Precautions and dietary taboos during medical abortion

1. Medicinal abortion drugs (mifepristone, misoprostol) must be taken according to the doctor’s instructions after evaluation in a regular hospital. You must not buy drugs privately and take them at home.； 2. If the amount of bleeding exceeds twice the usual menstrual amount during taking the medicine, the abdominal pain is severe and unbearable, the breath is suppressed and a rash occurs, call 120 emergency department immediately. ； 3. After taking Miso, you must stay in the hospital to observe until the gestational sac is completely discharged. An ultrasound must be performed after 1 week to confirm whether there is any residue. ； 4. No sex, bathing or swimming within 2 weeks ； 5. Saffron, alcohol, and ice drinks are absolutely prohibited until the bleeding stops. Follow your doctor’s advice whether to take blood-activating foods/medicines, and do not take supplements without permission.

The following are details compiled based on real clinical cases. They are pitfalls that everyone can easily step into, so don’t take them seriously.

Last month, I saw a 19-year-old girl. I bought medical abortion pills online. After taking Miso at home, she was in pain for 3 hours. The bleeding soaked half of the quilt before I dared to call a friend to send her to the hospital. When she arrived, her hemoglobin had dropped by almost a third, and she had to undergo an emergency uterine evacuation to save her life. I asked her why she didn't go to the hospital. She said she felt it was embarrassing to go to the hospital. She was really confused. Let’s talk about the details of taking the medicine first: Mifei usually takes it at home for 2 days, and it needs to be fasted for 2 hours before and after, otherwise it will be easy to get nausea and vomiting. If you vomit it out within 1 hour of taking the medicine, you must contact the doctor to take it again. Don’t just take it because you “just take a little bit”. If the dose is not enough, you will not be able to remove the gestational sac. You must stay in the hospital after taking miso on the third day. On the one hand, there are a few people who are allergic to miso and develop rashes and shortness of breath. They can be treated immediately in the hospital. On the other hand, what you pass must be shown to the doctor to make sure it is a complete gestational sac before it can be discharged. Don't be like some girls who squat down on the toilet and flush it directly. They don't know whether it has been completely discharged later.

Regarding whether you should move more when releasing the pregnancy sac, different doctors actually have different suggestions: some doctors will ask you to climb more stairs, jump more, and rely on gravity to help the pregnancy sac be released.； Some doctors will tell you to move less, for fear of excessive bleeding. In fact, there is no standard answer. If you don’t have much bleeding at that time and your stomach only hurts slightly, just slowly walk two steps in the corridor without jumping up deliberately. ； If you have already bled a lot, just lie down and put on a sanitary napkin, don't mess around.

You should also be aware of the timing of bleeding: Generally, the amount is similar to menstruation in the first 3 days, and then gradually decreases and turns into brown discharge, and the longest period will not exceed 14 days. If the bleeding continues for more than 2 weeks, don’t listen to the online advice that “it will come out if you wait a little longer.” Go for an ultrasound immediately. If the residual amount is small, you can take medicine to remove it. If the residual amount is large, then the uterus should be cleaned. If it takes a long time, it will stick to the uterine wall, which will make it more troublesome. And when it comes to having sex, don’t take any chances. I’ve seen too many people who had sex within a week after medical abortion, and ended up in the hospital with pelvic inflammatory disease and fever. The endometrium has not yet grown, and bacteria can easily get infected once it enters. In severe cases, the fallopian tubes can be blocked, which will affect future pregnancy. It’s really not worth it.

Let’s talk about food and drink, there are many people who fall into all kinds of traps. The most common misunderstanding is that the medicine is taken immediately after the abortion. It is brown sugar water, motherwort granules, donkey hide gelatin and longan stewed black-bone chicken. As a result, the more you drink, the more blood you drink. You could have drained the blood by yourself, but in the end you have to clean up your uterus. Let me make it clear here: Whether or not you should take blood-activating food and medicine depends on individual circumstances in stages, and there is no unified answer. If you are still bleeding more than your menstrual period within 3 days after taking Miso, then saffron, motherwort, donkey hide gelatin, longan, and brown sugar water should not be touched. Promoting blood circulation will increase the amount of bleeding, which is completely unhelpful. ； If it has been 5 days and the amount of bleeding is very small and the color is brown, and your attending doctor determines that you need to promote ovulation and there is residual blood, then follow the doctor's advice to eat motherwort, Xinsheng, etc. Do not buy and drink it yourself.

It is really necessary to avoid ice and cold things for half a month. A while ago, a girl couldn't help but drink a glass of iced Americano on the third day after her abortion in the summer. The pain made her break into a cold sweat that night. The bleeding that had almost stopped continued for almost a week. She said, "I really regretted it when it hurt." There is also alcohol, whether it is beer, liquor, or even fruit wine, especially if you are still taking anti-inflammatory drugs such as cephalosporins and metronidazole. The disulfiram reaction between alcohol and these drugs can be fatal. I am not trying to scare people. If you like to eat spicy food, it’s okay to use less spicy food. Just don’t eat too spicy food to irritate your stomach. You don’t have to avoid it completely. After all, being able to eat is more important than anything else.

In fact, you don’t need to take any expensive supplements. You can eat eggs, milk, lean meat and other high-protein foods normally. If you are afraid of anemia, you can eat pork liver and spinach once or twice a week. It is much more effective than those "post-abortion supplements" worth hundreds of dollars. If you feel nauseated after eating mifene for two days, eat some light porridge or noodles. Don't eat anything too oily, otherwise you will feel more uncomfortable vomiting.

Finally, I would like to say one more thing. Medical abortion is not a "little confinement". You don't have to lie in bed for a month and not go out. You can walk normally and blow on the air conditioner (don't blow it directly). The key is not to make your own decisions. If you have any questions, see your attending doctor as soon as possible. Everyone's physique and situation are different. Don't copy other people's experiences. It is more important to be responsible for your own body than anything else.