(medical) Abortion Experiences

Like a few other people on here, I had a pretty positive experience with both Planned Parenthood (I'm in San Francisco) and medical abortion. Not to say that I wasn't scared out of my mind..

I was "technically" 6 weeks pregnant, but I know that it was really only 4 weeks. Plan B had failed! So for furure reference having an accident and taking the morning after pill doesn't always work out, unfortunately.

Anyway, my boyfriend took me to the clinic on Tuesday for support and what-not ( it really helps to have someone with you there that knows what you will be going through) while they took the ultra-sound, blood tests, talked to me very informativly about my options. I chose medical because the the idea of a surgical procedure seems far too invasive for my liking. It was already unreal that I was pregnant. They nurses and doctors were nicer than I could have imagined and really cared for emotional well-being (they even brought us juice a number of times because we were both scared).

1) PREPARE! Rent movies that will keep you enterained/pass time. Buy food you enjoy that are light such as crackers, apple sauce, bananas, muffins, bagels, ect. Make sure you have enough pads.

Day1: 12pm At the clinic, took the first pill. Felt no side effects. Very nervous about taking the remaining 4 misaprostol. They tell you the worst of the worst of what might happen, and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. I felt sick just from being afraid of what might happen after I took the other pills, but in the end.. what happens happens and eventually it will be over and done with.. so I was looking toward that light at the end of the tunnel (trying to stay positive is hard, but you can do it!)

Day2: Woke up at 5am feeling sick and cramping. Called PP and they said it was the pregnancy (I had been having morning sickness for the past 2 weeks), and not to be alarmed. At about 4pm my boyfriend comes home from work and I TAKE 1 VICODIN and 1 IBUPROFIN (this is very important. It helps ease the first cramps ). I put some comfortable clothes on, turned a movie on, snuggled up in a blanket and took the 4 pills buccally (in the cheeks). I didn't feel any results until the 2nd hour. Moderate cramping. I went to the bathroom and passed my first clots (very scary, but they don't hurt, just feels strange). About every other hour or so after I felt a wave of cramps I would sit on the toilet to pass a few clots, and then sit back down. In all, It didn't seem that bad. I normally have severe cramps while on my period, so this was nothing worse than that. I bled normally, had some clots, and bled some more. By 3am, I felt I had passed enough clots to go to bed (but the end, they were very small and hardly noticable).

Day3: Today I feel much better than yesterday. I am still bleeding and mildly cramping, but nothing terrible. I could have gone to class, but decided to rest my body since I had gone through such a intense experience and it's better to rest and feel 100% better. I am still afraid that since maybe it wasn't as bad as I expected, that it's either failed or partial is left inside (but this is my constant worry that there will always be something wrong). I was onlya month pregnant, so I am assuming that is why my expereince may have not been as painful as others. I will go to the doctor on Wednesday to find out how it went.

NOTES:

-prepare everything the day before. eases the stress when you are about to finish the abortion.

-have someone there with you. if not for support, but just to talk abd take your mind off of what is happening. it really helps.

-eat lightly and drink LOTS of water. seriously. i think this helped me have a good expereince.

-like bob marley said "everything's gunna be alright..."

I just took the tablets yesterday, at just under seven weeks, and I thought I'd share my experience for those who might like to know what to expect.

Around 3:00pm, I went over to a good friend's house so I wouldn't have to be alone. I took four ibprofen and the anti-nausea medication a half hour beforehand, as the doctor had instructed. Then at about quarter to four I put the tablets in my mouth and let them dissolve. Even as they were dissolving, I started to get cramps, which got progressively worse the further they dissolved. After a half hour, I swallowed what was left of the pills, and almost retched them back up in the process.

Though most of the experiences I've read say the pain began after about 30 minutes to an hour, for me the pain and nausea began almost immediately after swallowing the pills (the ibprofen and anti-nausea medicine I had taken beforehand had no perceivable effect). I retreated to an empty upstairs bedroom to be alone. The pain and nausea just kept building and building, until finally I managed to get into the bathroom and vomit up the contents of my empty stomach. I also had terrible diarrhea (sorry if tmi, but I think people should know what might be ahead of them). This was all before the bleeding really got started. I ended up going back to the bathroom one more time, which is when I was first able to notice the bleeding. I had chills as well, and my hands were so cold and numb I couldn't even get my fingers to make a fist.

