half hour. At least now I have an idea of what I can expect.

Sonya said...

Reading these posts helped prepare me to take this medication, thank you to all those who posted ... i'd like to share my experince with miso was 12 weeks pregnant found out baby stopped growing at 9w4d :
5pm - inserted 4 200mg pills into vagina, wet them before inserting (be careful not to wet too much they start to dissolve immediately) about 15 mins later feeling a throbbing in my vagina/uterus thought it was from my trying to push pills up as far as possible. went and laid down.

530- strong cramping, took a percocet right away was surprised at how quick i felt these

6pm- sat up to take another percocet, just had gotten it down when i felt what other posters described as a pop and felt wet through pad, underwear and pants, scrambled off couch into bathroom, as soon as i pulled off everything and sat down i saw grayish ball in my pad thought it was sac but when i picked it up it was actually the baby, all in one peice, with legs and arms, eyes... was shocked but grateful to have gotten to see him or her. put baby into a container to bury later. Figured worst of it was over, that was fairly quick.

7pm- was still having fairly strong cramping and felt another woosh of something went to bathroom had passed a baseball sized clot and filled another pad.

8-12pm continued to bleed quite heavily between this time passing even larger clots than the one at 7 and soaking 1-2 pads and hour, felt faint during this time and very weak but kept drinking gatorade and when i nearly fainted husband made me eat chocolate which helped alot, got sugar back up.

12- having painful cramping, still so took another percocet and tried to sleep set alarm for 3am to get up and monitor what was happening, passed another large clot fairly hard compared to others, hurt when it passed

3am- woke up soaking wet through pad, underwear, two towels under me (thank god someone thought to put garbage bag under towels)went to bathroom, was more liquid and wet than blood like first time when i passed baby and when i sat down two more large hard clots fell out of me. Sat there for a bit but started to feel the cramping subsiding so got changed and went back to bed.

6am- woke up again went to bathroom and there was barely any blood on pad, went back to sleep woke at 10 am same thing.

Have been barely bleeding since less than even a period.

difficult to go through but think it was easier on me than a d and c would have been. good luck to all of you on this difficult journey. love and light.

Anonymous said...

I just want to say THANK YOU! I just went through a missed miscarriage, found out at 13 weeks that the sac was empty and stopped growing at 9 weeks. Reading your experience was like I had written it, the timeline and all. It is very reassuring to read real life stories about what to expect. I did not find alot of real information prior to taking misoprotol but wish I would of known more. I think the worst part was the severe cramps and the sudden gush, ran to the bathroom and expelled a few large clots of tissue.

Unfortunately we will not be the last women to experience this but hopefully we can learn and guide each other through this.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I am taking the pills tomorrow too...I am just curious, when can I start trying again after cytotec? My sis had a D&C and was able to try right after her first period....I have read that through cytotec they make you wait thre cycles???!!!!
Is that true? we really want to get prego and have a baby...

Abbie Burnham said...

Re: waiting after taking cytotec

I believe different doctors say different things. You might be better off waiting just to be safe, but I have heard some doctors say that waiting doesn't change anything and trying immediately after a miscarriage actually increases your chances of getting pregnant again.

Dawana said...

Hey Abbie,

I was considering blogging about it too (I put in my inserts last night) and I thought maybe it was TMI, but I'm glad I found your blog, so I will write about it. I am SUPER gassy and couldn't figure out why, so I'm happy to know you were too. I started bleeding at 3 am and by maybe 9 am it seemed the bleeding had stopped (it's 5 pm now), but it seems like according to your experience it may start again? I've only passed clots, no grey-ish sac. I didn't fill the prescription for the Vicodin, maybe I should have the husband do that on the way home for round 2? You are amazing, I'm gonna blog about it too because it's so informative.
Thanks again!
- Dawana

Sonya said...

Hey all I had posted above on July 17 2011 just wanted to update on what has happened since... I don't want to worry anyone I just want to make sure you are informed and don't have to go through what I went through....

I took Misoprostal on August 16th went through everything just the way I should have according to nurse I was in contact with she said it sounded like everything had passed and it couldn't have worked any better, had a second round of miso but she said I didn't need to take it so I didn't and she recommended I wait 2 weeks then follow up with dr re: ultrasound and bloodwork to make sure nothing was left and hormones were coming back down. On sunday Aug 21 i had some heavy cramping followed by heavy bleeding and passing clots I called Telehealth they recommended if it continued was more than one pad an hr i go into hospital well it slowed down so I thought it was just passing of tissue that may have been left. During that week i bled a bit more and passed small amounts of tissue.

On evening of Aug 27th while walking dog i felt a huge gush and was all of a sudden standing in a pool of blood all soaked through pants dripping down feet, my husband was with me and told me to get home as fast as i could which we did. As soon as I got onto our porch i was dripping blood everywhere took off bottoms sat on toilet and it was just pouring out of me ( this was a span of maybe 5 mins from start to getting home) right away i told my husband to call 911. Next thing i knew i was in back of ambulance going into shock. I had a massive hemorraghe that i came very close to losing my life because of. Thank fully they were able to stop bleeding and give me blood transfusions, when dr checked me inside there was a large piece of placenta stuck in my cervix which had probably caused the hemorraghe he said. It was a traumatic experience for myself and my husband and daughter to say the least.

info i got from dr: if you are over 8 weeks preg they do not recommend taking the miso, it has a high failure rate in terms of tissue being left behind, intead of waiting two weeks to see dr get in within 3-5 days to ensure all is ok, if you bleed profusely do not wait to call 911!!! From time i started to bleed to getting to hospital it was maybe 15 mins and i was in very serious condition.

After all this I will not consider this route ever again if it comes to it.

Sonya said...

Sorry just realised my dates are all off in the above message. I wrote message on July 21st, had taken the miso on July 19th, had cramping and bleeding on July 21st after sharing the message and had the hemorrage on July 27th. I was supposed to be seeing my dr for my "follow up on Aug 2nd.

Michelle said...

I wanted to share my story with misoprostol because I actually had quite a good experience (as I find out from reading some of the other posts).

