Expert: Pat G - 7/31/2011

Question
hi doctor,
I m the first time user of this site, read your answers which were very comforting, so i also decided to get help from you.. i had abortion on 13th july 2011 by having mtp medicines, at home only.i used two misoprostol vaginally , one orally after one hour as i was not bleeding and one more tablet i took orally next day..
i started bleeding on the same day when i took vaginal tablets. my bleeding continued for approx 2 weeks, and in later half brownish tissues started coming , and finally now on 1 aug some white tissues are coming. Are all these things okay? and is my abortion complete??
kindly advice soon.. and can i resume sex with my partner now?
thanks in advance.. waiting for response

Answer
Hello, nitika,

Thank you for the kind words. Please know that I am not a doctor. I am a medical researcher.

I don't see anything unusual about the symptoms you are reporting. However, the abortion isn't complete until all the material has passed. If you are still passing any kind of material, it is not complete. As long as you are passing material, you are especially vulnerable to infection, so I wouldn't say it is OK to have sex for medical reasons. Also, putting pills in the vagina is especially dangerous, because they can cause a massive infection that could kill you within hours. The pills can also cause a woman to bleed to death, and a lot of women in India are dying for this reason. The instructions they give with those kits are the worst possible, if you want to be healthy. The pharmaceutical company that makes these kits, Cipla, is totally irresponsible. They don't care about women. They just want to make money. I tried contacting them about what they are doing, and they ignored me.

Keep a close eye on things. If you get any symptoms that worry you, see a doctor. Don't have anything to do with whomever helped you obtain the kit. In the meantime, make sure that you are eating foods that have red hot peppers in them, to help protect you from excessive bleeding.

If you don't want to face abortion again, you need to stop having sex. Your partner owes it to you to protect you and not make you vulnerable to pregnancy, and you deserve to live without the fear of pregnancy. As long as you are having sex, you are vulnerable, even if you try to use protection of some kind. You have already had one abortion. Don't have another. They are dangerous and can kill you. You may have had the abortion to avoid shame. If pregnancy and having a child will cause you shame, don't take any chances. Simply don't have sex. See if your partner is willing to protect you and respect your body. If not, he is simply using you for his own pleasure, and you should make yourself available for someone else.

Please take care. I will be here for you and would love to know how you are doing.