After the first 30 minutes, I still had intensely painful cramps and felt nauseous, but there was no more vomitting or diarrhea. But the pain was SO bad. I've had heavy menstrual periods before, and I've often endured intense cramps--this was pain like I have never felt before. I was curled up on the floor, unable to move, screaming in agony. On a scale of 1-10, it was off the charts. I wanted to die. But then my friend came upstairs, and she brought me some water and convinced me to take one of the tylenol-3 the doctor had prescribed (I had been afraid that I would vomit it back up). I took it, and had some water, which soothed my burning throat, and used a heating pad as well. All this helped a great deal, and the pain gradually began to lessen. Throughout all this, I continued to bleed, a moderate to heavy amount, but I didn't pass any clots near the size of what the doctors had said I might (apparently the size of a lemon is common--yikes), and the more I bled out the better I seemed to feel.

At about 6, I took a second pill, in the hopes of getting rid of the pain completely. After that I rested for about an hour, the pills and the heating pad consoling me, and after a while, save the occassional twinge, the pain was completely gone. I had some tea and water crackers that my friend had left for me, and then I got up and felt, aside from a little tired and sore, almost completely back to myself. I even chatted and joked on my cell phone. Then I got up and went home, curled up in bed with my heating pad. I took a couple more tylenol-3, just to make sure the pain wouldn't return, and went to sleep.

This morning I woke up and felt fine. I'm still bleeding, but I haven't had any real cramps at all (during a normal period, I usually have terrible cramps). I feel like myself again. All in all, the worst of it lasted maybe from an hour to an hour and a half; then it just felt like a bad period; then I felt no pain at all. So, for those of you who are scared about going though this: yes, it's going to hurt. Yes, it will be bad. But you'll live through it, just like I did, and you'll come out the other side, the pain will be gone and you'll be you again.

I'd just like to add that my experience at Planned Parenthood was wonderful, the staff were polite and considerate, answering all of my questions as fully and accurately as possible. There was one nurse in particular who was quite kind to me. None of the staff gave me any illusions about what I would experience; while they told me that most women experience it as a heavy period, they also admitted that it could be very bad indeed. Also, Planned Parenthood is certainly not a "money-making machine," nor are they out to make women feel ashamed or punished; they exist to help women in need, women with nowhere else to turn, and they offer their services at rates substantially lower than average in order to do so. It is something that young women today should not take for granted, since it was not so long ago our mothers and grandmothers had no such places to turn, and women ended up being butchered by pseudo-doctors in back alleys.

MEDICAL abortion is more painful, and WAY MORE intense than a bad period.

Surgical with IV sedation is better, it is painless, and only takes 5 minutes.

Lucy-

Not all abortion providers offer IV sedation, MANY Planned parenthoods do not, because they offer cheaper services than regular abortion clinics.

Most women have to call around to find clinics that offer the extra drugs.

I just did this 24 hours ago and feel compeled to share my experience.
The clinic that I went to was in Beverly Hills and was great. The doctors and nurses took a lot of time with me. I took the first pill at the doctors office and was told that I could take the other pills that same day (after 6 hours from taking the first one). The first pill did nothing in terms of side-effect, I felt fine; just nervous. I had read in several blogs to keep a heat pad by me and some water. My husband made the living room very cozy with candles and blankets and everything I could possibly need within reach. I was given 10 percacet so decided to take one of them an hour before. I inserted the 4 pills at 7 p.m. and was laying on the couch for the first two hours watching a movie and feeling 'ok'. Although I could certainly feel some rather unusual activity in my body.
At about 9:30, it seems like someone took a baseball bat to my midsection.
I get painful periods so I tolerate pain very well...but this pain, this pain was like NOTHING i have ever felt before. I couldn't move for about two hours, except for wiggling on the couch in various positions and setting the heat pad either on my back or stomach. As far as I'm concerned, the heat pad didn't work, nor did the pain killers. I had to take another one at around 10 p.m. By this point, I was in a completely different place - my husband said I looked hypnotized. I was inside my head so much trying to deal with this pain (8/10 seems about right) .that I couldn't speak. At around 10:30, the fun part kicked in; the vomiting - which I did on and off for about 3 hours. At first, I had to throw up in a bucket by the couch because I couldn't get up. After a few hours, I was able to move to the bathroom and threw up there.

