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Let me begin by letting everyone know I had a panic attack the day I found out I was going to have to do this. I was incredibly scared of not knowing what to expect. Then I read the stories of those who had done this and became 10 times more freaked. I even had to call my care provided be rea__sured I wouldn't die from this. I even went as far as asking her if she felt it was necessary to be admitted to the hospital. She rea__sured me and said it was safe so here starts my story. First, I made sure I had someone here with me so I called my mom (I'm 26). I took 800 mg of Motrin at 6:30 AM on Nov. 28th and I began my 1st dose of cytotec at 7:30 AM. I had to place 4 200 mcg tablets into my v____a. At 10:30 AM, I began to feel minor period cramping with a small amt. of brownish blood. I pa__sed 2 dime sized clots. Then an 11:30 AM major cramping began. Out of 10, I'd say they were about a 6. I took one Lortab 5mg and 45 mins. later the cramping was relieved. I kept taking the Lortab every 3-4 hours to ensure the cramping would stay minimized. I was able to eat a 12 inch sub sandwich, a bag of chips, and drink soda during the entire process. I NEVER got diarrhea nor did I spike a temp. I did vomit once just a little but I think that was b/c of the additional Motrin I took with the Lortab doses. (The midwife told me to take Motrin 800 mg every 8 hours....I don't recommend this...I know that is why I became pukey...). I remained comfortable all day and would sometimes forget that I was inducing an abortion. I NEVER saturated a maxi pad. I changed them about every 2 hours just for cleanliness sake. If I was not concerned about being hygienic, I probably could have worn the same pad for about 6 or 8 hours. Around 7:30 PM I went to go check my bleeding and pee and I pa__sed a lemon sized sac. It was not painful, it just felt kinda weird. I was very relieved to know that this was over and I would not need a D&C. After I pa__sed the gestational sac, my bleeding picked up slightly. I took another Lortab around 11:30 PM and slept through the night. I woke up the next morning and I was feeling fine. No more need for any pain meds and my bleeding was minimal. It is now the 30th and I am still bleeding very slightly ( I could switch to wearing a panty liner vs. a maxi pad.). I am so incredibly thankful that my cytotec experience was not as unpleasant as I thought it was going to be. Knowing what I know now, I will not fear becoming pregnant again b/c I feel like I could take cytotec again if I had too. I would recommend getting your care provided to give u a prescription for Lortab 5mg. I would not have made it with out them. Those pills were my saving grace through this whole process. Having my mom here was also a MAJOR help. I know everyone's experiences are different, but if you are nervous please try not to be. Be strong, make sure you have someone supportive with you, and take Lortab every 3-4 hours. You will be okay and my prayers are with anyone who has to go through this.

Hi beth523, Can you tell me after you took the cytotec pills, how long do you bleed until you dont you any pad any more?

Hi Lnngirl, I am on day 19 ... (day 1-3 was when i took the cytotec) and it seems to be less now but still going. It takes time. It had been gradually getting less and less but then last Thursday & Friday suddenly it was like the first day again (large pieces of tissue - sorry if tmi) - they say this happens because your uterus is returning to normal size and if anything is left, it will push it out. I'm curious to know how long it lasted for anyone who has finished this sadly long process, so I too can know when it might finally end : ) I was at 12 wks but baby stopped at 7.

hi annaka, Did you took the pill by mouth or v____al? I took my pill v____al, My doc subscribe me 4 pills, 2 pills then 2 hours later 2 pills. The Doc think i should take by v____ally for faster to pa__s clots faster. I am about 5 days and still bleeding. Also putting the pills in early in the morning around 7 am so when the night come, you could get better sleep with the calming pain.

Hi Lnn, I took them v____ally, 4 pills once a day x 3 days. This was the treatment prescribed by the ER of a different hospital than my own. Yesterday I went for ultrasound and bloodwork at my regular doctor and there was still material in the uterus, the technician and radiologist were making some weird faces but basically said my doctor will evaluate along with bloodwork to see what's going on so i'm a bit nervous waiting for results. I hope everything is easier for you physically, just make sure they follow up with ultrasound some time in the next few weeks, I think I will have to get a D&C now (wish they would have done it in the first place). I;m not so sure about this cytotec stuff.

