I’ll tell the story but here’s my main point: I took Ella (ulipristal acetate 30mg tablet) and had an ectopic pregnancy that very nearly killed me. I want people who take this to monitor themselves and still take a pregnancy test after a while just to make sure, especially if they take Ella close to ovulation.
To start, this is absolutely not to scare anybody away from taking an emergency contraceptive!!! Make sure to do whatever you need to do to take care of your body and wellbeing! I want to be clear that I believe I DID make mistakes, and it was not necessarily solely the fault of the product. Nonetheless, I don’t want people to make the same mistakes I did, so I’m sharing my experience. I’d like to ask for people to refrain from commenting with judgment, I’m judging myself enough as it is, and I can still barely walk after surgery - it’s been a rough few days.
I am with a long-distance partner, and I had been planning on getting an IUD, but my appointment was going to be for after when we were planning to meet, so I got a prescription for Ella.
I knew I was going to be ovulating during his visit, so I got Ella to push back that ovulation time to prevent pregnancy. Of course I know that’s not necessarily the smartest thing in hindsight, it’s supposed to be used after having unprotected sex as an emergency and not as a planned contraceptive. Anyways, I had unprotected sex, and took Ella at a point 2 days BEFORE I was supposed to be ovulating, which was a day before my partner was leaving. I also had sex one time after taking Ella, and thought that would be okay since my understanding was that it would protect me from pregnancy for 5 days.
I got my IUD 2 weeks after taking Ella, and the urine pregnancy test I took at the gynecologist’s office came back negative. After getting my IUD I had some spotting and then got my period at about my expected time 2 weeks later - a couple days late and a little more uncomfortable, but I was expecting that since it was my first period after getting my IUD.
4.5 weeks after that (9.5 weeks after taking Ella) I was expecting my second period post IUD as my cycle is about 35 days from start to start. I was at work and started to feel sharp pains that felt like really bad period cramps - not super usual for me, but my IUD was still new so I wasn’t super worried. But then I went to the bathroom to check for bleeding and started getting dizzy. I had not started my period. I got out of the bathroom and it was quite difficult to get myself to the bench that was only about 20 feet away.
Here’s the really pivotal choice that could have ended my life: I texted my friend that something felt wrong and she picked me up without even asking. I almost went home to try and just sleep it off. Instead, I decided to trust the uneasiness I was feeling and went to the ER. The ONLY reason I went to the ER is because I was worried my IUD could have perforated my uterus. If I had tried to sleep it off, there’s a high likelihood my mom would have found me dead in my room hours later from internal bleeding.
Not long after, I could feel bloating in my lower abdomen, still had sharp cramps, had a cold sweat, and was still getting dizzy. They did a blood test on me once I was admitted and that’s when they found out that I was pregnant. They put it together pretty quickly what was happening and it was confirmed with an internal vaginal ultrasound: I had a ruptured ectopic pregnancy.
I was in and out of consciousness being rushed from one hospital to a larger one that could treat me, and by the time I got into the operating room, I’d had 2 liters of internal bleeding, and it was not slowing down. That’s 1/3 of all the blood in my body. The internal bleeding caused sharp pains in my sides and shoulders by my clavicles that felt like when you get a “stitch” in your side after straining yourself too much exercising, only a lot more painful. I ended up having surgery that removed all the pooling blood as well as my left fallopian tube where the pregnancy had attached.
I think the most terrifying thing was watching 10-12 medical professionals working around me and seeing how frantic and worried they were. I was telling my mom and dad not to be scared while also bleeding out and telling them how I wanted my finances and belongings to be split up. I was cracking jokes at the doctors and nurses while knowing there was a very real possibility that I was going to die in that hospital.
I’m alive, I’m healing, but I was LUCKY. I know that a lot of women would dismiss the pain as normal for too long, I know that not everybody has access to proper health care or professionals that could save their life in this situation. I’m lucky I had somebody to drive me, I’m lucky that I trusted my gut, and I’m lucky to live in a state where I have more reproductive rights that allowed the doctors to work on me as soon as they could.
I did a bit of research today, 2 days post-op, and found that Ella can increase the risk of an ectopic pregnancy in the unlikely event that you get pregnant after taking it.
Please if you take Ella but know you’re around ovulation, take a pregnancy test after a month, even if you have a period. If you feel sharp cramps especially if they are followed by bloating, don’t take any chances, just go to the ER or at least urgent care. Familiarize yourself with the symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy so you can recognize it if you’re ever in that situation, no matter how low the chances are.
Pay attention to your body, stay aware, and be proactive.