Women who experience miscarriage go through a lot of predicaments affecting them physically and emotionally. Medical reports say that miscarriage is common, but can be a danger to the mother as well. It can cause a wide variety of complications even after the mother lost her child.
Miscarriage is an unfortunate event when the pregnancy is spontaneously ended before 2o week's age of gestation. After the 20th week, it is termed as stillbirth. It is a very common situation wherein according to statistics, almost half of all pregnancies end in miscarriage.
There are many cases of miscarriage ranging from failure of the baby to develop, chromosomal abnormality, trauma, inability of the mother to produce hormones needed for pregnancy, underlying medical condition and weak cervix. Most often than not, miscarriages occur spontaneously with heavy bleeding and severe pain like that of labor pains.
One of the most common and dangerous complications of miscarriage is haemorrhage or heavy bleeding. Severe bleeding can eventually lead to hypovolemic shock. Another complication that might arise is septic miscarriage which is very dangerous as it is a form of uterine infection. Fever, chills, foul-smelling vaginal discharge and abdominal pain are common hallmarks of this condition. Inability to immediately seek medical attention can lead to fatality.
Physical conditions are just part of the effects of miscarriage. Emotional complications are as equally important to focus on. Mourning after a miscarriage is common for women but recent research says that some women take longer than expected to recover. They also found out that men suffer grief over miscarriages too.
Women who have miscarriage suffer from anxiety and depression. The effects of miscarriage are underestimated as found out by Emma Robertson Blackmore, a psychiatry professor from the University of Rochester Medical Center. In a study, she observed more than 13,000 women for three years after giving birth and found out that out of the 2,823 women with miscarriage, 15% developed depression and had anxiety for up to three years.
Miscarriage poses both physical and emotional effects. Proper counselling and follow-up should be enforced for women who have miscarriage.