Expert: Pat G - 1/10/2011

Question
Hi, I had an abortion last year in september of 2010 & since that abortion I have been feeling werid & my body is not how it used to be. I don't have my regulare period sometimes I can go a month without my period & I bleed for a couple of days & my usual period last 7 days & comes around the 24 threw almost the begining of the month & I have been with my boyfriend for 1 year & e months & all this time we have never been safe & I haven't been pregnant & makes me wonder a lot & I am afriad I can't have kids & the major consern is my period not flowing right at all & also to see if I can have kids in the future & hoping this abortion didn't effect anything. Hope to here from you soon.

Answer
Hello, Ana,

I need to know what kind of abortion you had. It's important.

Abortion often really wreaks havoc with a woman's body. I can't see any other reason you would be having these problems. This certainly isn't normal.

If you have a period of 28 days, it will come a couple of days earlier each month.

If you don't want to have to deal with the decision you made to have an abortion, a second time around, you need to stop having sex. "Protection" doesn't work anyway, so the fact you haven't been "safe" really isn't an issue. If you are trying to get pregnant just to prove you will be able to have kids, please give some serious thought to your situation. It's not a good reason to take chances. Your boyfriend owes it to you to respect your body and not put you at risk.

Abortion always causes damage. If you have no children, then you are now at much greater risk of getting a particularly deadly form of breast cancer. For this reason, you should take Vitamin D3 the rest of your life. A good dose to start is 5000IU a day, but you will have to have your blood tested periodically to make sure you're not getting too much. Abortion also makes a woman much more susceptible to auto-immune disease such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. It can have a major impact on your emotions. And yes, it can stop you from ever having children in the future. There is no way anyone can know at this point whether the abortion has made you sterile. You will have to wait and see. If you had a surgical abortion, you will be at much greater risk for tubal pregnancy, which will require emergency surgery. You are also at much greater risk of having a baby with a serious birth defect. When you do become pregnant, be sure and tell your doctor about your past abortion. He may need to do cerclage to protect your baby. Also, a prior abortion can make childbirth more risky.

I wish I could tell you that you are all right, but it is very unlikely. I also don't know when or if your periods will straighten out. Abortion also disrupts a woman's hormones, and this means that they won't be operating at the state of balance that you had before. You will have to be patient and wait and see what they do. If you want to go to the doctor about your problem, you should find one who has good medical judgment. No doctor who does abortions has good medical judgment because abortion is bad medicine. You are finding out the hard way.

I would encourage you to talk to a doctor.

You can find a decent doctor by finding an organization in your area that helps women in your situation. You can find one near you by going to this web site:

http://www.optionline.org/

The lists to these organizations is linked on the right, and not real obvious.

Please take care of yourself and stop taking chances. Let me know how you do.