Sue, i am very sorry for your loss also. i read your post, and subsequent others, and i have to thank you all for your information...bc it led me to make a much more informed decision for my miscarriage. I was 6 weeks pregnant with a heartbeat, etc, and by 6.5 weeks there was no heartbeat anymore. this is my 3rd miscarriage in a row. my doctor said i should just do the D+C and get it over with. i was a wreck bc i had 2 previous D+Cs and they were traumatic. i say that bc i am very uncomfortable with needles and i was very upset with being injected with vallium and instantly having the room spin and i felt the cold liquid in my system and my ears rang and everyone sounded a mile away in the room. i just don't like to be out of mental control like that and i definitely didn't want to be put under general anesthesia when it wasn't necessary. So i convinced my doctor, and doula who was in the office with me, to try and miscarry as "naturally" as possible. they sent me home with 10 pills of cytotec and i started that medication immediately. that was monday. by tuesday i was cramping heavily and had slept very little. it was painful and drawn out and added to it i got diarrhea and even by thursday never any blood. i read everyone's post here and realized i could be looking at more pain plus 2 weeks of bleeding going this route. that could delay my desire to get back to health and try for a baby again as soon as possible! so i called my doctor and doula back and scheduled a D+C for friday. I explained to them how traumatic it was for me to be put under the usual sedation. in the end-i did the D+C, and i have to say, it was absolutely the most positive experience i could have possibly had despite having to cope with a miscarriage. my doctor usually gives patients btwn 35 and 50 units of vallium. for me, he started with 5! and slowly, a few minutes later, he gave me another 5 units--a total of 10. FAR below the normal amount. i felt very very little pain, the room never spun, no one felt a mile away in my ears, there was no cold rush of fluid i could feel in my veins, and it was painlessly finished within 10 minutes. i was up and walking around within 20 and healthy enough to host my cooking club dinner party with my girlfriends that night that i had the unfortunate timing on! but its been a full day later, i've had very little bleeding, no cramping or pain whatsoever, and i have the added bonus of sending the embryo off for genetic testing to help me going forward to make better fertility choices--i pray i never have to have another miscarriage again, and that no one else has to experience 3 in a row like this! but if it should happen again, i will do the D+C hands down. it was far less painful, and with almost no vallium, it was completely comfortable and bearable. My doctor was superb to listen to my fears and adjust his normal doses to give me very little vallium. it turned out to be the best decision i could have made. i hope this helps other women who have to make this decision. Good Luck to all of you faced with managing a miscarriage-and may you all move on to healthy pregnancies in the future!

Hi all, my miscarriage happened a few months ago and I am pretty much healed emotionally so I can now share my personal experience with cytotec. I was given cyctotec to soften the cervix before a D&C for a missed miscarriage at 12 weeks (fetal demise was at 11.5 weeks). I was told to use it at home and then rush to the hospital for a D&C once any spotting or staining started. At 7:00 PM I inserted four 200 mg pills interv____ally. My doctor had said that cytotec is very unpredictable and that I should be prepared for anything once I inserted them. I went to lay down on my bed, and within one hour I started to feel like I was getting my period. I called my doctor and he said that I should take whatever I take for period cramps plus more and that I should RUSH to the hospital the moment I saw any blood (since the hospital is 40 minutes away) and that I shouldn't eat anything or drink anything since he was going to perform the D&C with general anesthesia the moment I got to the hospital. I kept checking for staining but there was nothing. I fell asleep at 1:00 AM. Suddenly, at 3:00 AM, I felt the biggest gush of water. My water had broken. I had previously placed two towels underneath me but it still went through all the way. The moment that happened, I called my doctor all panicked. He told me to calm down, wrap myself in a towel, and get the hell over there and that he'd be waiting for me. (P.S. I love my Dr) My husband and my father drove me and it was the most surreal car ride of my life. I felt like I was in labor, like in the movies. Except it wasn't for a live birth, it was for a dead one :(. I was in pain the whole way there. But it wasn't TOO bad, it was just regular bad. On a scale of 1-10 it kept swinging between a 6 and a 2. When we got to the emergency room at 3:45, my towel was soaked in blood. The rest of the story is all peachy pie, everyone was so nice to me, I was taken to my doctor right away, and put to sleep for the D&C. My biggest fear was that I would pa__s the fetus in the car and be scarred from the memory for the rest of my life. Thank god that didn't happen. Bottom line, my experience was very positive. However, if my doctor wasn't amazing or the staff at the hospital wouldn't have been so nice, I think I would be saying something different. I guess if you're scared about being in the car when it happens, you could always insert the cytotec in the hospital and just sit in the waiting room and run to the emergency room once it kicks in. Cytotec vs. the lamera sticks (is that what they're called?) is a better bet if you ask me since it's less risky long term in terms of damage to the uterus. Hope this helps someone out there! Good luck and Im sorry you had to be reading this. P.S. The reason I opted for the cytotec is because I didnt want the sticks put inside me, and the reason why I opted for the D&C is because I wanted to expel everything as fast as possible so that I could TTC again as soon as possible. Had I just used the cytotec, there would have been a chance that some tissue got left behind, and that I would still need to schedule a D&C. The chance of that happening was not something I wanted, thats why I had the cytotec + a D&C.

