I took the cytotec, and I had read HORROR stories. It was not a big deal at all. I took the narcotics with it because I was so nervous, so maybe that helped. But I took it over night (set an alarm to take all the doses) and kept waiting for the some serious pain or a big bleed. It never happened. I thought it didn't work. I had already been bleeding though, and it stayed about the same. When I went in a week later everything had passed.

I was 7.5 weeks for that one.

I also had a 6 week miscarriage which was more painful, but passed very quickly, in just 2 days. Once I knew what was happening, advil was enough to take care of any discomfort.

Just my two experiences.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Now on the third day, the cramping cane back with a vengeance. Is it normal?

Mine took days. Started on a Sunday, had horrible episodes of cramps Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Passed what needed to pass Wednesday evening and that ended the worst of the cramping, but still bled for another week. I always thought of a miscarriage as an "event", a single episode, but that was not my personal experience. It was multiple episodes of really painful cramps. Sucked. Sorry you are going through this.

OP here. Now on the third day, the cramping cane back with a vengeance. Is it normal?

Anonymous wrote:OP, how are you doing?

OP here. Thanks for asking. My D & C was set for next Tuesday and I miscarried yesterday. I didn't take the pill and it came naturally. The cramping was intense, and really resembles labor pains. I took some Vicodin and that helped. But, it was a whole day of cramping and back pain. Super heavy bleeding. It's much better today and my doctor will check me on Monday to see if everything is out. If not, we will proceed with the procedure.

OP, how are you doing?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had 3 D&Cs in the past year. From my understanding, the risk to future pregnancies is low. The biggest risk comes from passing naturally and it not completing on it's own and THEN you have a D&C. I found them all to be so easy and a good start to moving on. The recovery was minimal, if any at all. I could have physically gone to work the next day for all 3 of them. I hardly bled at all.

So sorry for your loss. Hang in there, you'll get thru this and you are not alone! xo

There is a risk of scarring and adhesions (Asherman's syndrome) that may affect chances of getting pregnant. So while the bolded part is technically true, it's achieving pregnancy that may be affected. Once you're pregnant I guess that's a non-issue.

According to my RE, Asherman's syndrome is most common in D&Cs that are performed when the body didn't pass all the tissue naturally (and a D&C is required after). That is what I was referring to. He said that that statistics on D&Cs doesn't usually report that. If you go in for a MMC and get a D&C the chances of Asherman's syndrome are very low and very rare.

I would be interested to look at these statistics. How is the data collected? From experience, nobody tracks whether I had trouble conceiving after D&C and whether a lap was done to determine that there is no Asherman's. My follow up after D&C was a dr's consult and palpation (not even an ultrasound) - zero chances of determining whether there is any scarring.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had 3 D&Cs in the past year. From my understanding, the risk to future pregnancies is low. The biggest risk comes from passing naturally and it not completing on it's own and THEN you have a D&C. I found them all to be so easy and a good start to moving on. The recovery was minimal, if any at all. I could have physically gone to work the next day for all 3 of them. I hardly bled at all.

So sorry for your loss. Hang in there, you'll get thru this and you are not alone! xo

There is a risk of scarring and adhesions (Asherman's syndrome) that may affect chances of getting pregnant. So while the bolded part is technically true, it's achieving pregnancy that may be affected. Once you're pregnant I guess that's a non-issue.

According to my RE, Asherman's syndrome is most common in D&Cs that are performed when the body didn't pass all the tissue naturally (and a D&C is required after). That is what I was referring to. He said that that statistics on D&Cs doesn't usually report that. If you go in for a MMC and get a D&C the chances of Asherman's syndrome are very low and very rare.

Anonymous wrote:I've had 3 D&Cs in the past year. From my understanding, the risk to future pregnancies is low. The biggest risk comes from passing naturally and it not completing on it's own and THEN you have a D&C. I found them all to be so easy and a good start to moving on. The recovery was minimal, if any at all. I could have physically gone to work the next day for all 3 of them. I hardly bled at all.

So sorry for your loss. Hang in there, you'll get thru this and you are not alone! xo

There is a risk of scarring and adhesions (Asherman's syndrome) that may affect chances of getting pregnant. So while the bolded part is technically true, it's achieving pregnancy that may be affected. Once you're pregnant I guess that's a non-issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9 weeks with Cytotec. You are all WAY tougher than me because I was in shock, horror, and agony at the pain. Had to get counseling to deal with the fact I was told it would feel like heavy menstrual cramping. It felt like being ripped apart.