I did start bleeding after about 4 hours after I took the pill, but it wasn't a huge amount. I tried to go to the bathroom and definately passed some smaller clots about twice but I was wearing a pad and didn't 'soak' it like some other people i read about. Although i was bleeding, it didn't seem like as much as I thought I would - especially because the cramping was so severe.

The pain went from bad to worse if that's even possible. I very clearly felt the contractions that were happening almost 5 seconds apart. The only seconds of relief I had from the pain were those 5 seconds between contractions...Every time I felt one, I started to break out in a cold sweat and would feel like getting sick all over again.

At around 12:30 a.m. I felt like the worst was over although the pain was still intense, it was definately more along the lines of a 6. I decided to take a hot bath which my husband ran for me.
He sat in the bathroom keeping me company and the warmth and pressure of the water felt really good. I sat in the tub for about 20 minutes, got out and layed back down on the couch. I threw up a few more times and the pain basically knocked me out at around 1:45. I was in an out of sleep all night. My body was exhausted from what I had just gone through and the pain would keep me up so it was a really strange half sleep.
Today, I have been in bed with a heat pad on my stomach pretty much all day. I have period pains now but nothing like last night and my back is very sore. Besides that, I feel like I am a little bit better, just weak.
I honestly learned a lot about my body last night and how much pain a human being can handle. With that said, I would not recommend a medical abortion to anyone because an abortion is already hard enough so why in the world put yourself through this torture on top of that?
This pain, the vomiting, the whole process was absolutely miserable. I wish I had seen this forum before I decided to do it this way.
Now, I'm left with the fear that I didn't pass everything because I didn't bleed a ton and I have to wait until next week to find out....

SASHAM-

MEDICAL abortion is more painful than surgical abortion, and you have that risk of not knowing if it worked...

I ALWAYS recommend surgical abortion with IV sedation, PAINLESS, 5 minutes and it is done, and you bleed a lot less than medical abortion.

IF You did not pass the tissue, they can do a suction abortion, just make sure and get the IV sedation.

MEDICAL abortion puts you into labor, basically..

Yes - thank you, i certainly realize that and I did know, going into getting a medical that it was more painful - what i didn't forsee was how severe the pain would be. Of course, every person is different but i think that i had pretty much all the side-effects and was on the extreme end of cramping etc..
I choose that option because i wanted it to feel a little bit more 'natural' - like having a miscarriage instead of an abortion.
This was my first pregnancy at the age of 28 and a difficult decision for my husband and I so I wanted to take the less 'abortion -like' route.
Next time I get pregnant, we are keeping the baby but I just wanted to share my experience with everyone. Knowing what I do now, i'd say screw the 'miscarriage' in the comfort of you own home experience and trade it in for less pain, more certainlty, and less recovery time.

Best of luck to everyone.

SURGICAL abortion is actually SAFER than medical abortion.

Realistically, aboriton is an abortion, and I always recommend the least painful route.

well, i might have to disagree with you there. I have done a lot of research and have talked with several abortion specialists both in the US and in Europe about this. There is no evidence indicating that a medical abortion is less safe than a surgical abortion --- surgical does seem to be more effictive (99% instead of 95-98% for medical) but in terms of safetly, things can go wrong with both - in fact, surgical, if not done correctly, can cause many more problems than medical for future pregnancies...
I have lived in Europe for 7 years were medical abortions have been in practice many years before they came to the US so the doctors that I have spoken with there have much more personal experience using these pills.
It is an extemely small percentage of people that have to go to the ER due to hemmoraging but with surgical, there is certainly more than can go wrong - as with any surgery.
I still don't think my decision was the best choise and I would not choose this process again, but that is because of the pain factor, not the safety factor.