I read this and it really helped me prepare for my own misoprostol-induced miscarriage, so I swore that I would write up my experience as well. I discovered a blighted ovum at about 8 weeks (counting from LMP). This was Jan. 3rd. The empty sac grew to about 2.5 centimeters with no evidence of an embryo inside. My dr. told me to wait 2-4 weeks for it to naturally miscarry but I really didn't want to wait that long. Plus I read online that blighted ova are much less likely to naturally miscarry. I had no signs of miscarriage at all. No spotting or cramping at this point (though I had spotting at around 6 weeks that just stopped after a few days). So 1.5 weeks later I decided to try misoprostol (Jan. 14th). They told me to take it at night and just go to sleep but I had heard it could be quite painful so I took it (800 mg - 4 pills by v____a) in the morning, around 11 am. I wanted this to take place while my Dr. was still in the office. I felt nothing for 3.5 hours and then I felt cramping pain (no bleeding). I had been given a narcotic, vicodan, for the pain but I didn't take it right away because i wanted to be able to monitor the true pain. I took ibuprofen only. Then in a matter of minutes I felt much much worse so I took the Vicodan. But I think it took some time to kick in because I just felt worse and worse and finally I was beside myself with pain. I couldn't keep still. I would use the toilet with diarrhea and rock back and forth in pain. Then just lie down on the floor in the bathroom and rock back and forth. It was so horrible that at one point I thought I just couldn't do it. It's the worst pain I've ever felt. My boyfriend was there but i couldn't handle him touching me. He just sat there and watched me while I writhed in pain. I had a little tiny bit of spotting but that's all. Possibly because I was mostly lying there on the floor and not sitting up. After about 45 min to 1 hour the vicodan kicked in fully and i was able to move to the couch and lay there, still very much in pain but calm enough to stop rocking. I fell asleep after a few minutes and woke up with more pain about 2 hours later. I took a second Vicodan and again felt better. If I had to do this again I would take the Vicodan RIGHT AWAY at the first sign of cramping. The pain I felt was excruciating until the Vicodan kicked in and then I was able to be still and take it. I took more Vicodan 3 hours after that (the pain was really starting to come back) and then the cramping subsided. However, the odd thing was that through all this I had a bit of bleeding but not a lot and no clots had come out. Around 11 pm at night I had a couple of big slabs come out. I say slabs because they were quite firm and unlike normal period clots. 1 X 3 inches or so and about 1/2 in or so thick but quite firm. I think I also saw a small grey shriveled sack. Very easy to miss -- all shriveled up it was about 1/2 the size of a small pea. That was it. Bleeding only after that, I went to the dr. 3 days later and they said it looked like a complete miscarriage, but i still had some lining left that she thought i would shed normally. She also did a pelvic exam and found some additional odd pieces of riggly material stuck in my cervix. She pulled it out. Then she tested my hcg which was about 1800. I continued to bleed a bit (not much). 11 days later my hcg levels were 17 so the Dr. thinks this is evidence that I really had a complete miscarriage. I had really doubted it that first day (night) because I had had so little bleeding during the day and just a couple of large clots came out 12 hours after taking the medicine (which seemed late to me). I was very demoralized and then the first read of the ultrasound was that it was incomplete because of the lining still present. But the dr. thought it was not POC and just normal lining and would come out naturally. I continued bleeding/spotting for about 2 weeks total, from the day of the medication. Anyway, I thought my experience was a bit unusual and might help people not worry if they experience something similar. Also, be sure to ask for a narcotic if they don't offer it. I don't know what I would have done without it. I would have gone to the ER for medication, but moving would have been horrible. Good luck to everyone. This forum helped me prepare for mine.

