Expert: Pat G - 11/12/2009

Question
I took the abortion pill nov 8 (the first one). My pregnancy was only 3 or 4 weeks at most so it was not detected by ultrasound. I took the second part on Mon (24 hrs later). Within 2 hrs I began to bleed. It was not very heavy at all. But I did see a few clots. Then tuesday and wednesday I had extremely light bleeding almost like brownish discharge. In the afternoon on weds I started to get abdominal pain on my left side only. Not cramps just a pain and its in my side and lower back as well. Now its early thurs morning and I have very heavy bleeding and clotting along with the pain on one side. I'm worried this is eptopic but I don't want to rush myself to the hospital in fear that my family will find out. Should I be concerned at this point?

Answer
Hi, kay,

That was the first thought that crossed my mind: ectopic pregnancy. Obviously, you will have to attend to it if it is.

You probably have a couple of days. If the pain stops, that is when there is an emergency when you need to rush to the hospital. So if you can go to a clinic at this point (right away), that may be a good way to go. Don't go back to whoever gave you the pills. They are either ignorant, or they committed malpractice by giving you Cytotec, because the manufacturer specifically says it should never be used by pregnant women.

Having an abortion to conceal pregnancy from the family is usually not a good idea, because there is so much that can go wrong. You have something else to be concerned about. That's the heavy bleeding. This is what kills so many women, because they bleed to death. The best remedy is cayenne, which can be either in food or as a capsule. But it also may necessitate a doctor's intervention. Also, if you took the second part in the vagina, you need to be on the lookout for toxic shock syndrome. This means getting to the emergency room immediately (have someone take you), and mention it, because it kills so fast that they don't even have time to diagnose it.

If you did this so early, it's not even clear that it will work. There is a very narrow window during which the pills will work in the first place. Were you 3 to 4 weeks pregnant after your last menstrual period, or after your possible conception day? The clots may or may not mean anything. What they would tend to mean is that some of it is coming from your body rather than your uterus.

To find a decent place to get help, go here:

http://www.heartbeatinternational.org/worldwide_directory.asp

Choose "Canada" from the country list. There are 286 of these organizations on multiple pages. Click on "details" to get contact information. They can recommend a doctor who can help you.

If you get suddenly worse, obviously, you will need to head to the emergency room. It could be something else. If you have had any STD that could cause scarring, though, ectopic pregnancy is certainly a possibility.

I hope you will be OK. Please take care of yourself and stay safe! Don't take any more chances with those pills. They're really very dangerous. Let me know how you do.