Welcome to the Abortion Pill Doctor
Welcome to the Abortion pill resource. We are here to help you!
ABORTION PILL - Your Questions and Our Answers
Welcome to the Abortion Pill Doctor website associated with the Family Planning association.
What is the abortion pill? The abortion pill is a medicine that ends a pregnancy. The medical name for the abortion pill is mifepristone. It works by blocking the hormone progesterone. Without progesterone, the lining of the uterus breaks down and the pregnancy cannot continue. The abortion pill is followed by another medicine called misoprostol which makes the womb contract, causing cramping and bleeding similar to a miscarriage. First appointment A Family Planning healthcare professional will give you the abortion pill (mifepristone) to swallow when you are in the clinic. If your blood group is Rhesus-negative you will have an Anti-D injection. You may then leave the clinic. Most women are able to carry on their usual lives at home or work, but you may have some bleeding and period-like pains. It is unlikely that the abortion will happen after taking the first pill. However, this can happen occasionally. If you think you may have miscarried after taking the first pill it is likely we will do another ultrasound scan at your next visit. You may have nausea or vomiting. If you vomit within one and a half hours of taking the pill, please inform the clinic as soon as possible, as the tablet may not have been absorbed. Second appointment You will return to the clinic anywhere from 1 to 2 days up to 3 days later. At this visit, misoprostol tablets are placed in the vagina. You can place the tablets yourself or have a healthcare professional place them. You can put these tablets in while lying down, squatting, or standing with one leg up - whatever is most comfortable for you. Try to insert them as high up into your vagina as possible. Don’t worry too much about the exact position of the tablets in the vagina; it is not important for them to be in a specific place to be effective. Or alternatively , the Misoprostol tablets can be taken orally upto 4 tablets maximum. It works equally well. You will be given some antibiotics to take, pain medicine with instructions for use and advice on how to care for yourself. Aftercare Line is also available to you at anytime, 7 days a week on 00919821150889 The misoprostol tablets will cause you to have cramps and bleed heavily. This usually starts about 2 hours after using the misoprostol, but may start sooner. Bleeding and cramping usually last a few hours. You may see large blood clots or tissue at the time of the abortion and you will probably need pain medicine. There is more information on pain control below. Most women pass the pregnancy within 4 or 5 hours after taking the misoprostol. For others it can be quicker or take longer. Almost all women miscarry within a few days. It’s different for every woman. Here are some comments from women who have had the abortion pill: “It felt like really bad period cramps. It was bearable and the pain did pass. I used a hot water bottle which really helped.” “The abortion pill wasn’t as easy as I thought. The pain was quite intense for me.” It’s normal to have some bleeding or spotting for up to 4 weeks after the abortion. You should use sanitary pads as it makes it easier to keep track of your bleeding. Follow-up appointment The abortion pill is very effective, but it is still very important to have a follow-up appointment to make sure it has worked. Misoprostol may cause serious birth defects if the pregnancy continues. If the abortion pill does not work for you, we would recommend a surgical abortion to end the pregnancy. Your follow-up appointment may be 1-2 weeks later in person or 3 weeks later by phone. You will also receive a pregnancy test with instructions on how to use it. If you cannot return for a check up in person, do the test 3 weeks after the treatment. If the test is positive you must immediately call the Family Planning clinic. We do a routine Ultrasonography of the uterus at the end of 2-3 weeks to confirm that the abortion process is complete. Side effects For most women, medical abortion is like an early miscarriage. It is normal for you to have bleeding and cramping. You might also:
Important! Serious complications may have warning signs. Contact the Family Planning clinic straight away if you have:
Breastfeeding during medical abortion If you are breastfeeding at the time of your abortion, please be aware that mifepristone will pass into the breast milk. Studies so far do not show that this causes any problem for the infant. However, if you want to be cautious you can suspend breastfeeding for 2 days after taking the abortion pill. A little bit of misoprostol will be present in breast milk after you take it. If you are breastfeeding, the misoprostol may rarely cause your infant to have diarrhoea. To reduce any risk you can choose to wait 6 hours between using the misoprostol and breastfeeding. Please let us know if you are breastfeeding so we can work out the best plan together. Pain control After a medical abortion, most women will have strong cramping, similar to period pains. There are many ways to lessen the pain:
You can buy ibuprofen tablets in either 200mg or 400mg strengths and paracetamol 500mg tablets at your local pharmacy. A bpas healthcare professional will also offer you codeine 30mg, prescribed by one of our doctors, to take home. Codeine 30mg is only available with a prescription. Some products that you can buy at the pharmacy have lower doses of codeine combined with either ibuprofen or paracetamol. However, they will not give you the same amount of pain relief as the codeine we provide. How to use these medicines Ibuprofen and paracetamol are for mild to moderate pain. Codeine is for moderate to severe pain. You can start with ibuprofen and paracetamol, adding codeine when you need stronger pain relief. Or, you can just start with codeine. It’s up to you. You can also alternate the medicines depending on how you feel. What dose you should take and how often you can take it Please remember, there are 2 strengths of ibuprofen tablets. Follow the directions that are correct for the strength that you buy: Ibuprofen (200mg): take 3 or 4 tablets by mouth every 8 hours as needed. Do not take more than 12 tablets in 24 hours. Or Ibuprofen (400mg): take 1 or 2 tablets by mouth every 8 hours as needed. Do not take more than 6 tablets in 24 hours. As well as ibuprofen you can also take: Paracetamol (500mg): take 2 tablets by mouth every 4 hours as needed. Do not take more than 8 tablets in 24 hours. Codeine (30mg): take 1 or 2 tablets by mouth every 4 hours as needed. Do not take more than 8 tablets in 24 hours. Please note: Do not drive or operate machinery when taking codeine. Risks and complications of the abortion pill before 9 weeks Significant, unavoidable or frequently occurring risks: These are usually easy to treat and rarely have any long-term health effects. Unpredictable time to complete the procedure (variable) Side effects of drugs such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, headache, dizziness, fever/chills (common) Retained products of conception - where the pregnancy has been successfully ended but some of the pregnancy tissue is left behind in the womb (1 in 100) Infection (1 in 2,000 may be higher) Unpredictable, irregular or prolonged bleeding after the abortion (variable) Pain during the procedure (common) These may require transfer to hospital or surgical procedures, and may have serious long-term health effects. Psychological problems (variable) Continuing pregnancy (1 in 100) Haemorrhage - very heavy bleeding (1 in 800) Undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy (1 in 7,000) Death (less than 1 in 100,000) Extra procedures which may be necessary Surgical abortion or uterine aspiration Blood transfusion Laparoscopy or laparotomy - operation to look inside the abdomen Hysterectomy - surgical removal of the womb (1 in 15,000) Abortion Pill Payment |
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Woman and Emergency Contraceptives
Emergency contraception (pill, "the next morning," emergency contraception) may be safe and effective method for permanent contraception. At least, this group of scientists said. At this point, based on levonorgestrel tablets (eg, drugs, and Postinor Eskapel) are used only as an emergency tool for respectively 72 and 96 hours after unprotected sex.Experts have traditionally recommended that women do not abuse this method, and not rely on it as a primary means of contraception.
