Out of the available options to end a pregnancy, abortion pills top the chart especially if it is about an early conception. What makes the medication method preferable to a surgical one – there are more reasons than just one, starting from cost-effectiveness, high success rate, being non-invasive, freedom of choice, and control over the entire procedure. The medicine also gives you a way to tackle the unplanned pregnancy in privacy and at home. This means no need for anesthesia and in-clinic process, or visiting elsewhere to obtain healthcare. You can order Mifepristone and Misoprostol online, and use the medicines according to the dosage guidelines for emptying your uterus. In this blog, we will take you through the effectiveness of Mifepristone and Misoprostol pills and why the combination is preferred to cause a medical abortion, in detail.
What Are Mifepristone and Misoprostol Pills?
Today, abortion pills are available under various brands and generic versions. However, the primary medications popular are Mifepristone and Misoprostol pills. Mifepristone is also available as RU486 and Mifeprex, while Misoprostol as Cytolog, Cytotec, etc. Mifepristone is an anti-progesterone medicine, which causes suppression of the progesterone hormone. Thus, it can detach the pregnancy portions from the uterine wall and prepare you for easy abortion in the next step. Since the pregnancy does not progress further due to de-implantation, here is when Misoprostol pills come to work. They are prostaglandin E1 analogs, usually used in childbirth for cervical dilation.
However, in medical abortion, it does more than just dilate your cervix. Misoprostol also causes uterine contractions so that the leftover in the uterus can pass out and exit from the vagina. The process involves abdominal cramps and pain because of the womb contractions. Then as the conception products exit, heavy vaginal bleeding begins. However, this is not a reason to worry but an expected outcome of medication pregnancy termination. The pregnancy tissues, the sac, the fetus, the endometrial lining, and other uterine pregnancies related to pregnancy, all get out of the body.
How Many Abortion Pills Do You Need?
Now, you may ask – exactly how many abortion pills do you need to cause a successful pregnancy termination? So, for pregnancy within the first 6 weeks, only one 200mg Mifepristone and 4 Misoprostol 200mcg pills are sufficient. For a pregnancy between 6 and 10 weeks, you may need two Mifepristone and 8 Misoprostol pills. For a pregnancy between 10 and 12 weeks, you may require 2-3 Mifepristone pills and 8 to 12 Misoprostol pills. You can always avail of Mifepristone and Misoprostol pills together in an MTP Kit (which contains only abortion pills) or an Abortion Pill Pack (which also contains pills for side effect control). Depending on your health and medical conditions the healthcare provider may decide the dosage format for you.
Is My Pregnancy Eligible for a Medical Abortion?
A good question to start with is, can you even use Mifepristone and Misoprostol pills to end your pregnancy? Let us drive into some facts. For medical abortion, your pregnancy should be less than the first 10 weeks, or a maximum of 12 weeks. Simultaneously, there should be no complications and the pregnancy should be within the uterus i.e. the implantation must happen within the uterus and not outside. For extrauterine pregnancy, you will have to involve a surgical termination. So, how do you check if you are pregnant or not and if you meet the criteria for medication abortion?
One of the ways to check for pregnancy is to go through a routine blood or urine test, which detects the presence of the pregnancy hormones – human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), estrogen, progesterone, relaxin, and oxytocin. Here the tests usually look for hCG and the presence means an implantation has occurred, but it does not tell if the pregnancy location is within the uterus or outside. Since the latter is an important aspect, you will have to undertake a uterine ultrasound scan. The scan will reveal details about the pregnancy’s progress, conditions, and the fetus’s location.
What is the Mifepristone Misoprostol Dosage Method?
Once you settle to take the abortion pills, begin with Mifepristone 200mg orally with water by swallowing the hard pill. Do not chew, powder, or break the medicine. Now wait for another 24 to 48 hours before initiating administration of Misoprostol pills. If you take 4 Misoprostol 200mcg pills, you can insert two each on both sides of the cheeks as a buccal route of consumption. Let the pills stay for 30 minutes and then ingest the melted contents orally with a sip of water. You can also push all four Misoprostol pills inside the vagina and lay down for half an hour so that the medicines melt and get into the vaginal wall and then absorbed into the bloodstream.
However, vaginal administration is fine if your pregnancy is less than 6 weeks. If it is over this duration, and less than 12 weeks, you may prefer buccal intake as otherwise, the abdominal cramps can get more severe and so the bleeding. You can expect common side effects such as nausea, tiredness, vomiting, abdominal cramps and pain, dizziness, etc. We recommend not drinking alcohol or taking any interacting medicines or substances to worsen the effects or cause any health issues. You can take pain-relief medicines for the cramps and antiemetic medicines for nausea and vomiting.
What Happens After Medical Abortion?
After a successful pregnancy termination by Mifepristone and Misoprostol pills, the bleeding will reduce but continue mildly or moderately for the next 3 to 4 weeks. The ovulation can begin as soon as 8 to 14 days of abortion, so always use birth control if you get sexually active in between. However, it is best to avoid inserting anything in the vagina including tampons, menstrual cups, etc. until the bleeding subsides. Wear sanitary napkins for the bleeding. Do not douche or clean inside the vagina just like that. You can recover quickly after the procedure by taking enough rest, eating nutritious meals, and not taking physical or mental stress. Do get a follow-up ultrasound scan of the whole abdomen after 2 weeks from the abortion to check if your uterus emptied properly.
To Conclude
Mifepristone and Misoprostol abortion pills function quite well in ending an early pregnancy. If you follow the dosage as indicated by a medical abortion professional for an eligible pregnancy, you will most probably always have a successful termination of the conception.