After I heard the medical abortion was available to me, I quickly decided on doing my abortion that way. I knew the consequences of both procedures, but I get really nervous around doctors, especially whenever they need to stick something in me. I was seven weeks pregnant.

I'm still experiencing the medical abortion but was concerned if what I was going through was somewhat normal. I finally found this website and I thought I would share my experience thus far. (BTW, I went to an abortion clinic that I found through the Planned Parenthood I went to first thing. They were nice, but not exactly personal, which I was fine with. They also provided me information on both ways of abortion, but then again, it is state law in Wisconsin to do so.)

I was told to start taking an antibiotic the morning of taking the first pill. From what I've read, I haven't heard that anyone else had to take this, unless it just wasn't mentioned. I took the first pill, Mifeprex, around 1pm on Thursday in front of the doctor. The rest of the day I felt fine, but I had some minor period-like cramping later that night. It wasn't bad, though, and I didn't take anything for it.

At 5a.m. Friday morning, I inserted the second pills, Misoprostol. They suggested I do it early, stick on a pad, then go back to sleep. I was nervous after I inserted them, but eventually I made it back to sleep. My boyfriend's alarm woke me up at 8a.m. and I suddenly noticed the pain. At this point, I hadn't taken anything in the way of pain medication. The pain wasn't severe yet, but definitely uncomfortable. I don't get bad cramps during my period - hardly any at all, so I couldn't tell if I was feeling "normal" cramps at that point or not.

The cramping got gradually worse and after a half hour, I went to the bathroom to see if anything was happening. It wasn't, and I began to worry. (This is three hours after taking the second pills.) I took two of the Extra Strenth Tylenol I was given, but it didn't do anything. As the pain worsened, I knew I was beginning to bleed. I had to change my pad three times within the first two-three hours and passed a couple clots while sitting on the toilet. Around 9a.m. I had to take another antibiotic with food. This was a problem, because at that point I didn't want anything to do with food and thought I would throw it up right away. Somehow I managed to eat a piece of bread and took the antibiotic. My boyfriend left to take a final and I took one of the Tylenol 3 (with codeine) hoping it would knock me out so I could get some sleep.

An odd half-sleep came over me for the next half hour, and when he got back around 11a.m., the pain worsened. I took another Tylenol 3 and was able to relax for another half hour. But around 12p.m. I felt the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. And if the codeine was actually numbing part of it, I don't want to know what it was actually like. I tried to get up to get to the bathroom, because I was afraid I might throw up, but I settled for the floor in my boyfriend's room, hunched over my knees. (For some reason, it was easier to deal with it that way.) These awful cramps lasted about 15 minutes and then I was able to get back into bed. They subsided and I took an hour half-sleep nap.

After I woke up from my nap, I still had cramping, but it wasn't near as bad. I guess it was still worse as a bad period, though. Around 3:30 I took two more Extra Strength Tylenol and I successfully put down some chicken noodle soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. It is now almost 5p.m., 12 hours after taking the second set of pills. The pain has gradually subsided, but at the moment, my lower abdomen still aches.

It's been almost an hour since I last went to the bathroom and checked the bleeding. Speaking of such, I've experienced substantially heavy bleeding throughout this ordeal. I've had to change my pad every time I used the bathroom. I'm hoping that the worst is over with, but I'm nervous as hell that this didn't work.

Sorry for the long, drawn-out post, but I thought this might help. Reading everyone else's made me feel better. I'm happy with my decision to do the medical abortion. It was painful as all hell, but I got to do it where I felt comfortable and my boyfriend was here to help me out.

I've had two previous surgical abortions, but this was my first experience with a medical.

I saw there were lots of people with negative experiences, and I wanted to share mine, which was really not that bad. (For reference, though, in any "testimonial" situation, people are much more likely to be vocal about a bad experience than a good or neutral one.)

Found out I was pregnant when I was 5 days overdue (I had suspicions, anyway -- like barfing), but due to financial considerations, had to wait until both my boyfriend and I got our next paychecks to get it done.

