Expert: Pat G - 8/31/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi, i just had an abortion done on friday aug 28 and started a contraceptive pill on sunday the 30th of august, and ended up having sex on sunday with my husband, though he didn't ejaculate inside me and we had protected sex w/ a condom, and im aware that your not supposed to have sexual relations during the first week. but it ended up happening, and i was curious to know if there are sensations that you can feel after having sex.
even though i find my system is prettty strong, cuz after the abortion i was feeling very well, funny thing even the nurse looked at me like i was superhuman or something,,,lol
and during my pregnancy with my first child i was in top shape throughout, so i was wondering if i should be worrying about anything??

Thank you
jenny

ANSWER: Hi, jenny,

There are a couple of things I need to address. To begin with, condoms don't work, and neither does pulling out. However, this close to your abortion, pregnancy is extremely unlikely.

The reason for waiting for sex is that in a surgical abortion (which it sounds like is what you had), the surface of the uterus is damaged, and becomes raw and open to infection. For one thing, they have to cut away the placenta. Until scar tissue is formed, it will be a problem. You don't want scar tissue, either, but it will happen. Hopefully, your husband isn't carrying anything really dangerous. But if he ever slept with anyone else, there is always that possibility. You really should wait until the bleeding has stopped for a couple of days. The other thing that often happens is pelvic inflammatory disease, and this can cause infertility. It may or may not be obvious if you get it. That's part of the trouble with so many of these infections.

You can learn fertility detection, which is actually more effective even than the pill. But you can't be USING the pill, or it won't work. And you have to chart faithfully. For more information, go here:

http://www.fertilityuk.org/

If you want to consider this, you will need to stop the pill (finish a packet), and then wait for your hormones to return to normal. Obviously, you may be at risk in the meantime. The other problem with the pill is that if you are taking antibiotics, it won't work.

Keep a close eye on yourself, and see if you experience any unusual malaise, tiredness, fever, pain, more often getting sick, that sort of thing. You should have the doctor check your white blood cell count in a bit.

You may have recovered well to begin with, and that's good. But there are long term dangers. You will need to tell your doctor you have had an abortion if you become pregnant and decide to carry the baby. There are several things to be especially careful of. The first is tubal pregnancy. The second is the possibility of miscarriage or very early birth (which causes birth defects). The third thing is placenta previa or prolonged labor at the time of birth. Finally, you need to be more vigilant about the possibility of breast cancer. If you want more details, let me know.

Please take care of yourself! Let me know how you do.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for getting back so quickly! Well first things first . The bleeding has stopped about a day n a half later .And I pretty much think everything should b ok as of Friday , so we'll play it safe and wait unroll then.
Thanks again!

Answer
Hi, Jenny,

You're welcome! I hope things go well for you. If you don't bleed any more by Friday, I would be much less concerned about you, so keep an eye on things. Just keep in mind that you need to be careful so you don't have to face this again. "Protection" doesn't work, as I said. So take care of yourself.