Expert: Pat G - 8/14/2009

Question
Dear Dr. Joan,
I had a medical abortion approx one month ago.  I was bleeding for almost three weeks but very lightly and so began having sex again about 10 days after the abortion. During sex, only when in certain positions, it is extremely sensitive, almost to the point of being painful.  Yesterday after having sex, i began to bleed again very lightly but the blood is a bright red.  I'm nervous something may be wrong.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thank you.

Answer
Hi, Kelly,

Dr. Joan went on vacation. She is frequently gone. So your question was in the question pool.

There are several things you need to be cautious about. As long as you are bleeding, your uterus is open to the outside world, and this means you would be susceptible to infection. Have you experienced any fever, weakness, or other such symptoms? Even if you don't, it's still a possibility. I don't recommend having sex while you are bleeding. Having sex WILL cause your uterus to contract, so the fact that you are bleeding lightly and it's bright red isn't worrisome in and of itself. However, the pain does indicate that there is a potential problem. And it may just be that your body is still recovering. The best thing you can do would be to go to the doctor and let him check you out. Don't go to the person who gave you the pills. That person may have given you Cytotec. Cytotec is NOT supposed to be given to a pregnant woman, because there are several ways it can kill a woman very quickly. Any doctor who would give Cytotec for an abortion has committed malpractice, in my opinion. Now another thing to consider is the fact that you bled only lightly. You didn't say how far along you were. If a woman tries a pill abortion too early, nothing of significance will happen. Also, a pill abortion won't work if she is too far along. It definitely won't work the vast majority of the time after 49 days, and it often won't work earlier than that. You should have bled more heavily, and probably passed some tissue as well, and since you didn't, it's not clear to me it was successful. If it was, a pregnancy test should register weakly, if at all, but hormones after abortion are very unpredictable. So again, the best thing you can do is get a doctor to check you out. Find a decent doctor. One place you might be able to get a good recommendation is through the members of La Leche League. http://www.llli.org/ . Let me know if you aren't successful there, and I will give you a different link. Also, please let me know what you find out and how you do.