Got an appointment at the cheapest local clinic (thankfully, I had many to choose from -- hooray for living in a large, liberal city). I'm a fairly stoic person, but I was a little put off by some of the staff. If I was the type to get flustered, I probably would have. Although most were alright. My state has a 24-hour waiting and information law, so I got a call from the doctor where she walked through a basic script on the dangers of abortion versus the dangers of carrying a pregnancy to term (abortion's much safer!).

Went for my appointment when I was 6weeks, 3 days. Had basic labwork done, urine test, blood draw and the vaginal ultrasound (which isn't really too different from a pelvic exam, the "wand" is much smaller than ...uh...what gotcha into trouble in the first place). Ultrasound tech was cool and let me see my pictures. It was a walnut-sized pod stuck at the top of my uterus that I really had no emotional attachment to.

Had a doctor talk through my history and "feelings" about everything. I appreciated the sentiment, and realize it would be helpful for most people, but I'm probably in the minority that I view abortion as an unpleasant, generally avoidable, but necessary medical procedure. Like a root canal or a colonoscopy or something.

Then she had me take the first pill, and gave me a bag with more drugs. The misopristol (second med), ergonovine in case I bled too much, and some doxycycline. Got a prescription for Tylenol 3 (with codeine) and an anti-nausea drug called promethazine. They couldn't keep those in the clinic because they're controlled substances, I think. So I had to get those from the pharmacy, but it was only $14 (without insurance).

Felt better after the first pill than I had in weeks! Hooray for progesterone inhibitors, it was the first time in forever that I hadn't had constant nausea. Went shopping for supplies -- the biggest maxipads I could find, Gatorade, Ensure (in case I was barfing), comfy and disposable cotton underpants since I don't normally wear them, and bland, easy-to-cook sick person food.

My boyfriend came over that night, and planned to stay two days to help in any way I needed. Because he's pretty awesome like that. He was kinda nervous and unsure of what to do, but supportive. And he brought movies and hot chocolate.

So at about 5:30 the next night, I took the 4 advil, a T3 and the anti-nausea pill, and around 6pm, I took the misopristone. Had to squirrel them in my mouth for an hour, which was annoying (and they tasted nasty). Wasn't nauseous, though I had kinda weird sharp stomach cramps, kinda like when you chug cold water on a hot day. Not bad at all. Might have been also because I had to take the advil and T3, which is never that kind to my stomach.

Kept waiting for almost 4 hours. Felt little tweaky pains in my uterus-type-area, but nothing bad. Felt like gas or mittelschmertz (when you can feel yourself ovulate). Nothing was happening, no bleeding or anything until close to 10 o'clock.

Had some minor cramping, went to the bathroom. Moderate amount of blood, and what I'm pretty sure was placental tissue (yes, I got down and inspected it, I'm not squeamish and was totally curious). Kinda pinky-pear colored (the first med cuts bloodflow to placental tissue), like waterlogged raw chicken. Looked like pictures of placenta I've seen, shiny with little capillaries on one side, raw-meaty on the other. About the size of a walnut.

Kept progressively bleeding more for the next couple of hours. Would get up, feel a bunch of clots pass (not painful at all, but weird), run to the bathroom, change pads (and clean up the mess). Keep in mind that I got the "maximum protection" pads. These things were close to 2 feet long and absorbent as heck, and I was blowing through them at the rate of about 2 an hour. Cramps were getting a little worse, so I took another T3. Nothing horrible, though, pain-wise. Like a bad period.

Around midnight, 1am, the bleeding got totally* ridiculous. I just sat on the toilet for a while, and it sounded like I was peeing (or having serious diarrhea, there were a ton of huge clots). Did some uterine massage, hoping to help everything get out faster (doc later told me this was the correct thing to do). I had just changed pads about 10 minutes previously, and it felt soaked again, so I went to the bathroom. It had soaked through the super-pad, thick cotton boyshorts and* heavy sweatpants, whereupon I heard my roomate griping from the living room that I'd bled all over the couch.