Eh, it's not toughness, everyone experiences things differently. Being ripped apart is how I would describe my unmedicated childbirth. So the subsequent miscarriages and cytotec etc were not nearly as bad. It's all relative and very individual.

I've subsequently been fortunate enough to give birth to a healthy child. I had an epidural, but the contractions prior to the epidural were exactly on the order of what I experienced during the Cytotec-induced miscarriage. It was "as bad as" real-full term labor.

Well, as I said, it's very individual. Also, the point of the epidural is to stop the pain ... and while the contractions I had in labor were awful, the ripped-apart feeling was transition and actual pushing, which presumably an epidural would prevent. I will likely get an epidural with my next delivery, so maybe I will find out! Could also be I experienced it differently because I did the childbirth first and the miscarriages after. In any event, it all sucks, physically and emotionally.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks everyone. For those who let nature takes its course or who took the pilll, can you describe how it's like? It is a heavy period over a few days? How long did it last?

I'm really worried because I used to get painful period from severe endo and wondering if this is going to be worse and just afraid of the unknown.

I let nature take it's course. I had never experienced this before and did not realize what would happen. The rhythmic nature of the contractions were similar to early contractions in childbirth, painful but not nearly as severe. However, they were painful. I didn't know why the docs gave me a prescription for pain medication; however, once the process started I realized that it would have been helpful. I did not take anything and everything was fine. The contractions continue until everything comes out. My miscarriage was around 12 weeks....we'll I'll say I was 12 weeks when I found out... I am not sure when I miscarried...but it was some time between my 8 week ultrasound and my 3 month followup.

Anyhow, when I went for my follow up, it seemed as though nature took it's course and my body cleared everything out without any additional intervention.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9 weeks with Cytotec. You are all WAY tougher than me because I was in shock, horror, and agony at the pain. Had to get counseling to deal with the fact I was told it would feel like heavy menstrual cramping. It felt like being ripped apart.

Eh, it's not toughness, everyone experiences things differently. Being ripped apart is how I would describe my unmedicated childbirth. So the subsequent miscarriages and cytotec etc were not nearly as bad. It's all relative and very individual.

I've subsequently been fortunate enough to give birth to a healthy child. I had an epidural, but the contractions prior to the epidural were exactly on the order of what I experienced during the Cytotec-induced miscarriage. It was "as bad as" real-full term labor.

This post is so timely. I'm so sorry you are going thru this.

I had a d and c at 11/12 weeks for a miscarriage. Aside from the emotional aspect it wasn't terrible physically. Bounced back rather quickly. This was about eight years ago so I was younger then.

Last summer I had a molar pregnancy and had to have it removed via d and c. Not sure if it's because the Ob had to really get in and make sure everything was out to prevent further growth but this time was much more painful, heavier bleeding afterward and pain lasted longer.

Now today, I am five weeks and having a miscarriage. Heavy bleeding started late morning. Cramping is like a bad period so far. Attempting to let it pass naturally...haven't gotten any meds other than otc Tylenol.

I've had 3 D&Cs in the past year. From my understanding, the risk to future pregnancies is low. The biggest risk comes from passing naturally and it not completing on it's own and THEN you have a D&C. I found them all to be so easy and a good start to moving on. The recovery was minimal, if any at all. I could have physically gone to work the next day for all 3 of them. I hardly bled at all.

So sorry for your loss. Hang in there, you'll get thru this and you are not alone! xo

Also, if you do have it at kaiser you'll need someone with you to bring you home. In my case, it was my spouse and it really should be someone who you know and trust very well--the nurses didn't dress me or walk me to the restroom or help me in to the wheelchair or anything. You'll want someone who can stay calm and who has the physical capacity to assist you with that sort of thing.

I let nature take its course when I miscarried around 8 weeks. IIRC, I bled for a few weeks or a month, including about a week or two before I passed the tissue. When I did pass it, it was heavy bleeding for that week or so with fairly bad cramping. For what it's worth, I was working two jobs at the time, one on my feet for 8-10 hours a day, and I didn't miss any work. So I wasn't in debilitating pain. I definitely took Tylenol or Advil, or both. Maybe leftover Percocet if I had it.