Missed m/c, cytotec, d&c....

madiegirl83

I know I have been a little absent from this board for a few days... I have been trying to deal with a lot of different things lately.  Anyway, I went to the doctor again today for another follow-up.  He confirmed once again that this is a missed misscarriage, (which I also had confirmed yesterday with a second opinion at my old OB).  We have been waiting 3 weeks now for things to happen naturally, but it just hasn't.  I should be 10 weeks, but the sac is measuring 6, I found out in week 7.  So the doc has prescribed Cytotec and then we go back Wed to check things out and if it doesn't work we will do a D&C next friday.  So I would love some advice...

Who has taken cytotec?  How long after you took it did it go into effect? How bad were the cramps?  Did it actually work for you and get everything out?  Did you have to end up with a D&C anyway? And did he prescribe it orally or vaginally?  Just looking for what happened in other peoples experiences... I know it's different for everyone, but I'm just looking for experiences.  Thanks in advance!! 

tonesq

I took cytotek yesterday. Before you take it, google it and read as many stories as possible. I was not prepared for the excruciating pain or the emotional trauma. Some women can manage their pain easily on cytotek. While I have a high pain tolerance, I felt like I had been given pitocin the pain was so bad. I felt like there were three levels of pain. It started out like menstrual cramps. Then it got so bad that I was crying out for god, my dh, anybody to stop the pain. After that the pain was so bad I could not move or speak. My doctor gave me 330mg of Tylenol with codeine for pain. I doubled up on doses which eventually eased up the pain. I took the cytotek at 5 pm. The pain started to ease up around 2 am, but right now I am still in some pain. My sac came out in tact. The sac is not bloody like you may expect. It is grayish white. I lost it because it fell in the toilet. This happened at about 6:30 pm. Around 11 pm, I passed what I believe to be afterbirth, but not as much as a full term birth. From what I have read online, I did not bleed as much as many women do, but from about 11 pm to 1 am I was constantly running to the bathroom to pass big clots. You may need to push a little to get some out. And some were as long as a foot long. This scared me because I was standing up and it was just hanging, but I could not get it out. In retrospect, I would still take it, but I would have liked to have been more prepared. I should be 13 weeks pregnant. We waited almost 2 weeks to miscarry naturally and then I could not wait any longer. Sorry this is tmi, but I felt really unprepared once everything started and it went faster than my midwife told me it would.

tonesq

Sorry for the formatting. My iPad did that. I took it vaginally. If you are told to moisten it, be careful because the pills start to crumble right away and you need to insert them as high as possible for higher chances of success.

Mejin215

I have went through the same exact scenarios that you have went through.  You sound like me to a T.  I started out with a missed m/c on the 7th.  My dr recommended Cytotec over the D&C b.c she said it is highly effective.  I went in on monday the 10th and she gave it to my rectally (sp?).  She said that you could bleed it out vaginally.  Not even 20 mins later I started getting cramps and bleeding but they were not that bad.  They stopped that night.  I went back on Thursday the 13th and got another dose rectally.  Again same thing happened.  I am scheduled for a D&C tomorrow morning and I am so ready for it.  I started M/C on my own a week ago today.  I have never been in so much pain in my life.  I have been taking 800mg of ibuprofen plus percocet.  I have been having contractions.  I have been back to the dr 3 times since thursday and the sac is still there but looks different each time.  I was like how much do I have to pass and bleed before it is all gone.  I feel like I have bled to death already.  So tomorrow is my D&C at 7:30am.  If I did it all over again which I pray I never have to I will go straight to the D&C!  It has been a very long 3 weeks.  Good luck to you.

UOduckBride2be

OK, so I totally agree with the pp's account of the experience with a few things you should note.  After 4 MCs I believe that the amount of cramping and pain directly correlates to how far along you are.  She was 13 weeks along and it sounds like her experience was just about that much more intense than mine.  My stats were very close to yours for my missed MC last April for which I took misoprostal orally, (this time I took it vaginally which seems to be faster and more effective).  I took the initial dosage of the drug, had some mild cramping and spotting, but no MC.  I took another dose and stayed home from work for a week, and still didn't have too much to talk about.  Finally I had intense cramping for about 4 hours and passed clots, and it seemed like the worst was over.  I got up the next morning and decided to go to work, (Tuesday; I had initially taken the miso 11days prior).  I went to work where I passed the sac fully intact.  I had been instructed by my dr. to collect as much as I could and bring it in so that they could do testing and possibly give me some answers.

This is going to sound harsh ***WARNING GRAPHIC***but this is my take on it.  If I have another missed MC where the time between fetal demise and the time I pass the sac is more than a week, I will not fish the sac out of the toilet and rush it to the DR. for testing.  It was VERY traumatic to do this and I did it with the idea that the silver lining would be that I would get some answers, discover the gender (so that we could name him/her) and get some closure.  It turns out that even before we knew the baby had died it was probably already starting the process of decomposing so to speak inside the sac.  Three weeks had passed between the time that it appears the baby stopped growing and when I passed the sac and the dr told me later that even though the sac was completely intact and the size of an orange, that there was not enough genetic marterial inside for testing.  I was beyond pissed.  I would never have put myself through that if I had any idea that would be the case. 

Bottom line though is that I would take the miso again knowing what I know.  I think enduring a natural MC is better than running the risk of potential scarring from a D&C, (just my opinion).  I am miscarrying again right now and sending this from my office.  I took the meds on Friday night and then again on Sat night.  I had some light spotting on Sat, but things really reved up yesterday.  I don't think I have seen the worst of it, but I was not nearly as far along this time when the baby actually stopped growing so I doubt it will be as intense.  It sucks being at work, but you just have to have a gameplan for if cramping gets serious that someone can pick you up and take you home, (that's just me though).  This is my 4th, so I am a little more numb to it all.

I am very sorry for your loss, hang in there!

madiegirl83

Thank you all for all the advice and experiences.  And I am so sorry for all your losses!!  My doc has prescribed me to insert 3 tabs vaginally on Sunday night, and then 3 more vaginally 12 hrs later.  He has also prescribed Lortab for pain.  I pray I pass it on my own from the Cytotec so I don't have to end up having a D&C anyway...  Thank you guys again, and my thoughts and prayers are with all of you, all of us as we have to endure this...

AustinBride06

TMI alert

I took it Friday night... was 8w3d at the time, baby was measuring 7w5d with no heartbeat the day before.  Took the dose around 10:30pm, put on a pad and went straight to bed..  4am or so I woke up with cramps (felt like bad menstrual cramps) and feeling like I had to have a loose BM (a common side affect apparently).  Spent about 45 min in the bathroom... passed some mucus, tiny clots, blood, and loose BM... then went back to bed, still crampy and wanting to curl up in a ball.  But I was able to go back to sleep.  The next day was still crampy (not quite as bad) and I passed the perfectly intact sac around 11am.  Crampiness gradually subsided over the next two days and I was able to go out and do some retail therapy that afternoon.  Occasionally a few bigger clots passed.  On monday I took the sac in a ziplock bag to my doctor's office and they tested it to make sure it was embryonic tissue (it was) and not a molar pregnancy or something else.  I'm on day 5 of bleeding, but it's down to light/spotting now.  I have a f/u appt with my doctor on Tuesday morning for bloodwork and an ultrasound to make sure I passed everything I needed to.