Medical abortion dietary taboos

Within 1-2 weeks after medical abortion, the foods to avoid are ice drinks/frozen products, all alcoholic drinks, and food and medicine with proven blood-activating effects. It is not recommended to eat excessive amounts of spicy, heavy oil and salt, highly irritating foods, and there is no need to deliberately and blindly take supplements.

Don't think these are alarmist. I have been in the gynecology clinic for almost 6 years and have seen too many girls who fall into traps because of greed. Last week, there was a 19-year-old girl. The day after her medical abortion, she went to eat iced crayfish with iced milk tea with her friends. The amount of bleeding doubled that night, and two strips of her pants were see through. She was so scared that she ran to the emergency room all night. There was no residue after the B-ultrasound. The ice stimulated vasoconstriction, and it took three days to recover.

Let’s talk about the most controversial issue first: “Can you touch raw or cold food?”: The older generation said that even room-temperature fruits should be steamed and eaten after medical abortion. Touching anything cold will cause the root cause of the disease. Young girls feel that they are in good health and eat popsicles right after taking the medicine. The current clinical consensus is actually very clear: ice drinks at 0-4℃, frozen watermelon just taken out of the refrigerator, sashimi, ice salad, etc. must be banned. After all, gastrointestinal motility slows down after medical abortion, and the stimulation of ice can easily cause intestinal spasm, accompanied by painful uterine contractions, and increased bleeding. ； However, apples, oranges, and strawberries at room temperature can be eaten normally. There is no need to steam them until they are soft. On the contrary, the vitamins will be destroyed, which is not conducive to the repair of the endometrium. I met a girl before who followed the doctor's advice and didn't touch ice, but the old man at home forced her to steam and eat bananas. As a result, she was constipated for a week. When she strained to go to the toilet, her abdominal pressure was too high and she bled a lot. It was really not worth the loss.

Alcohol is more of a trap than cold drinks. Many people think that rice wine and fruit wine have low alcohol content, so it’s okay to drink a little to warm up. This is really a big mistake. The mifepristone and misoprostol you take for medical abortion will bring a lot of metabolic burden to the liver. Alcohol also needs to be metabolized by the liver. The double burden can easily damage the liver. Alcohol will also dilate blood vessels and directly increase the amount of bleeding. Last month, there was a 27-year-old girl. The bleeding was almost gone on the 5th day after the medical abortion. Her friend drank half a bottle of sparkling wine on her birthday, and she started bleeding profusely that night. She came to the emergency room overnight for a B-ultrasound. Fortunately, there was no residue, which was caused by the dilation of blood vessels. The bleeding took another four days to clear up.

As for everyone’s concern about whether spicy food can be eaten, it really doesn’t matter. I have a patient in Chongqing who eats spicy food every day. He ate slightly spicy noodles the day after the medical abortion. He didn’t feel any discomfort at all, and he didn’t experience any increase in bleeding. It was completely fine. But if you have a weak stomach or seldom eat spicy food, don't try spicy hot pot or turkey noodles. Spicy food can stimulate your stomach and cause diarrhea. It's a trivial matter if you have diarrhea, the abdominal pressure increases, and it causes pain in the uterine cavity. It will be troublesome if the amount of bleeding increases.

Another pitfall that many people easily fall into is "taking a lot of supplements right after bleeding". The elderly at home can't wait to stuff ginseng, donkey hide gelatin, saffron, and longan into your mouth. In fact, there are some differences between the views of Chinese and Western medicine here: Western medicine does not have the concept of "activating blood circulation", but clinical data shows that if you eat such tonic foods in the week before medical abortion, the amount of bleeding will increase by 30%-50% on average, and the bleeding time will also be prolonged by 2-3 days. ； Traditional Chinese medicine believes that if there is blood stasis in the uterine cavity just after the medicine has flowed out, a large amount of tonic will "close the door and leave the enemy", which is not conducive to the discharge of blood stasis. Therefore, the general suggestion is that you should not touch these supplementary ingredients until the bleeding is completely gone. If you want to supplement, it is not too late to wait until the bleeding stops before eating.

Many people also ask whether Shenghua Decoction can be drunk. There is currently no unified conclusion in the industry: some Chinese medicine practitioners believe that drinking Shenghua Decoction after syndrome differentiation can help discharge blood stasis and reduce the probability of residues.； Some Western medicine practitioners believe that as long as uterine contractions are normal, there is no need to drink extra water, but it may increase the risk of bleeding. My suggestion is that if you want to drink it, you must find a traditional Chinese medicine doctor in a regular hospital to diagnose your syndrome and prescribe it for you. Don’t just search for prescriptions on the Internet and just cook it. There was a girl who bought a biochemical soup packet with 10g of safflower in it. After drinking it for two days, she felt dizzy. Her hemoglobin dropped by 2g and she was almost anemic.

In fact, after all is said and done, there are really not so many restrictions on diet after medical abortion, and it does not have to be like going to jail. In addition to the minefields mentioned above that are clearly to be avoided, eating home-cooked meals normally, eating more lean meat, eggs, and green leafy vegetables to supplement iron will be more effective than any messy supplements. Occasionally, if you are craving for a small cake or two packets of potato chips at room temperature, it is perfectly fine. You don’t have to feel guilty. If you are in a good mood, your body will recover faster. Oh, by the way, if the amount of bleeding suddenly increases after eating something, or if you have severe stomach pain, don’t hold on, just go to the hospital for a B-ultrasound in time.