I live in the Netherlands(NL) but was in the US visiting family when I found out I was pregnant. Since my insurance is for NL, I was going to wait to go to a doctor until back home. But then I noticed brown spotting that continued for a week.
A friend of my sister did an ultrasound as a favor (no cost) and there was no heartbeat. The baby was at 9weeks and I was 11weeks pregnant.

Back in NL, the doctor gave me mifepriston which I took orally 8 hours before a vaginal dose of 4 misoprostol.

The cramps started about an hour after taking the misoprostol. At about 2 hours later, the pain was horrible and I was scared because I felt really cold and the one tablet of pain killer (naproxen) was doing nothing. I had my husband call the hospital and they told him that I could take another pain killer. They also said that once the blood started, the pain would lessen.

About 30 minutes later a gush of blood and water? came out. And the pain lessened dramatically. I laid down and fell asleep (it was 1:30am) until 5am.

At 5am, I went to the bathroom when I passed a large amount of clots and the sac. I did not have pain in doing this and did not have cramps either. I did not want to look, but took a very quick glimpse to see how much had come out to try to determine if more would come or not.

I fell back asleep and did not pass anything else (so it was all over within 6hours). I just had bleeding the next day and until now still spotting and light cramping now and then (is now 8 days later).

At the ultrasound, everything had passed except a very thin, soft, long tissue which the doctor was not concerned about. She said I only need to be concerned if I don't get my period in the coming 4 weeks (I just had the m/c on the 30th of July).

This was my first pregnancy and it has been very difficult emotionally. Prayer and support from friends and family has helped immensely. It is hard to not be afraid of having another m/c, but reading some of these posts has really been encouraging, so thank you!

God bless,
Michelle

Anonymous said...

Ugh, it's not working! This is my 5th pregnancy and first miscarriage - found out at 9.5 weeks that the baby only developed to 7.5 and no heartbeat. An awesome midwife said the pills were a great option, that everything passes quickly and together and it's not so horrible. No one else seems to have the low dose I was give though - they said take 2 200mg orally, and if it doesn't work than take 2 more 12 hours later. Well, I've taken all 4 and my back hurts a bit but all I've seen is a couple tiny little clots this morning and some faint brown when I wipe. I was really hoping to have it over with this weekend while my hubby was home to watch the 4 kids! I choose to be annoyed instead of sad :) I think I'm going to go bug the on-call doctor ...
`Tami

Anonymous said...

I keep seeing a lot of vaginally inserted pills online,, My dr gave me the cytotec, crush 4 pills and let sit under my tongue as long as I can stand it and swallow, I am to repeat this in 10 hrs (4 more pills). I did get percocet 1-2 every 4-6 hrs, trust me I am taking 2 every 4 hrs. 9wks the baby was looking 8wks, 10th week had a hard time finding the hb, but did find it, 11th week no hb. 12th week repeated u.s. And no hb again. They did blood work and my number dropped 23,000 overnight.. So I got the meds today and they said if it's not all out by tomorrow they are gonna do a d&c tomorrow.

Kathie said...

Thank you for your experience on Misoprostol, as well as all those who've left comments subsequently. I found out yesterday I have a blighted ovum, and at 8 weeks PG, I will be starting Misoprostol tonight. I've read many, many experiences and have to admit I'm not looking forward to what's in store for me. Emotionally I'm fine - there was no baby to begin with, and it was our first try following the birth of our now 12 month old son, but physically I'm worried.

I'm to take 4 x 200 mg pills vaginally this evening, and 4 more tomorrow morning, 12 hours later. My Dr told me to get 'over the counter Tylenol' and Gravol, as well as really large pads. Reading that people were Prescribed things like Percoset, naproxen, etc, has me a bit concerned that Tylenol won't even touch the pain I'm in store for. Ugh.

My sister is coming tomorrow to look after my son, so I can suffer without having to care for an infant. Hopefully my experience won't be as bad as some, but I guess I'll keep the Dr's number handy just in case. And I'll try to track down a heating pad.

Thanks to all for sharing your experiences.

RJH said...

I wish SO MUCH that I would have found this site before I took the misoprostol. I had a very similar experience as Abbie, but I only had over the counter ibuprofen for pain. I found myself taking an exorbitant amount of the NSAID, which made me bleed out to a dangerous degree. My rate of blood loss was approximately 2-3 super absorbancy pads an hour for about 15 hours (before I got to the ER that is). My blood pressure dropped to 60/30, which was measured by the EMT after my husband called 911 when he found me collapsed near the toilet. When I got to the ER, I needed a blood transfusion because I had such a low level of red blood cells. They also did a D&C to finish the passage of post-conception material. They said I could have died if I wasn't treated immediately. If I miscarry again in the future, I am just getting the D&C in the hospital. My recommendation to anyone considering taking misoprostol is to get adequate pain medication, preferably a type that does not thin your blood. The pain is the absolute worst pain that I have ever experienced in my life, and I have a pretty high tolerance to pain. NSAIDs are simply not good in my opinion because they don't take the edge off and the cause you to bleed out. I would suggest insisting on pain medication like ultram or even percocet, as these do not thin the blood like traditional NSAIDs. I hope this helps someone to avoid the horrible experience that I had.

subhaganesh said...

i went to doctor on 16-aug-2011,i was 8 weeks 6 days pregnant ,i found my baby heart beat stopped before a week through ultrasound. that was most hard time in my life.this should not happen to anyone in future. doctor insisted me to go for misoprostol.i didn't take tablet that day because still i have the hope that my baby is alive. then next day i decided to take tablet,went to pharmacy and got the tablet. around 2.30p.m i took tablet ( 4 through vaginally and 1 by mouth)and i didnt got up from bed and around 4.30p.m i realized thet my period started as i kept pad already i dint got up and i was lying on bed till 6.30p.m because i am scared that tablet may come out if i got up. by 6.30 p.m i need to take 2 more tablets by mouth so i got up and i took i found huge bleeding so i went to toilet and found huge amount od blood clots came out (3 lemon sized clots) and i started heavy pain so i took hydroco/apap ( pain killer) then i felt very normal. Again by 9P.M huge blood clots by passing urine.around 10.30p.m i took 2 more tablet by mouth and slept.around 2.30 A.M again 2 more tablets i took and went to toilet again blood clots .i cleaned up and slept. from next day morning i had normal bleeding only.i don't know whether evrything has passed out or not. i have my next appointment on 23-aug-2011,will come to know by that time.i will update you the result and i wish i should get healthy baby atleast next time. and i wish that no one should this bad situation in their life...