Hello, I was doing a search on this drug and are glad to have found this forum. Thank you all for sharing such intimate parts of your experiences and giving others the opportunity to hear what its like. Although miscarriage is so common, I never thought it would happen to me & here I am, have told the world how happy we were to find out we were pregnant, and now have found ourselves at what should be a pregnancy in its tenth week, a baby who I guess "died" at 6. Fair this is not. Anyhow, because we are to play the hand that we are dealt, please allow me to share my experience with you as I have the misopro.. Whatever.. Sitting here at my bedside. Its almost 1am and ive had the pills since yesterday. My boyfriend I it'd be better to take them tonight since I wouldn't have to work tomorrow, but after reading all of your stories, I think its best to wait until the morning so I can at least get some rest before this.... Event. Googling the drug all day has not benefitted me anywhere near as much as you all so I feel its only right to share my experience for females who go through this in the future. Although there are many mixed experiences, one things for sure- I guess I'm anticipating the pain.. U are all alive to talk about it so I guess I will be too. I will try to come back as often as possible to update, and although I'm not religious, I am spiritual, so if anyone feels me, please continue to infect all going through this with the utmost positive energy :-) thank you all for reading. "Alilscared"

hello again, just an update... I took the 4 pills v____ally this morning around 8am. It is now 12 hours later and nothing much has happened, just a little cramping and very light bleeding. Perhaps I may have to take the next dose. Hope it works.

Hello again, I guess I had no luck with this medication. There has been only slight bleeding and mild cramps. Perhaps Im just lucky not have had the pain?! I will go to my doctor this week and find out if I need the D&C or if things are moving along as they should, maybe just at a slower pace?

Hello again, I know it has been a while but I have not forgotten to come back. The medication did work/is working.. just slowly. a week after taking it, my blood test showed preg level at 15,000, a week later 5,000. I will go back again next week and hopefully it will be at 0. All Ive had is some extremely light bleeding and no other cramping past the initial two days. Maybe Im lucky, who knows. Thank you all for reading and good luck to anyone having to go through this. It may not be as bad as you think. "ALS"

Hello Sue. I'm so very sorry to read about your loss :( I agree with Alison about the doctor sending you home with pills to take and NOT admitting you into a hospital. UNREAL!!! Everything now-a-days is so rushed! Even when a woman has a c-section they give 2 days, maybe 3 for major surgery. When it's v____al it's the next day depending on the time. But when there's a m/c and there's meds involved and bleeding like you experienced...well I was horrified to read your being home during all of this. SHAME ON THE DOCTORS! Thankfully you're OK!!!!

Hi, ladies. Sorry for all of your losses. Just wanted to share my experience with cytotec as it was positive and I would repeat it if I had to. My husband played a huge role in the decision; if I hadn't had his support, there is no way I would do it again. We'd been ttc for over a year. We found out at 13 weeks that the baby had not grown since 7.5 and there had never been a heartbeat. I still felt incredibly pregnant and when I was offered a D&C, I wouldn't even consider it! I was afraid that I would always wonder if the US was wrong, if maybe the baby just needed a few more days, etc (not rational, but definitely pregnant thinking!). My husband supported the decision. 2 days later, cramping started and 4 days later, light bleeding (1 pantyliner/day). This continued for 2 weeks and was very uncomforable; I went back to the MD with full understanding that this pregnancy was not viable; I'd had 2 weeks to pray about it and deal with it on my own time. But waiting longer could have posed a threat of infection and the cramping would probably have gotten to the point where I wouldn't be able to work through it (we own a private practice PT clinic). I asked for Cytotec and he was surprised; he never perscribes it for home use but did it for me, telling me what to watch for, etc. Friday night, I inserted 4 pills v____ally at 11pm. At 2 pm, I woke up with a burning, twisting feeling right above my pubic bone and strong low back cramps. I took 2 of the pain pills he'd perscribed (hydrocodone/APAP) and walked VERY slowly on the treadmill for 20 minutes until they kicked in. Curling up or lying still seemed to make it worse. I was able to then go back to sleep for a full hour. The next morning, I got up to pee and some large clots came out and period-like bleeding started. I didn't see anything that looked like an embryo, so I repeated the dose the next evening and we curled up under the elecric blanket and watched a movie. When the cramps got bad, he held my hand tighter and got my pain medicine in between. It's like labor contractions, I imagine, the way they come & go. Then, I soaked thru the pad and had to get up and change. He got up to help me. When I wiped, the embryo was on the tissue. I cleaned up and went back to bed. Now I'm just bleeding lightly. No way would I have let someone else do that to me, no way would I have wanted to endure hospital waiting rooms, unfriendly strangers, and trying to hide tears from a waiting room full of people while waiting for a D&C. No way would I have wanted to have anyone "take" my baby from me, although I can understand how some women need to have it done as quickly as possible. I wanted it to happen with just my husband and I, just like I'd want a healthy birth to occur. No hospital lights, no strangers, no waiting rooms. We both agreed we'd do the same if we had it to do over again. Hope this helps for those not convinced they want a D&C. Prayers to all of those TTC!

