AboutDoctor Joan Expertise I am a family doctor who has provided abortion care for over a decade. I can answer any health or medical related questions about early abortion, including the aspiration procedure, the abortion pill (RU486), or surgical abortion. I run a practice called Early Options, located in New York City: earlyabortionoptions.com. The practice is dedicated to making early abortion part of mainstream medical care. There are other family doctors around the United States who practice a similar approach to early abortion care: see earlyabortion.com.
Experience Experience in the area: I am a board certified family doctor who has been providing abortion services for 12 years. I am the founder of Early Options (earlyabortion.com) dedicated to making early abortion part of mainstream medical care.
Organizations:
National Abortion Federation
American Association of Family Physicians
Education/Credentials: Harvard Medical School
Expert: Doctor Joan Date: 7/3/2008 Subject: Abortion Pill
Question Hi Dr Joan- Recently on June 30th I went to Planned Parenthood to undergo the abortion pill. That day I received the Mifeprex at around 11 am. I felt completely fine the rest of that day. The Dr. instructed me to take the second pill Misoprostol anytime after 11 the next day. So I waited until my fiance got off of work at 5 so I wouldn't be alone. I took it a 6 oclock that evening and about 20 minutes into it I started having mild cramping. Then after about 5 minutes it got REALLY painful. I could not lay down, so I resorted to sitting on the toilet for the remainder of the time. I had sharp pains that seemed to come and go pretty fast. After about an hour, I felt a rather large blood clot fall into the water and I immediately started to feel better. I was fine for about an hour or so, when the same pain returned. I again resorted to the toilet for relief. They had given me Ibuprofen 400 mg 2 tablets PO PRN. It seemed to help a little bit. Again I finally passed something and felt a little better. I was able to sleep through the night and woke up the nezt morning feeling back to normal. Really no pain at all. Bleeding was very under control. I wasn't soaking more than 1 pad within like 3 hours. Bleeding not heavy at all. But the last few days since then I have had VERY MILD cramps. They kind of feel like very light pressure on my abdomen. Not painful really. Is this do you think normal? I have not run a fever at all...my temperature on average has been about 97.5-98.2. No headaches, vomiting since I passed that 1st clot. I feel pretty well. The DR. also gave me Doxycycline to take in the morning and evening. I am also RH negative they found out so I received a Rhogam shot when I was given the MIfeprex. Do you think that everything is okay in your opinion, and that I passed was I needed to pass and the mild cramps might just be from the bleeding? This is also my first pregnancy and I was only 6 weeks along according to the sonogram. Although when she performed to sono, she noticed on my Right Ovary that I might have an ovarian cyst. It looked like a hard black mass that measured about 1.27cm. But she did see the fetus in my uterus which measured to be 1.21cm, so she doesn't suspect ectopic. Could that cyst be the reason I could be having these mild cramps? Thanks in advance for your help!! My checkup appt is on Monday by the way.
Answer Dear Amber,
Everything you are describing sounds completely normal. You describe a classic experience with the abortion pill - it typically has this cramping and bleeding pattern. The cramping sounds normal - as long as it is not persistent, unrelenting pain that does not get better with ibuprofen. The cramps are more like period cramps, and don't sound like they are related to the cyst. The cyst, by the way, also sounds normal. When you are in early pregnancy, there is typically a cyst on the ovary where the egg was released. On ultrasound it appears black - but that is simply because it is filled with fluid (it is not really black in color). 1.2 cm is within the range of normal. They usually disappear within a month, and you do not need to get a follow up.
I do continue to recommend the abortion pill, however women have a very mixed, unpredictable experience with it such as yours. For some women it can be simple, for others it can be very painful with a significant amount of bleeding. For other readers who are considering the abortion pill, you might evaluate another nonsurgical option, called the aspiration procedure. Most women do not know about this procedure as it is difficult to find a doctor who performs it. There are many advantages of an aspiration abortion over the abortion pill -less cramping, much less bleeding, no need for a follow up visit, higher success rate. For more information on this method, see earlyabortion.com.
I hope this is helpful,
Doctor Joan
earlyabortionoptions.com
New York City
