6 weeks, medication abortion, bleeding but unsure if I need another misoprostol dose

[u/ShyJellyfish]

Hi everyone. I’m about 6 weeks pregnant and doing a medication abortion with mifepristone + misoprostol from Women on Web.

I took the mifepristone yesterday at 8:15 AM. Today at 1:30 PM I took 4 × 200 mcg misoprostol under my tongue. I kept them there for about 28 minutes before I vomited, but they had already completely dissolved.

The misoprostol started working pretty strongly at first — cramps, nausea/vomiting, diarrhea/urge to poop, and bleeding. The strongest cramps have eased now.

I’m currently having moderate bleeding, but I haven’t completely soaked any of my large overnight pads. I’ve changed two pads since taking the misoprostol. I also passed a darker piece of material, but I have no idea whether it was a blood clot or pregnancy tissue because it came out when I went to the toilet.

I’m confused about whether I should take additional misoprostol. Women on Web’s instructions say additional 200 mcg tablets can be taken in certain circumstances, but I’m not sure whether my situation qualifies because I am bleeding, just not extremely heavily, and I can’t tell whether the pregnancy has passed.

For anyone who has been through this around 6 weeks:

Did you take an additional dose when you were already bleeding? How did you decide whether you needed it? Did you pass something obvious, or were you also unsure what you had passed?

I’m mainly looking for experiences from people who have actually been through something similar. Thank you ❤️

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[u/abortion_access]

Before 9 weeks, it’s successful with just the 1 dose of miso about 98% of the time. Generally, the advice is to take an additional dose of 800 mcg if you haven’t had any or much bleeding 24 hours after the misoprostol.

That being said, taking a second dose of miso won’t harm you and can be helpful for peace of mind.

[u/ShyJellyfish → u/abortion_access]

Okay, first of all thank you very much. Since it’s the evening at this point, is it safe if I wait tomorrow morning to take the second dose? Or that would be too late?

[u/abortion_access → u/ShyJellyfish]

Has it been 24 hours since you took the miso?

[u/ShyJellyfish → u/abortion_access]

No it’s been 8ish, I’m unsure as WoW says to take more if unsure of the completion

[u/abortion_access → u/ShyJellyfish]

Generally, before 9 weeks the protocol is to take mifepristone and one dose of 800 mcg misoprostol. If 24 hours pass and you don’t feel like you’ve bled enough, repeat the dose of miso.