# Anyone had experience with Misoprostol (Cytotec)



## staceyful

Hi I'm 9 weeks pregnant but the baby stopped growing at 6 weeks 3 days, and after an ultrasound yesterday the baby still hasn't came away. I was given some misoprostol yesterday and have to take 6 300mg pills orally per day for the next 3 days. I googled these tablets and have read some really horrible experiences from people and I'm really scared to take them! have any of you ever had experience with these tablets please? Thanks


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## rosebud111

hi staceyful. i'm sorry for your loss and so sorry you have to go through this. i had a similar situation to yours in december. i was 10 weeks and baby stopped at 6 weeks. i was also given misoprostol and so scared like you. i forget what my dosage was but she told me to start with 2 pills (vaginally not orally) and take another dose every so many hours until the miscarriage started. then she told me to take one additional dose after the miscarriage to make sure everything would pass. it was not a fun experience but after it was over it was so much better. my advice would be to put on comfortable clothes, have someone home with you for support, and to also take a strong pain medication because the cramps became really intense for about 30 min to 1 hr. my experience lasted from 3pm (1st dose) to 8pm and after that things began to calm down. i hope this has been helpful. good luck staceyful...


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## GaiaSN

Hi there, I wrote up my experience with Misoprostol in January. You can read it here.


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## baileybubs

Hi staceyful,

I'm so sorry that you are going through this. I took misoprostol on Friday last week. I was scared by some stories I read too, especially as my baby was 11 weeks when she stopped growing so I was really scared if the pain and size. I have to say I was in a fair amount of pain on Friday, but nothing happened until about 7pm and I took my first dose at 8am, second dose at 2pm. I did have to take strong painkillers and I did need my oh with me, I needed help having a shower as the bleeding came on very quickly and very heavy (sorry for tmi!!).

At the moment I am still unsure if my baby has passed as I didn't see evidence of the sac etc but as I said, the blood was very heavy at first so could have been then. Since then I was in pain and bleeding like a heavy period but not as bad as some of the stories I read. As long as you plan to do nothing and have someone look after you for at least next 2 days and some strong painkillers you will get through this. 

Hope you are feeling ok and I hope this helps, if you need to ask any more questions or just chat feel free, even if it's a rant lol, as I know how you feel and it's an awful experience :hugs: Xxxxx


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## amjon

I had Cytotec in the hospital vaginally to be induced (after Cervadil). It wasn't all that bad. I did get some contractions from it, but I honestly had no idea I was in labor. The OB did have to crush them and make a paste for it to work faster. (I was being dilated for 4 days.) After he did that I went from 2cm to delivery in about 2 hours. I never had to get a Pitocin drip. My daughter was 27 weeks and breech.


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## staceyful

Hi everyone, thanks for all of your advice and sorry to hear of all your stories :( GaiaSN thanks so much for the link it was really helpful! I took my first dose yeasterday at 12:10 pm and then the next 2 doses at 6 hour intervals along with Codeine and Paracetamol and also wore 2 heat pads most of the day, 1 on my back and one on my stomach. I was really scared to take the tablets due to what I was reading but I've had no side affects whatsoever and am now worried that they are not working and I may need a D&C! If anything I've had less bleeding since taking the tablets and other than a little dizziness for about half an hour yesterday I've had nothing, no clots at all. I took 2 more tablets this morning at 11 and am due my next ones at 5 so hopefully it will start soon so it can be over sooner, I'll keep you all updated. This is actually my second miscarriage as I had a natural miscarriage in November at 3 months but bled for around 8/9 weeks so didn't really want the same thing happening again and opted for the Misoprostol. I'm going to continue the medication which I finish tomorrow and will update again then and fingers crossed I'll pass everything before my follow up scan on Monday! Thanks again everyone :) xxx


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## baileybubs

Hi staceyful, 

Hope you are feeling ok today. Just to update you, I also didn't have much bleeding or clots,I was worried it hadn't worked so today (a week after my tablets) I had an internal scan to see if i had miscarried properly. The horrible hospital staff just kept telling me it's only been a week but I couldn't bear anymore worrying. Turns out there are still masses in my uterus but no visible pregnancy sac, they think (dont you just love that terminology) think that it's lots of blood clots so I've got to wait another week and see how the bleeding is then. 

Apparently all this is normal, it can take weeks to clear the uterus etc so don't worry if you are seeing any progress. I wasn't sure I had passed my baby but according to the hospital I either have or it's broken down now, and also your body can absorb clots and stuff too.