Anonymous said...

Thank you all for posting your experiences. My first pregnancy, I was diagnosed with missed miscarriage at 10w1d, baby stopped growing at 8w4d, only a couple of days after we saw the baby's heartbeat at our first ultrasound. My OB gave us options, we chose misoprostol. We were diagnosed on a Friday. That Saturday we were not emotionally ready to start, so I began medication on Sunday morning. 4am - inserted 4 pills into vagina using a tampon, cramming the pills into the top of a plastic applicator. Instructions said to leave the tampon in for 2 hours, so I went back to bed. Almost immediately I developed gas pains. 6am - removed tampon and took 4 advil. Started feeling mild cramping throughout the morning. OB said if there was no bleeding within 6-8 hours to do a 2nd dosage. 11am - 2nd dosage of misoprostol. Almost immediately started feeling significant cramping and had diarrhea. 1pm - removed tampon and took half of a percocet. Cramping very severe. Found out later that I was having labor pains and contractions. Also contnued diarrhea. 2pm - started bleeding. I recommend wearing large overnight pads. For the rest of the day I experienced contractions, significant pain in my lower back, running down my legs to my feet. A heating pad helped. After each contraction, I felt a sensation of bleeding in my vagina, and when I stood, I would have to rush to the bathroom to pass more clots. The clots I passed were about the size of a lime, and I passed several during the afternoon and night. Passing clots weren't painful. I didn't have to collect samples, so I just let them all fall in the toilet. I continued to take 4 advil every 8 hours, didn't take any more percocet, though I was in pain. 11pm - went to bed.
On Monday I bled like a period with period like cramps. I went back to OB for follow up ultrasound and the baby successfully passed which meant I would not need surgery, but my uterine lining was still thick with blood. The rest of the week, I bled like a heavy period, cramps and back pain would come and go. The following Friday, 5 days after starting, I passed some hard tissue, flesh colored, about the size of my thumb. Not sure what that was, but after that, my bleeding reduced significantly. Now, almost a week after starting misoprostol, I am only spotting.
It is an emotional experience but is noninvasive. Hopefully I won't have to go through this again, but if I did, I would elect to do misoprostol again.
I'm sorry for your losses and hope my story helps.

Amy said...

This post and the following comments were so helpful to me! I found them just after I'd taken Cytotec to remove the last of a miscarriage due to a blighted ovum. I was so nervous! The pain was comparable to the natural miscarriage I'd had a few days previously, and although I'd taken a prescribed Vicodin just in case, I would have been fine with just ibuprofen. The scariest part for me was the chills, lightheadedness, and the amount of blood loss. The medication kicked in about two hours after I'd taken it, and I hadn't taken any pain meds, so I knew the odd feeling wasn't due to painkillers. I just suddenly felt a sinking feeling (kind of like significantly low blood sugar) and was so worried I was going to be going to the ER for a hemorrhage. I ate some broccoli with lots of butter, red meat, and drank a lot of water. That seemed to bring me back to reality a little more. The rest of the event took about 12 hours to completely pass the leftover clots, and I slept through most of it. Had I to do this again, I would take these in the morning and rest all day. I was afraid of passing out in my sleep from blood loss and not waking up! A few days later & I'm still bleeding, but much less. I'm hoping for a clear ultrasound and a future successful pregnancy! Thankfully, I already have two sweet girls to hold onto. It also saddens me greatly to read the posts of the women who feel they are in such a hopeless situation, they must take this to end a viable pregnancy.

Anonymous said...

I am going to start the misoprostol this friday morning. I found out at 10 weeks that my baby had no heartbeat and was only the size of a 6 week old. This was my 2nd pregnancy. I have a one-year-old boy and I just focus on him when I feel sad. Reading everyone's stories really scares me but at the same time gives me encouragement knowing that you've all made it through such a difficult ordeal. It also comforts me and I feel a bond with all of you, since no one around me really understands the emotional pain I'm going through. Please pray for me when I finally say goodbye to my baby this weekend. :(

Doubly Blessed Mommy said...

I have a set of identical twins and got pregnant when they were about a year old. Unfortunately that ended in a ruptured ectopic pregnancy with my left fallopian tube having to be removed, after the methotrexate treatment failed to end the pregnancy. The methotrexate gave me cramping/spotting/gas to the point where I thought I was going to die from the pain, I never want to experience that again. I am almost 9 weeks pregnant now 6 months after surgery but found out yesterday that it's not viable. I have the choice to do it naturally, cytotec, or d&C. I have chosen to use cytotec but am very scared of the pain you describe in your blog post. I never want to experience the pain again, like I did from the medication I took from the last failed pregnancy. Thanks for sharing your experience, and I know that everyone's experience is different with this medication. I just want this over as soon as possible so I can go on with my grieving. While singing "the desert song" last week in church I was struck by the lyrics that say, "All of my life, in every season, you are still God, I have a reason to sing, I have a reason to worship". It's so hard to sing praise to Him during this time but He is still good and worthy of praise, and Christ himself was a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering so surely He grieves with me. He will give us songs of joy in place of our tears.Psalm 146:5-6. God bless you and your beautiful family. I am a twin and also have twins, and can tell you that it's the most wonderful thing in the world. Enjoy every minute of their beauty, they are an absolute gift from God. Blessings.

Anonymous said...

