What Happens After You Receive Abortion Pills?

Choosing to get an abortion is never an easy decision. Once you decide to end a pregnancy, you likely experience a hurricane of different emotions along with questions about what to do next. If you’re choosing to get the abortion via pills, particularly as a first-timer, you may feel worried about how your body will respond, what’s normal and what isn’t, and how long the whole thing will take.

Thankfully, medical abortion is quite a predictable and simple process, with only a few things to remember. Not only that, the general timeline of this process is well established, even if the experience itself may vary from person to person. Keeping that in mind, let’s walk you through the entire abortion process and everything you should know about it.

How does the abortion pill process begin?

A medical abortion involves the use of two pills, taken in sequence. The first one, Mifepristone, works by blocking the progesterone hormone in our body – something that is necessary for a pregnancy to continue. Once this pill takes its effect, the lining of your uterus will begin to break down, and the pregnancy will stop developing. During this first-pill stage, you’ll likely not feel much different. There may be mild nausea, light bleeding, or fatigue, but nothing to worry about.

The second medicine, misoprostol, is usually taken 24 to 48 hours after the first pill. It works by causing the uterus to contract, shed its lining, and finally push out the pregnancy tissue. This is where you’ll feel the usual symptoms of an abortion. Within a few hours of taking the second pill, you’ll likely experience cramps similar to an intense period, coupled with more bleeding. These things may also be accompanied by a few passing clots, but that’s within expectations.

This process is largely the same, irrespective of whether you’re getting it in a clinic or have ordered the abortion pill online. The only difference is that, with the latter, your healthcare professional will assist you remotely, and you’ll be able to carry out the process in the comfort and privacy of your own home.

What symptoms are normal during a medical abortion?

The one thing you should know about medical abortion is that all its symptoms are expected and temporary. The two main signs you need to focus on are the cramping and bleeding that follow after taking the pills.

Cramping can range from just mild discomfort to quite strong when the uterus contracts and pushes the tissue out. If it’s too much to bear, you can counter these cramps with pain relief medications such as ibuprofen. As for bleeding, it will likely be heavier than a normal period and may also include clots. It will reach its peak 4 to 6 hours after taking misoprostol and will then taper off over the next few days. Alongside these symptoms, you may also experience nausea, chills, a mild fever, diarrhoea, and dizziness, but all of these should likely pass within a few hours.

There are still a few warning signs you need to look out for. If you’ve been soaking through several large pads every hour or multiple hours in a row, experience persistent high fever, or feel pain that doesn’t improve with medication, you need to seek help immediately. Even if something feels off, be sure to contact your pill provider or a trusted professional just to be sure. A bit of reassurance is always better than worry and dread.

What does recovery look like?

You’ll be surprised by how quickly your body recovers from this process once all the intense parts are over. When it comes to cramping, the more intense ones will likely fade in a couple of hours, but you may still experience some mild cramps for a day or two more. As for bleeding, though it will become lighter in just a few hours, it may continue for one or two more weeks. Not only that, but there may be a bit of light spotting for even longer as the uterus slowly returns to its normal state.

During the week of the abortion, it is important that you get ample rest, stay hydrated, and keep a check on your symptoms. You can return to your life almost immediately, but consider giving yourself a day or two to ease back into your everyday activities.

Your menstrual cycle will also return, but it may take around four to eight weeks after the abortion – though ovulation can occur even earlier than that. What that means is you can get pregnant again fairly soon if contraception is not used. Speaking of which, you should also give yourself two weeks before engaging in any sexual activities again.

Of course, recovery after a medical abortion is never just physical, and there is also the emotional side to address here. For some people, abortion brings with it a feeling of relief. For others, it can bring more mixed emotions – from calmness and closure to sadness or fatigue. Since your hormones are also in flux during this time, your mood and energy levels are temporarily affected. When you combine all this together, it is easy to see why people may feel drained and tired after the process. The best thing you can do during this period is to be kind to yourself. Take the time to rest, engage in things you enjoy, talk to someone you trust if needed, and just allow yourself to process things at your own pace.

The last part of recovery generally involves taking another pregnancy test three to four weeks after taking the pills. This is done by clinics and telemedicine providers to simply confirm that the abortion was successful and no further medical care is required.

Get the abortion pills without fear or doubt

The period leading up to taking the abortion pills, and what comes after, may feel full of uncertainty, especially if you don’t know what to expect. But as we’ve already established, this is a very simple process with a well-established pattern. The medication will stop your pregnancy, the uterus will empty itself through cramping and bleeding, and your body will slowly return to normal.

All that is to say, medical abortion is a safe procedure to go through when access is through legitimate healthcare providers. With the right preparation and help when needed, you’ll be sure to come out of it healthy and safe.

The post What Happens After You Receive Abortion Pills? appeared first on The Hype Magazine.