A new report published in the journal «Obstetrics and Gynecology», based on a review of earlier studies of levonorgestrel - a synthetic hormone that is used in emergency contraception pill (Postinor, Eskapel, Plan B). The researchers found that emergency contraception prevents pregnancy with no less reliable as condoms and spermicides. However, the study has not been direct comparisons with the various means of contraception. If women took the pill for emergency contraception after each episode of sex, the probability of pregnancy during the year amounted to 5% of them.For comparison, if the woman's partner used a condom, then the average probability of pregnancy during the year was 16%. However, emergency contraception after intercourse - it is much less efficient method compared with other routine hormonal agents, such as birth control pills or patches. This is emphasized in an interview with Dr. Deborah Nukatola of the organization "Planned Parenthood of America," which did not participate in the study. However, although the effectiveness of these pills is lower than that of other hormonal methods, some women may still prefer to emergency contraception after each sexual act, instead of daily hormonal pills. For example, according to Nukatoly, this method may be attractive to women, who rarely have sex. Total researchers analyzed 15 studies, which were attended by at least 8400 women and, where there were 267 pregnancies. In most studies, women taking levonorgestrel only as a one-time emergency contraception.The most common side effect was irregular vaginal bleeding after admission, which occurred in about two of 9-10 women. Most women did not consider irregular bleeding excuse for not taking the drugs with levonorgestrel. "Almost 70% of women believed the drug is quite acceptable, even if they do occur changes in the menstrual cycle" - tells Nukatola. The action of levonorgestrel - a cessation of ovulation, the same thing happens when you receive regular birth control pills. A new study shows that in Africa and Asia, some women used drugs with levonorgestrel as a permanent contraceptive method, not as emergency contraception. Well Women Clinic - Pregnancy and Abortion helpline |
Birth Control Pills and Heart Disease
Earlier studies have shown that the combined pill (containing estrogen and progestin) can increase the risk of heart attacks in women who are predisposed to heart disease. However, a recent study showed that there was no link between heart attacks and taking the so-called "mini-pill" - pills that contain only progestin, according to Reuters.
Mini-pill - a contraceptive pill, which are produced under such brands as Mikronon and Ovret. They contain the hormone progestin, but do not contain estrogen, which is part of a more traditional, combined contraceptive pills. There are other hormonal methods of contraception, based on only a progestin, for example, these include the contraceptive implant and contraceptive injections. Scientists suggest that these studies on the mini-pill also apply to these methods of contraception. "I believe that the absence of increased risk of heart attack is very encouraging," - said Dr. Krisandra Shafelt of the Women's Heart Center, United States, which did not participate in this study. In the world of millions of women who use contraception on the basis of progestin. The combined contraceptive containing progestin and estrogen, which comes in the form of pills or patches are much more popular and its efficiency is higher. However, debate continues about the safety of the combined contraceptive Shafelt notes. For example, two reviews of studies have shown that among women taking the combined contraceptive pill, the risk of a heart attack two times higher than among women who did not use contraception. However, this risk is not very noticeable - among the one million healthy women younger than 35 years, no more than two experiencing a heart attack. So even an increased risk of heart attack in half means attacks in four women in a million. Despite this, women with an increased risk of heart disease, including many smokers, or those suffering from high blood pressure, combined pills are contraindicated. New evidence suggests that such women may enjoy the mini-pill or other methods based on only progestin, said Dr. Genevieve plu-Office, who led the study. "If a woman has no cardiovascular risk factors, I do not think they should go to other means" - said in an interview with plu-Office, which works in a hospital in Paris. In the new study, whose results were published in the medical journal «Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism», were analyzed six previous studies on risk factors of heart attacks in women taking pills, based on only a progestin. The studies involved a total of 1,800 women aged 16 to 44 years who received hormonal contraception, and that compared with women who did not take hormones. However, the findings of the study is not definitive because the number of women was relatively small and are not divided into groups according to the dose of the hormone progestin, and a variety of tablets. Mini-pill - the pill, which is somewhat less effective than combination therapy. However, they are usually cheaper and have fewer contraindications, including, they can be taken for women who breastfeed. |