Its been 4 days since my first of 2 misoprostol insertions. OB in ER insisted i try this instead of surgery. Big mistake on my part for listening. Aside from a hole in my intestine several years ago, this has been the most painful experience in my life. The worst of it is i think i did not even pass my sac yet (was a blighted ovum). I hope i never miscarry again, but if i do, i'm begging for the d and c.

Anonymous said...

I am a non native English speaker, so please bear with my language. I found at 7 weeks that my pregnancy was not viable. We waited for two weeks to see if things improve. But unfortunately my pregnancy did not progress and Doctor suggested Misoprostol. I started last saturday at around 11:00 AM with 3 pills vaginally. No pain no bleeding until 4:00PM and then light bleeding and pain started but it was not heavy.I took another dose at night 11:00 PM with a hydrocodin and slept off. Morning I passed a Lemon Sized clot. I knew it was not over as I was expecting couple of more big clots.I was all fine that day, not much pain or bleeding. So I kind of thought it was over and was on a plane to Chicago the next morning which is today. I was fine for 15 mins and then contractions started and I was not able to tolerate the pain. Pilot brought in the plane to Chicago as fast as he could and I ended up in an ambulance.I passed couple of big clots and everything was fine after couple of hours.Lesson learnt: No Travel for at least a week after taking Misoprostol.

Anonymous said...

Hi Abby
I am about to take the metoprositol but I have been very nervous. My baby passed at 7 weeks but I did not find out until I was 12 weeks. It was devestating. I just want to say that I feel better now that I know what to expect when I do take the meds. Thank you for writing about it. Sonia

Jai said...

First, let me say thank you for this site! Very helpful. This is my first pregnancy which resulted in a missed miscarriage. My first ultrasound detected a low heartbeat and the baby was measured at 7 weeks when I should have been 8 weeks and 4 days according to my LMP. Was scheduled for a an appointment 2 weeks later and the no heartbeat was detected. Was prescribed cytotec. Started yesterday at 1:30 inserted 4 200 mg vaginally. 2 hours later had regular period cramps. 4 hours into it had severe cramping, vomited once and applied heating pad. Tried to rest and after an hour my cramps calmed down. I have 600 mg of ibuprofen along with oxycodone. Low amount of blood on pad and some tissue passed about the size of my thumb nail. Cramping came back around 4:00 am, so I took 1 oxycodone. Went to the bathroom around 6 am and a large clot came out. Now I am bleeding a lot more and still have some significant cramping. I am assuming there is more to be passed. Trying to decide if I need to take this 2nd dose just to be sure. I can't wait for this to be over. Thanks for sharing and allowing others to share their experiences at such a difficult time.

Anonymous said...

I went for my 10 wk appt. and like so many others there was no detectable heartbeat and my Dr. said that the embryo had stopped developing at about 5 wks. I left the Drs. office with a d&c scheduled the following week. That same day as my initial appt. I started spotting and passing a mucous like brown substance. I stayed in touch with the OB/GYN, keeping them informed with what was going on. Three days later I was back in the office for an ultrasound; heavy bleeding and cramping had already begun for me. The u/s still showed the pregnancy sac.. so I was sent home with cytotec, which I actually took orally; and a rx for lortab. The bleeding and cramping that followed were horrendous for me personally. At on point I became very scared of the amount of blood I was loosing ( soaking the heaviest of pads within 10 mins.) I only took one dose of the cytotec. You couldn't pay me to take another dose. I have no children, but I felt like I had went through labor with minimal pain relief and no baby in the end.Very intense abdominal cramping and terrible back pain. I return to the Dr. in two days for a check-up and if a d&c in needed then so be it. I wish I had went the surgical route in the first place. Sorry for all your losses! Misty

Anonymous said...

Thanks to everyone for sharing their experience. It has been very helpful. I did not know what to expect when I was prescribed Misoprostol but the post helped me anticipate what was next.
I had a twin pregnancy, but when I was in my 8th week, we were told that neither of the babies had a heartbeat. I waited a week, hoping that things may change, but was then told that it may be better for my own health to either take the Misoprostol or get a D&C because the longer I waited, the more I risked complications. I really didn't want a D&C so I opted for the pill. I came back home, but couldn't take the pill. Because I was feeling fine and that maybe things were just late but that all will turn out fine, I felt like I was going to kill something that is still struggling to survive. So I waited. The next day, after speaking to my doctor again, I came to grip that it was over and I had to do it. The placenta and hormones could keep on growing for weeks without noticing that the baby wasn't.
So I cried, I prayed, and I inserted the pills.
In a way, what came next -- the physical pain -- was a blessing to make me forget about the emotional pain.
That being said, I do wish I would have taken the pain killers earlier, and not just when the massive pain started. I took the pills at 12pm. Cramps started about 30min later, light at first. Then about 3 hours later, they became really intense. I took Naproxen at around 2.45pm. But that didn't help so at 3.15pm, I took Procet (my doctor had said to take both at the same time anyway). However, the pain got so bad that I started vomiting, so I had to take another Procet because I threw up the first one. I was hot and cold and trembling. I had diarrhea, all at the same time. So one piece of advice: even if you think you are tough and won't need a pain killer -- for twins at week 9 -- please do take it, and ahead of time, not when it is too late. I ended up passing out on the bathroom floor for an hour. I couldn't move because of the pain and because I didn't want to throw up my Procet again.
Thankfully, the pain killers started to kick in about an hour later. I managed to get up and go to bed.
I didn't start bleeding until 6.30pm. Normal bleeding with huge blood clots. I tried to push them out. I took another Procet at 8pm, and another at 11.30pm. I took the second dose of Misoprostol at 12am (pharmacist said that even if I started bleeding after the first dose, better to still take the second dose and 'keep it in' by laying down), and then slept through the night without any problem. The next day, I had smaller blood clots and some bleeding, but nothing major. The night after, I started having cramps again, and they got more intense throughout the following day. Not like the major cramps I had after Misoprostol, but still enough to make me take the Naproxen again. Bleeding continued, without clots. I will need to go back to the hospital this week to check whether everything is alright.