I was getting a little nervous at this point, because it really was a substantial amount of blood. And I'm not usually weirded out by blood. So some baby-wipe cleanup and my third* pair of underwear and sweatpants wrecked, and I come out to the living room to my roomate throwing a fit because I'd ruined her new couch. I yelled at her, she felt bad, I grabbed a damp sponge and cleaned up, then retired to my room with my poor guy, who not only had to deal with me bleeding like crazy, but my roomate and I bickering.

Called the emergency line for the clinic, because I wanted to know if I should take the ergonovine they gave me, or see somebody or something, since it seemed like such a monumental amount of blood. The doc called me back (and sounded kinda drunk, actually), and said it was good* that I was bleeding that much, that meant it was working well, and explained how much blood they usually suction out in a vaccuum abortion, and how that all just had to pass in a medical. She told me to take a couple more Advil, lie down, do some uterine massage. If I was still bleeding as much the next day, to come in, but it should slow down in a few hours. (More on this, later.)

So I went to sleep. Overnight, I wrecked yet another* set of underwear/sweatpants and my sheets, but after a shower, I wasn't doing so bad. I suggest sleeping on a towel you wouldn't mind throwing away.

The next day, it was pretty much like a heavy period. A little woozy, but that might have been the leftovers of the T3 and the anti-nausea meds (which are also an anti-psychotic and sedative). I process downers really slowly. Didn't have to take another Advil or anything. At no point was the discomfort that bad at all. I probably could have coped just fine without any pain meds at all.

A week and a half later (where it's pretty much been just like a bad period, I only missed 3 days of work, and probably could have missed less, but I wanted to be nice to myself and my job is extremely physical, and lifting 50 lbs, which I do a lot* at work, would have made the bleeding worse) I had my followup. Another urine test, a finger-stick to make sure I wasn't anemic, and another go-through on the vaginal ultrasound to make sure everything was gone. That was today, and I'm totally ecstatic to be declared 100% not-pregnant-anymore.

The clinic followup doctor actually thought I had* been bleeding too much when I'd called and was upset with the doctor who told me I was just being a nervous nellie. But I ended up alright, so at least that worked out. She said I should try to take it easy, no alcohol on New Year's (I'm not a drinker, anyway), and she set me up with the NuvaRing, which she said would help slow the bleeding down. It's still about at the level of the last couple days of my period, light brownish blood with the occasional teeny clot, but nothing substantial.

Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to get everything in there. Other than the sheer volume of blood being kinda shocking (and messy), it wasn't very traumatic at all. Very tolerable pain, no nausea for me (possibly thanks to the meds), it amounted to a couple days of cuddling on the couch watching bad TV with the boyfriend fetching me things, a giant pile of exceedingly gory laundry (cold water and oxy-clean are your friends!), and the relief of knowing I wasn't pregnant anymore.

The process itself was actually much less painful for me than the surgical abortions were. The aftermath is longer, though. I will be the happiest girl in the world when I can either be done with bleeding entirely or be able to use something other than horrible diaper-like pads.

Hope this helps someone not be too scared.

Doing the medical abortion BEFORE 6 weeks is also best, as far as pain is concerned.


I liked surgical because I was sedated, and the bleeding was minute.

I hope there are women out there who get a chance to read as much information as possible before deciding on which abortion procedure they choose. I'm posting my experience to add to the information out there, even though I know a lot of women have already shared their experiences.

Let's face it, abortion no matter which way you look at it is a difficult physical and mental experience. The clinic may or may not be ideal/helpful/nice, and I'm not going to waste time talking about the place I went to or how I felt in there. I do want women to know about my experience with the drugs, however.


I was 6/7 weeks pregnant when I took the RU486 + Mistoprostol drug combination. I was aware there would be "some bleeding and cramping which may be like or even worse than a normal period". The bleeding and cramping was much worse than a normal period. On top of that, the symptoms started and stopped, then started again over a few days. I was not sure when the whole process would be over. The amount of blood that came out of me truly scared me and I really worried about having to go to the hospital. The blood clots were scary. But the worst part was that the process just seemed to keep going and going. I felt terrible. Co-workers said I looked so pale, and at the time I was dealing with heavy cramping, so of course I probably looked horrible, but who could tell them the truth?! I thought the weekend would have been enough for me to recover, so I could be back to work and be fine again, but my symptoms did not disappear and my work suffered.