I don't know if any of this helps you but I really do hope it all goes ok for you and you can move forward xxxx


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## baileybubs

Also can I ask what country you live in? I had to argue with hospital staff to get a scan today as it was only just a week after I had the tablets, they wanted me to wait longer!! I was really annoyed at how inconsiderate they were actually xx


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## pink80

I had Misoprostol (Medical Management) after my first loss. I had a really bad experience and I would urge people to push for follow up scans if you are not sure if you've passed everything, or if they tell you that you haven't - keep going back.

This is my story (copy and pasted from other thread) - i'll put it in spoilers because it is long and graphic and I don't want to upset or worry anyone :hugs:


Spoiler
I too had the Medical Management but my experience is very different to yours - I'm not telling you this to scare you - I just want people to be informed, as I had no idea what to expect or what was 'normal' and what was not. (Graphic & Long Story)

We went for our 12 week scan on Friday 11th March, where we found out that our baby hadn't developed properly. We were sent to the EPU, where we were given the same three choices as you - I was so scared by the thought of a ERPC that I opted for the medical management. I took one pill orally that day (block the progestrone I believe) and was sent home. I started to bleed fairly lightly on the Saturday night, with very mild period cramps starting on the Sunday night. We went back to the hospital on the Monday (14th March) to get the next lot of treatment, which was 4 pessaries inserted vaginally, I was then sent home to miscarry at home. Within 2 hours of the medication being given I start to have quite bad pains, which I can only describe as 'contractions', and passing bigs clots and what felt like huge amounts of blood, to the point where I could not get off the toilet as I was passing too much. This lasted for about 5 hours, including the 'contractions'. My partner called the EPU during this time as we were concerned about the blood loss, but they told me that 'it can happen'. The bleeding slowed down after this, but I still bleed for a few days, until it went to brown spotting. I honestly felt that it must have all cleared as I passed so much. I felt really unwell afterwards, lightheaded/Dizzy/short of breath etc - my GP sent me for a blood test, which showed I was severly anemic and had to take iron tablets.

I had to go for a follow up scan 2 weeks later (29th March) to check I had passed everything. It turned out that I hadn't, and the lady who did the scan said there was still alot of tissue and clots. I was advised to go home and come back the following week for another scan. I continued to bleed although more brown than red for a few days, then suddenly I had a day where I was soaking pads again within minutes and I passed a number of clots. I went back for my next scan on the 7th April, the same lady did my scan as the previous week and she said that she couldn't see any difference from the week before and that there was still clots and tissue. We were sent to the EPU again, at which point they offered me another lot of pessaries or an EPRC. They said as there 'wasn't that much left' the pessaries should work fine this time. I agreed to this and they put them in then and there, then sent me home. It was much the same as the first time - I had the pains and I passed blood and clots. I continued to bleed for days afterwards but thought it would be clear now.

I was due to go back for a scan on the 22nd April, unfortunately things took a turn for the worse before then. On the 16th April in the early hours of the morning I started to bleed really heavily, to the point where I couldn't get of the toliet as it was pouring out of me. I started to feel really unwell so my partner called an ambulance and I was taken to A&E. I continued to bleed heavily for hours and I was passing huge clots and pieces of tissue. They decided to do an emergency EPRC, to clear my womb and stop the bleeding. I was told that the procedure went well and I was taken back to the ward, unfortunately I started to bleed again when I got there and the doctors had to stop bleeding up on the ward with swabs and medication to make my womb contract.

They finally managed to stop the bleeding, but I had to have 4 units of blood transfused as I had lost so much. I was discharged from hospital after a couple of days and I finally stopped bleeding last monday (25th April) which was 6 weeks after. I do feel much better now, and I finally feel like I can start to move forward now the bleeding had stopped, I just hope that I don't have to wait too long for my body to reset itself.

I'm sorry for the long post, and I hope I haven't upset anyone - like I said, I just think people need to know what can happen, albeit very unlikely.

to all
xxx


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## GaiaSN

I hope everything worked out ok for you, given the circumstances!


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## MissMummyMoo

I hope everything went well for you hun.

I was given misoprostol to take orally on the Friday afternoon then I had to go into the hospital on the Sunday morning and had 2 tablets inserted. I had to be on bed rest for 2 hours until it had dialated my cervix I then had another 2 around 1pm to make sure everything was coming away ... I personally never had a bad experience with them. I did have horrendous cramps though ... they weren't like normal period cramps they were coming in waves and going to peaks then trailing off, basically like a contraction :(

Really hope everything went ok for you xx


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