My boyfriend and I live in separate cities, so it has not been an easy time. I wish we could have been together, but that was just not possible that day because of work. To go through something like this is not easy, but to go through it in a long-distance relationship, over sms and emails, is even harder. I just hope this won't break us apart forever, and that we will get through it together, despite everything.

Once again thank you to all for sharing your experience.

UPDATED FROM PREVIOUS POST OF OCTOBER 14, 2011 8:39 AM

Cammie Diane said...

Thank you so much for this post. I'm starting the drug tonight and was wondering what I was in for.

I miscarried at 14 weeks nine weeks ago... and the doctors at the ER didn't do a D&C because I passed the sac and baby. After being sick for the last two months and bleeding and passing clots I found a new OB who did a transvaginal ultrasound, and discovered that my uterus is still full of debris.

So tonight we start this. If it doesn't work I have to have surgery at the beginning of next week. I'm hoping it works. I'm also hoping it's somewhat less intense since I already miscarried the baby itself.

I really appreciated reading this though, so that I know what I'm in for. I'm so sorry for your losses. Thank you for sharing your story.

About Lena and Dawn said...

First if all, thank you so much for this website. It has helped me tremendously to get through my own experience with Cytotec.

Like most of you here, I scheduled my first prenatal appointment to take place when I was 7 weeks pregnant (this is my second pregnancy), only to find out that there is no heartbeat and the baby stopped growing at about 5 weeks... We waited a week to see if anything changes, or if I miscarry naturally, but a week later, my OB sent me home with prescriptions for Cytotec and Percocet.

I inserted 4 pills vaginally at 9:30pm on a Wednesday, took a percocet, and went to sleep. Slept through the night and woke up on Thursday morning to find that I was bleeding, but not a lot. My OB told me to wait and see if anything happens. Two of the pills fell out sometime on Thursday...

On Friday morning, my bleeding slowed down to just light spotting - with just slight cramps, and my OB told me to insert 4 more pills, and then also insert a tampon to hold them in place for a few hours to make sure they *dissolve completely*. She also said that if they fall out, to try to put them back in, and try to shove them as far up as possible (and inserting those pills was a very hard thing to do, emotionally speaking).

On Friday at 6pm, I inserted 4 more pills + 1 Percocet. I had a feeling something was going to happen this time, and because I was freaking out, I had a small glass of wine (I'm not a big drinker, but I felt like I needed some "liquid courage"). Four hours later, the bleeding increased, and I knew I was starting to miscarry... I took one more Percocet and braced myself...

There was a lot of bleeding, and I passed *a lot* of tissue - some pieces were 4-5 inches long. It was completely painless to pass this tissue. I kept pacing back in forth in our living group in front of the TV, and racing to the bathroom to change my pad about every 5-10 minutes. Moving around definitely helped move the process along. This went on for two hours. When I felt that the bleeding was slowing down, I went to sleep. I never saw the sac, even though I kept looking for it... I wanted to take it and bury it, but I never got a chance...

Six days later (still bleeding), I had another ultrasound, which showed that I passed everything and my uterus is clean (gosh it hurt to type that). My OB said no D&C, so that's good. She also said that sometimes you don't see the sac this early on.

Cytotec was the way to go for me. I feel lucky not to have had any terrible pain, but that's probably because I took a very strong painkiller at the same time as I inserted the pills, and then one more when I felt like I was starting to miscarry.

Having said all this... nothing can ever mask the pain of losing your pregnancy. The grief I felt was (and still is) very similar to the postpartum blues I had after I had my daughter. What was surprising to me is how many other women went through something similar, but never talked about it until I told them about myself...Maybe it's because it's hard to understand how this feels until you go through it yourself. I think in some way it means that we blame ourselves for having a miscarriage, whereas in reality our bodies/health may not even be to blame.. My OB described it as a "fluke" thing that happens even to the healthiest of her patients.

Oh, and prepare yourself for some silly comments from others. The two most appropriate things I wish others said to me were, "I'm sorry for your loss", and "It's not your fault", but of course, I heard everything from "You should take better care of yourself", or "At least you already have a baby", or "Maybe your body wasn't ready".

Anyways... good luck to you, my sisters. You are all in my heart. Together we will get through this. I realize that we all have very different experiences with Cytotec, but mine seemed to work fine for me.

Good luck!

Kelly said...

I'm in shock right now, trying to decide which kind of "miscarriage" to have. They tell me the baby died three weeks ago and I feel pregnant still... this helps but I'm so scared to experience this. It helps to read the stories here for sure...

About Lena and Dawn said...

Kelly - hang in there. My doctor assured me that plenty of her patients go on to have normal pregnancies after going through this.

I do not mean to minimize your grief. You are in my thoughts - I hope everything goes safely and painlessly, so you can begin your healing process.

Catlin said...

I'm not sure if you still read these but I wanted to thank you for your post this is very helpful info. I'm currently trying to wait out a natural miscarriage but its so difficult to wait we're thinking about using cytotec to help speed the process along. I'm already bleeding lightly but it's very slow. Thank you so much for the info.

Abbie Burnham said...

Caitlin-
I do read these comments still (they are e-mailed to me directly), so that I can pray for those who post. I'll be praying for your decision.
-Abbie

Anonymous said...

my experience with cycotec was not a bad one & thanx 2 ths blog I was mentally prepared.

I want to summarize the precautions in order to help women going through this ordeal:

1)Stay at home near the bathroom after 3 hrs of taking the first doze. Take the medicine with a glass of water & food to avoid nausea & gases.
2) Keep a lot of thick sanitary pads atleast 15 or some large diapers.
3)Take some help & moral support from a friend, husband, sister or mother who love you the most & shall remain by your side for the next 2 days.
4)Keep yourself hydrated with water or juices & well fed with milk & fruit, you shall need lots of energy.
5)If you are more than 6 weeks preganant mentally prepare yourself to pass a lot of tissue& the baby sac.
6)Take a strong pain killler as soon a the slightest bleeding starts.
7)As soon as you sense heavy bleeding rush to the toilet, sit on the seat & let evrything flow.
8)Take the helper to the washroom, you might need some support as you want to lean & want some comfort.
9)Be brave & think that with the passage of the clots & the sac, you shall have something to look forward to.

