Is it normal to get prolonged bleeding after two weeks of medical abortion?

Question

Hello doctor,

I had a medical abortion during my 7th week of pregnancy, and bleeding lasted for 10 days. A few days after, the bleeding stopped and I had pain in the right lower abdomen that lasted for 24 hours. Two weeks later bleeding started again which I thought was my first period. It was brown with clots later turned red. It has been three weeks now and it still has not stopped. It has been moderate throughout, and now for the last three days, it is brown and somewhat reduced. I do not have any abdominal pain or tenderness. No foul smelling discharge or fever either. I am worried why the bleeding is so prolonged? Is this normal? Do I need and C?

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq. com.

Having prolonged irregular bleeding after medical termination is not a normal phenomenon. It definitely indicates some problem. One of the most common causes for prolonged bleeding could be retained products of conception which need to be evacuated or sometimes a condition called gestational trophoblastic neoplasms can also cause prolonged bleeding. I would like to know two important things, did you get a scan prior to your medical termination to check if that was a normal intrauterine pregnancy or not (to rule out ectopic pregnancy)? Second thing is, did you get a check scan done after the bleeding stopped to check if the expulsion was complete? If retained products are present then evacuation would be required as they are a potential source for infections and can cause post abortal sepsis. Please revert back to me with the details I asked for so that I can guide you further.