Tuesday, August 07, 2007

More about the subject m/c : MISCARRIAGE

I thought I'd surf the web to find out more about what I just went through and perhaps find some suggestions as how to move on after this experience. Found some good websites regarding the subject matter. I attached here some snapshots about it, unless you have gone through it, I guess you never bothered to find out more about it.
This is something from http://www.questdiagnostics.com:
I am, oops I mean I was in my 4-5th week of conception, so it's the very early stage in the 1st trimester. My Dr. concluded that I do not require D&C. Even though I have heard the negative effects of D&C, I do have a little ningling doubt whether my miscarriage is complete and my uterus is utterly clean. After reading through this article, I feel confident that I'm ok.
Have a read through... could be useful to you one day, I mean not that I'm wishing you go through what I did, at least you have some information should a close friend or a relative is going through a m/c.
What is a miscarriage?

A miscarriage is the loss of a pregnancy during the first 20 weeks. (After 20 weeks, pregnancy loss is known as a stillbirth.)

The natural miscarriage process can take days to weeks. Common signs of a miscarriage can include vaginal bleeding; pain in the abdomen, lower back, or pelvis; or passing fetal tissue from the vagina. Bleeding may be light or heavy and constant or irregular. It can sometimes be difficult to know whether light bleeding is a sign of miscarriage. When bleeding is accompanied by pain, however, the likelihood of a miscarriage is high.
What should I do if I am or might be miscarrying? What are the risks of not calling a health professional?
If you have miscarriage symptoms, call your doctor or nurse-midwife immediately. Going without medical care or advice increases your risk of complications. Your health professional will want to be sure that you:
Are not losing too much blood or developing an infection.
Do not have signs of an
ectopic pregnancy, which can be life-threatening and requires emergency surgery to remove the embryo or fetus.
Are not at risk of
Rh sensitization, which may be dangerous to a fetus in your next pregnancy. If your blood type is Rh-negative and your partner's is Rh-positive, you will need preventive treatment.
For more information, see the topic Rh Sensitization During Pregnancy.
How is a miscarriage treated?
Although there is no treatment to reverse a miscarriage, there are several treatment options for preventing complications. Depending on your condition, you may be able to choose:
1) Watchful waiting and close medical observation, known as expectant management, as the miscarriage progresses over several days or weeks.
2) Medicine to complete the miscarriage process, known as
medical management.
3) Surgical treatment with
dilation and curettage (D&C) or vacuum aspiration to complete the miscarriage process.
If your health professional has confirmed that your first-trimester or early second-trimester miscarriage is complete and all tissue has passed from your uterus, expect the bleeding to taper off within a week or so. Unless you develop a fever or heavy bleeding, you will not need follow-up treatment. Your health professional may, however, want to see you sometime during the next month.
If you are miscarrying and do not have signs of infection or severe bleeding, there is little risk involved in medically supervised watching and waiting (expectant management).
If you are miscarrying, are bleeding heavily (using one or more sanitary pads per hour), have severe pain, or have a fever of about 100°F (37.8°C) or higher, you are at significant risk of life-threatening blood loss or infection if you are not treated. See a doctor immediately.
If you need more information, see the topic Miscarriage.
Your choices are to:
Try watching and waiting (expectant management) for up to 4 weeks, to see whether the miscarriage resolves naturally over time.
Use medicine that is likely to cause the uterus to empty.
Have a surgical procedure that clears the uterus.
The decision about whether to have treatment to complete a miscarriage takes into account your personal feelings and the medical facts.
Deciding about treatment:

Reasons to try watchful waiting (expectant management)
You are stable and have no fever or heavy bleeding.
You are miscarrying in the first trimester.
You have ready access to emergency health care services.
Are there other reasons that you might want to try watchful waiting?
Reasons not to try watchful waiting (expectant management)
You are not comfortable with the idea of waiting for days or weeks until the miscarriage ends on its own.
You are bleeding severely.
You have signs of infection, such as.
A fever of around 100°F (37.8°C) or higher.
Moderate to severe abdominal pain or cramping.
Smelly vaginal discharge.
Are there other reasons that you might not want to try watchful waiting?
This website also has a table to show the comparison of miscarriage treatment options. I am not able to succesfully copy the table in the same format in this blog posts, so hope some of the information above helps and for more please revert to the mentioned website.

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