Kroosreads said...

Thanks so much for sharing this post.

I had a stillbirth at 21 weeks--given Cytotec orally in the hospital--did not deliver and was sent home to have a D&C--2 weeks later was admitted to a different hospital/dr. and given Cytotec vaginally (800 mg twice) That evening I gave birth to my daughter.

In August of that same year I had a miscarriage and did it naturally--delivering 16 days after the ultrasound.

On Tuesday, we went in for a regular appt. (we saw the heartbeat at 6 weeks) and there was no heartbeat at 10 weeks. We are so devastated. They want us to do the Cytotec because they want to do a chromosome study b/c this "shouldn't have happened". We went for a confirmation ultrasound the next day and they said the baby looked perfect The baby was measuring between 9 weeks 4 days and 9 weeks 6 days. I am scared to death of the Cytotec. I was going to try and do it tonight vaginally at 800 mcg but not sure if I can do it. The only pain medication he told me to take was Ibuprofen at 600-800 mg. We have a blog too that chronicles our story :(

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your post. After trying to get preganant for over a year, I finally tested positive and confirmed it using 2 different pregnancy tests just to be sure. It was just before Thanksgiving and I felt so much to be thankful for. Sadly, last weekend I began bleeding and have been bleeding ever since. At 7 1/2 weeks, I went to the doctor this morning, and he confirmed miscarriage. I am starting Cytotec today and wasn't quite sure what to expect. Though my doctor explained it all to me and my husband and I came to the office prepared with questions, everything already feels like a blur. The posts on the message board have helped me prepare for what is to come and to understand the experiences of others. Thanks to everyone for posting your stories.

Tami said...

Thank you so much for this post. Although my healthcare provider gave me lots of info, I still really did not know what to expect.

I found out that I had a Blighted Ovum at my 9 week Ultrasound. I decided to take Misoprostol to avoid a D&C.

I placed 400mg vaginally at 6:15pm. I felt some mild cramping at 8:30pm but no bleeding. I decided to take 1 Tylenol 3 as that seems like the one thing everyone has in common here, pain. At 10:15pm I took another 400mg and 1 more Tylenol 3. I went to bed at midnight and still no bleeding. I could feel the cramping a little and was glad I took the painkillers as I can imagine it would have been very uncomfortable without. I set my alarm for 2:15am to take another dose and when I got up and sat on the toilet, I passed a round greyish sac about the size of a green olive. I am assuming it's the gestational sac but I am not sure. I passed a few small blood clots but nothing major. When I lay back down, no blood comes on to the pad, only when I am standing and pushing does anything really come out. I am a little concerned that my body is not releasing everything. I will wait and see as it is 8:37am now and the bleeding is spiratic and moderate when it happens. I will update the outcome.

Anna said...

Hello,
I just got through reading your story and I just want to say that I think you are a very brave woman for having posted this.I didn't find much about using cytotec to induce the miscarriage.I am 3 days in to my miscarriage induced by cytotec.When I took it,it was by mouth a few pills every 8 hours.I didn't start having any symptoms until a day later.At first it did feel like small cramping on my back.Then it worked its way over to the front of my lower abdomen.This took a few hours.About an hour later I started feeling contractions(I had one child naturally so I know how this feels).The contractions were coming around 2-3 mins apart.HARD AND QUICK. I was having minimal bleeding but then all at once WHAM!, i felt like it happened fast.I felt so much pain and I decided to go to the restroom(at this point barely able to stand) and I passed a huge mass of fetal tissue(greyish). My husband felt horrible because he did not know how to help me except keep the heating pad warm.(also couldn't stay hot enough) I passed more tissue a few hours later. Then pain had eased after that first large mass had passed.Now I am passing very small clots and having a period-like bleeding.The pain I feel now is more like "period cramping" not labor cramping.I just want to also let people know that they should take the prescribed pain killers.It was so much the THREE hydrocodone pills could barely handle the pain.I had a missed miscarriage and I know that the emotional pain of going through this far outways the physical pain of going through this.To be honest I would take a million times this pain to have my healthy baby but it just wasn't in God's plan.My situation was quite bad as my baby had passed at 6 weeks but right now I should have been around 11 weeks.So I needed to take this medicine.For every woman who has had their baby taken too soon from them,remember that your child will be in Heaven waiting for you until you get there.You will be able to hold your baby one day. Until that time comes remember that God is always by your side and is watching over your little one.Sorry for those going through this during the holidays.Although I will try to enjoy them, the holidays will never be the same.Merry Christmas.

Anonymous said...

I was so glad to find this post and find that it seemed to be updated. So many things on the internet about fertility are outdated and abandoned....

My husband and I have had two rounds of IVF. The first one was unsuccessful and the second one resulted in a pregnancy. I have three other children from a previous marriage, and until now, at 37, have never had any issues with getting pregnant. IVF brings its own stress with it, so when you get to the BFP, it is with much joy. My hCG had risen at a slower pace than normal and knowing that all along plus the failure of the first one had us on edge from the beginning.

Our first ultrasound at 5W1D was fairly normal, showing nothing but a small sac. The next one at 7W1D showed a bigger sac, but no heartbeat and a tiny fetal pole. Confirmation US a week later was exactly the same.

Went home and inserted 800mg of Cytotec around 8pm. By 10pm I was bleeding thin, brownish blood but not an excessive amount. Having read on here to take pain medication, I had taken a Percocet and throughout the first 24 hours continued to take them every four hours. Nothing much happened until the next day, although my cramps were so severe during the night that even the Percocet made them difficult to bear. I used a heating pad and slept on the couch so as not to disturb my husband in case I REALLY need him.

