People experiencing miscarriage are advised to seek medical help - but it’s not always clear who can provide that help. If people have a midwife, they should go and see them or a general practitioner. If that’s not possible, they should go to the nearest A&E or emergency department or an after hours clinic.
Many miscarriages finish on their own, but sometimes tissue remains in the uterus (an ‘incomplete miscarriage’) and sometimes there are no miscarriage symptoms at all (a ‘missed miscarriage’). In these cases, the miscarriage can be managed in three ways:
Conservatively (also known as expectant, or natural management) - by waiting for the miscarriage to complete on its own. This may take days or weeks.
Medically - by taking medication such as misoprostol to bring on the process of miscarriage.
Surgically - by having a procedure called a dilation and curettage (D&C) which clears the uterus.
There is no ‘right’ choice, and each of these methods has pros and cons. And as none of the options are failsafe, some people end up using a combination of them.
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