After 17 days of bleeding and heavy cramping DAILY, I decided it was time to go to my obgyn to find out if something was wrong. (Note: I decided to go to my obgyn instead of going back to the clinic because I really did not have much faith in them when they kept telling me my symptoms were normal, especially the strong cramping 2 weeks later when I was only spotting/light bleeding). My obgyn did a pelvic exam and said everything looked normal, but she said she did not think the continued cramping was normal. After a trans-vaginal ultrasound they found a moderate amount of well-defined tissue still in my uterus. Who is to say what it was, but basically the prognosis was that the tissue could be causing the cramping and at that point in time the obgyn recommended a D&C to get all the tissue out and end my suffering. (Note again: My obgyn office said they do not perform abortion services, but obviously they are okay with "repairs" after the fact).

My D&C was performed in a hospital with general anestesia and the whole process from check-in to check-out was about 4 hours. Today is now the day after the D&C and I feel COMPLETELY relieved. My cramps are GONE, and I was not bleeding yesterday but am spotting a little today. My obgyn told me to expect light bleeding but no more than a period, with symptoms decreasing every day. I feel more normal than I have in weeks.

THIS IS THE IMPORTANT TAKE-HOME MESSAGE -- NO WOMAN is the same. You might read about women on here who have had no problems with the medical abortion pills (sure some pain and bleeding, but no prolonged symptoms). You may even read about women who didn't feel much pain or bleeding at all. I just happened to be one of those unfortunate women who had the more serious symptoms. Who is to say you will be one of the easy cases? It is nice to feel reassured that the medical abortion has the POTENTIAL to be more private, easy, ect. but who is to say YOU will have that same experience?

A few days ago I was doing more reading and found some information about women who bled for 30 days or more. I am sure there are pro-life people spreading evil news about each abortion procedure, but I have read that the mistoprostol was never designed to be an abortion drug and many websites say it is dangerous. PLEASE just be informed before you make your decision. I would NOT have chosen the medical route if I had read all the medical warnings on these drugs. I hate surgery, but I would have chosen it as the first and only method if I had more information before my procedure.

I WORK for an abortion provider...

I ALWAYS RECOMMEND SURGICAL over medical, and so does our doctor.

Hello again, I posted back several months ago, and meant to update soon after with how the medical abortion went, but to be honest, I didn't want to even thing about it after it happened, because the experience was so terrible.

First off, like I had said, I had been given Vicodin for the pain, to take about half an hour before taking the second abortion drug. Yeah, it didn't help.

I took 2 of my 8 vicodin, then half an hour later took the misoprostal....and for about 15-20 minutes, I thought "hey, this might not be that bad!". How wrong I was.

Soon I had to get up because I was starting to bleed through my overnight maxi pad, by then I had moderate cramps and a 'hot' feeling in my abdomen.

Then came the bad cramps....for about half an hour, I was in the most excruciating pain of my life. Like others here, I was huddled in a ball on the floor, screaming and wanting to die. Yeah, and I'm no pain wimp either, this was horrible, and vicodin didn't even touch it.

After that half an hour though, I was pretty much pain free though, and the extreme nausea that I had been suffering due to the pregnancy (read: I couldn't keep ANYTHING, food or liquid down for almost a week proceding the abortion), went away almost immediately.

The bleeding lasted about 3 weeks, and I got my period about a month after that.

All in all? Totally NOT worth it. Should I ever get pregnant again, I'm getting a surgical abortion. They advertise the medical abortion as ideal for those 'wanting more privacy'...somehow, the privacy doesn't seem worth it when you're shrieking on the bathroom floor.

STAR- Yeah, for me 'privacy' is not worth all of that.

Surgical with IV sedation is painless, and only takes 5 minutes.

Medical abortion sucks, to be honest