The next morning around 5am, I got up to use the restroom and there was some blood, but not excessive, some clots about the size of pennies. I did not have much cramping at that point, and I was surprised when I went to check my pad to hear something plop into the toilet. Gross, I know, but I fished it out and it was the sac. It was complete and about the size of a large marble. I was glad to have witnessed it so I did not have to wonder. I slept most of that day, probably because of the Percocet. I have had quite a bit of blood, but not more than a pad an hour over the past few days.
I have had intermittent episodes of cramping bad enough to take Aleve or Ibuprofen, and each episode has been followed by the passing of significant amounts of tissue or large clots. This has happened about five times since I first inserted the pills five days ago. In between, I have had quite a bit of mucousy, stringy blood.

I hope this is over soon so I can begin to look forward to the new year and new possibilities for a family. I feel for those of you who have gone through this repeatedly. It is emotionally wrenching to go the bathroom time after time, day after day, and see the hope of what was supposed to be our child be literally flushed away.
This blog really helped, however. It is nice to have a place to vent and reading the entries has lessened the trauma of the experience for me.

Blessings to all in the future and thanks to all who have been here and taken the time to write about your experience.

Anonymous said...

I am getting ready to take cytotec orally after waiting several weeks to naturally pass with no avail. I hope it works. Thank you for sharing. I will post back once I have more detail and reference 1/13/12 9pm started Cytotec...

Anonymous said...

Here is a summary from my experience that started 1/13/12. After 24 hours I was beginning to think my dosage was too low, but soon after I realized it just look time. My dosage was 200 mg in pill form taken orally every 4 hours. My husband had to work all day on the weekend, so I was purposely in bed not wanting to move things while he was not home. So with that said, I imagine it would have happened sooner if I had been more active on the 14th. When I knew he was on his way, I started moving around allot, took a hot shower and then it started to get going. Unfortunately it didn’t happen until the next day while I was alone again, which I don’t recommend. I was fine, but when the pain comes, having someone there to hold your hand for support would be comforting. Obviously the trips to the bathroom are so frequent, and the situation is difficult, so it will be hard no matter what.
Friday
1/13 7:30pm 1-hydrocodone 8:30 1-misoprostol
1/13 11:30pm 1-hydrocodone 1-misoprostol
Saturday
1/14 6:00am 1-hydrocodone 1-misoprostol
1/14 10:30am 1-hydrocodone 1-misoprostol
1/14 2:30pm 1-hydrocodone 1-misoprostol
1/14 6:00pm 3-4 gushes of blood and clots (I found that rolled up toilet paper on top of the heavy pad helped me get to the bathroom in time without getting my clothes drenched)
1/14 6:30pm 1-hydrocodone 1-misoprostol
1/14 10:10pm 2-hydrocodone 1-misoprostol
Sunday
1/15 7:50am 1-hydrocodone 1-misoprostol
1/15 12:00pm 1-hydrocodone 1-misoprostol
1/15 3:40pm 2-hydrocodone Very Intense Pain Level 10 the actual passing occurred within an hour
I drank lots of juice since I did start to feel weak from the blood loss.
1/15 5:00pm 1-misoprostol
1/15 9:00pm 1-hydrocodone 1-misoprostol
1/16 Called the doctor and they had me come in for scan. It did show everything passed.
1/17-1/20 very light to heavy bleeding occurring all week still happening, but it’s not extreme in any way
We are waiting out 3 cycles before ttc again to make sure everything has a chance to get back to normal. Overall, I am glad I took this route over the operation.

Lily said...

I am thankful to all of you who write blogs and help us manage our stress and anxiety in these emotionally turbulent times!
Here is my scenario:
I am 27 yr old Asian and my husband and I have our first pregnancy starting off bad. I was about 6 weeks pregnant and started bleeding so went to OB GYN to investigate to learn I would need to take Misoprostol to get the gestational sac out. Presently I am on my second dose of Misoprostol and 12 hrs have passed. All I feel is gas and maybe mild stomach discomfort with diarrhea. Should I continue the meds and wait for the bleeding to begin? I want it over ASAP and am scared. I read sometimes it can take several days to expel.. Very frustrating. Please calm me.. Thx

Anonymous said...

Thank you for writing this Abbie. Finding your blog has been very helpful to me - my Dr sent me home Friday with Misoprostol for my missed miscarriage (we were 9 weeks along when we discovered his amniotic sac was empty w/ no heartbeat on Friday). I still can't bring myself to take the medicine, I want to wait a while longer to see if things will happen naturally. I can't thank you enough for your honesty on your blog. Mourning a loss like this is more than I can bear, I still can't believe this is really happening. Reading your blog and seeing that it is possible to survive a pain like this has given me inspiration. Thank you Abbie.

-Autumn

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to say thank you ladies for sharing your stories. I can't bring myself to share mine right now as I'm still in the tail end of my "cytotec" experience, but I promise to share it when I am ready. I feel instant comfort in reading your stories and knowing I am not alone. I had to endure this experience pretty much alone and it's almost unbearable......God must have guided me to this blog, knowing I needed comfort....thanks again and I'll be back to share my story. God Bless, Angela

Ashley said...

We just found out on Monday that our baby, 8 weeks gestational, had no heartbeat. After an agonizing 4 days of trying to decide between cytotec and having a D&C, I decided on cytotec, mostly to get it over with over the weekend rather than wait to schedule surgery. I'm absolutely terrified about either option, honestly. I am glad I'm going into this knowing how bad the cramping and bleeding will probably be, hopefully that will make it less scary and shocking when it's happening. I also have Vicodin that the doctor prescribed, so hopefully that helps too. Thank you for your honest blog about your experience!

Anonymous said...

i'm going through this now - feb 11, 2012. took cytotec this morning (inserted 4 tablets vaginally) and then a couple of hours later, after mild to strong cramps i was used to from regular af, i was hit with extreme cramping. i took 100mg of voltarol.

this was followed by shooting pain and, while in the bathroom attending to sudden onset of diarrhea, started to feel feverish, faint, and my ears became clogged. i managed to get out of the bathroom after several minutes and then momentarily passed out on the floor.

when i called the dr who is walking me through this -- not my usual dr; unfortunately for me, im far from home and traveling for work -- he seemed to think all of it was normal. the chills came on because the cytotec raises body's temperature.

the extreme cramping continued for about another 30 minutes so i took another 50mg of the painkiller.

it's been about 3 hours since all of that happened. in the meantime the cramping has dulled considerably -- maybe the painkillers? -- and i also took one cytotec orally four hours after the initial insertion as instructed by the dr.

having read all of your responses, i know there's more to come. so i'm bracing myself, trying to eat some crackers and drink hot tea while im relatively less nauseated than before.

somehow, writing this down is oddly taking my mind off the process.