I experienced a 9wk miscarriage/delivery of products of conception over the weekend and found much comfort from stories cited here. Many thanks to those willing to share. My experience with Cytotec wasn't horrible, and I hope to offer some depth of rea__surance for others following. Wednesday, I took 2 doses orally first, 6 hrs apart; after 24 hrs & no results besides menstrual cramping & intermittent nausea, I called my md. He advised taking one last dose intrav____ally on Friday. I administered them at 9:30 am, rested all day, had intermittent spotting, & by 7pm severe low back pain and abdominal cramping started. I went to the toilet and the first thing that fell was the embryo & tiny placenta. Intense cramping & bleeding continued all night, so much I couldn't sleep. I soaked my sheets in blood the couple of times I dozed off. While I'm still bleeding, I must admit it's tapered off immensely. I never had vomiting or diarrhea. Again, my experience wasn't as bad as I'd prepared myself. Certainly no one wants to deal with losing a baby & the death of dreams for a sweet unknown. I can't seem to stop crying for very long; I agonize not knowing who my baby would have been. But if I had to deal with this circ_mstance again, I most likely would choose Cytotec. My suggestion is thorough consultation/communication with your provider. I have ultimate faith in my fantastic md; hopefully anyone reading this will as well. Much good will and many blessings to anyone experiencing loss of a baby, regardless of gestational age.

Hi again ladies it's Beth again (seem my previous post on Nov. 30th, 2007). I know its hard to believe BUT in Jan I found out I was pregnant again and then on Feb 28th discovered there was no heartbeat...again (this time I was 9/12 weeks). I was given the option of cytotec OR the D&C. However, I was warned that since I was further along it might be more painful than last time if I chose cytotec. Well just so yall know why I have such an aversion to the D& C is b/c I have a major fear of being 'put under'. So once again opted for cytotec. I felt like I knew what I was up against since I had done cytotec before. And here is my story. I got up at 7am and inserted 3 tablets (600 MCG) v____ally and waited. Around 11:00 I began to notice mild cramping so I took a Lortab (5MG) around 11:30 I ate a sandwich and was still having cramps that were becoming more intense. A little after 12:00 the cramps were probably 6/10 every 3-7 minutes. I began to worry b/c the pain medication was not working as well as it did last time. I also noticed that this time I wasn't bleeding as much as I did last time. I walked around the house trying to stir something up. Then around 2:30 I pa__sed a ma__sive blob of tissue and instantly felt 100% better. I can only a__sume the pain was a bit worse b/c I was further along. At 4:30 I put 2 more tablets (400 mcg) v____ally. It is now 7:00 and I feel fine! Not even coming remotely close to saturating a pad/hour and have not had a single bout of diarrhea. I think the vomiting and diarrhea most women have is b/c they took the pills orally...but i don't know that for sure. Again, I know everyone will have different experience. BUT the 2 times i have done cytotec everything went fine and I am so happy that I did not need surgery. Best decision I ever made. I hope this helps any other women out there who are also afraid of being 'put under'. God forbid I have to do this a 3rd time, but if I did I would do cytotec again before ever considering a D&C. I know this is a personal choice and this is my view: I would rather have mild to moderate cramping and some bleeding for a few hours than I would being put under and having surgery (simply b/c I greatly fear not waking up). BUT if you don't have this fear, are okay with surgery, and have lower pain tolerance go with the D&C. Love to all that must endure this horrible experience. Beth