Expert: Pat G - 1/9/2012

Question
I am a 27 year old, I had a surgical abortion 6 weeks ago, I was 11 weeks and 5 days pregnant, I had to wait this long because I just returned from living/travelling in South America for the past year. My boyfriend is from Australia and ten days after my abortion I moved to Australia. I went to a doctor here, she felt everything was fine, however I started what I thought was my period, 3 weeks later, it went on for 5 days, then stopped, I had foul smelling discharge and some dull pain and took 3 days of doxycyline, however after five days I have more bleeding a few small clots.

Should I go back and see another doctor or is this normal? I have been extremely active for the past fews, with moving to a new country and going lots of places, could this also be a reason for the continued bleeding??

Answer
Hello, Ann,

To begin with, having an abortion is not normal, so anything that happens afterward isn't normal, either.

The foul smelling discharge worries me. Taking doxycycline for three days probably won't help. It only addresses bacteria, and you could have a virus or a fungus. It is possible you picked up a sexually transmitted disease from the abortion. Abortionists are often careless and don't sterilize instruments properly, if at all, so they may have been infected with something from an earlier client. You also might still have some tissue, which needs to be removed. Furthermore, normally a person takes ten days of an antibiotic. If you take an antibiotic, it is also crucial that you take a pro-biotic to restore the good bacteria the antibiotic destroys. I urge you to go see another doctor.

If you are moving things around and doing lifting, this can explain bleeding. The abdominal muscles tense, and this affects the uterus. Women are advised not to do heavy lifting after childbirth, for awhile, for the same reason. Keep an eye on things. If the bleeding becomes heavy, get some help.

Since I am unable to write a longer message now and I want you to go to the doctor right away, I will wait until later to write more. I hope this helps. Please keep in touch and let me know what happens. Please take care of yourself. No more dangerous abortions. Stay safe!