Anonymous said...

follow up to previous message -- feb 11, 2012.

it's 12 hours after this process started. after one stretch of extreme cramping and pain, have just had dull to slightly painful cramping. relatively little bleeding. i took a second cytotec pill orally at dr's recommendation. also took another 100 mg of voltarol as a precaution.

last half hour have been feeling nauseated. no vomiting yet. but more nauseous now than earlier today. burping and passing gas frequently.

have been drinking decaf tea periodically and placing warm compresses on stomach. was able to eat some rice.

writing this out really has been therapeutic. thank you, abbie, for initiating this conversation and allowing others to share and learn with and from you.

Anonymous said...

THANK you all for sharing your stories. It is comforting to know that we are not alone. My 1st pregnancy was ectopic and we found out at 8 weeks..I was given methotrexate for this one. 3 months later we became pregnant again, had an early ultrasound at 6weeks and everything was great. Baby was in the uterus, we even heard a strong heartbeat. We were ecstatic. Just yesterday, at 9 weeks, we had an ultrasound and the heartbeat had stopped, the baby measured at 6 weeks 3 days. the baby had passed shortly after we had our wonderful 1st ultrasound. I had no idea anything was wrong, bc I had no cramping and no bleeding whatsoever. I was prescribed cytotec. the dr. said it would take 24 to 48 hours to begin to work, but I started cramping and light bleeding within 40 minutes of taking the medication. Within 1 hour, I was bleeding heavily and passing very large clots and tissue. I also had constant diarrhea for about 2 hours and felt very nausated. Today, the bleeding has lessened and it now like a normal period, which the dr. said should last for a week or two. Again, thank you everyone for sharing your stories...it was comforting to relate to others. Wishing all of you the best in future successful pregnancies and beautiful children. Keep your faith.

Jess said...

Praying for all of you ladies that are going through cytotec. I know how hard it can be ♥

Anonymous said...

This post was very helpful. I took the 4 pills inserted vaginally yesterday at 10am. Things really began around 630pm. It took until 3:30am (that's morning) for things to slow down enough that I could go to sleep for a couple hours. I have given birth to two children naturally with out any intervention. This was painful, but I treated it like a natural labor. I used breathing through the pain, rocking my hips, and a hot water bottle. It kept the pain around a 5 or 6 out of 10. Although, I would say that my labors have been only maybe an 8 out of 10. (Delivery pain not included here.) The pain ended abruptly upon the rupture of the sac. After that, my body took over doing the job that needed to be done. Pain was no longer involved. I did keep up with advil the whole time, I took 3 at a time. This did help. Also, take immodium right away. I have had zero diarrhea. I may take the time to later post my timeline. I just don't feel up to it right now. I am going to get some more rest. Look for the initials ARM at the beginning of my next post so you will know it is a continuation or part 2 of this post. Overall, not bad experience with the medication, just lost a lot of blood. This is a genetic problem in my family. I knew that in advance.
Signed,
ARM

Anonymous said...

I too am so glad I found this site..Im currently going through my 2nd missed miscarriage and Im devastated. I decided not to have a d and c this time round because I too have heard of scar tissue and stuff and I felt that I needed to see my body doing something that it was supposed to. Well i took 3 tablets orally at 7pm last night and in antiaipation of a very long painful day today organised friends to call today and such, well here i am 9 hours later with no cramping, no bleeding no nothing....I dont understand whats happening. I have another 3 to take and Im getting scared now... I just want to move on and get back to some kind of normality.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I will be very grateful if you can give me a detailed explanation on where you inserted those 4 tables in your posterier fornix. If im correct there are two sides of it? Hoping for a very fast reply.

Many Thanks,

Abbie Burnham said...

Re: Anonymous on March 9, 2012.

I don 't think it matters which side. Just attempt to push them back as far as possible - you don't want them falling out and the further back the more of the medicine will be absorbed.

Praying for you today,
Abbie

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this blog. It has been very helpful during this sad time! Nevertheless, I will leave my emotions out and stick to the facts. I was prescribed the "miso" yesterday for a missed miscarriage at 8 weeks - fetal heart had stopped. I should note that I was not bleeding or showing any signs of miscarriage naturally.

I inserted 4 pills (800 mcg) yesterday at 2:30pm and by 3:30pm I started to lightly bleed. My cramps were very mild as compared to a natural miscarriage I had last year. No contraction pains. I lost 4-5 very large clots within the first 4 hours by getting up and going to the bathroom(took two Tyle 3's - right at the moment I felt the cramps getting slightly stronger thanks to this blog). The clots I lost were quite large, some circular and some thinner and longer. I found some questionable pieces, and had no clue what they were, but the first clot I lost was dark purply red and had three cyst like structures...I used chopsticks to investigate and each had a different product in it. One with white looking beads. It made me wonder if it had anything to do with the pills. Thoughts? By midnight, I was only mildly spotting. No more blood or clots overnight or during the day. It's as thought the pills stopped working and my body went back to not expressing the miscarriage.

Today at aprox. 2:30pm I took the second dose of "miso". My cramps are a little stronger, but nothig more than regular period pains. I am losing clots about the size of silver dollars today, nothing unusual, but I have not see the sac. I'm about 4 hours in, so there's still time.

Long story short, I go back for an ultrasound in 10 days to see if all pregnancy matter has passed. Seeing as my cramps have not been very strong, I really dont know if the sac and placenta have detached. My breasts still hurt.

I have had no nausea, or diarhea, however my colon feels very swollen as though I have hemmorhoids and my cervix feels heavy.

Good luck to all of us in our future pregnancies...Hugs!

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