Physical warning signs after a miscarriage
- Dr. Abby Jorgensen
- Dec 30, 2025
- 2 min read
There is a shameful lack of easily-accessible information about what constitutes normal, worrisome, or emergency symptoms after a miscarriage.
If a medical care provider has given you information specific to your situation, always default to that. But, in lieu of personalized care recommendations, here are some physical warning signs after a miscarriage that warrant a prompt call to your medical care provider:
Bleeding through two large pads in two hours. This follows the more conservative guidelines on blood loss because it is always safer to err on the side of caution when it comes to blood loss. Your provider may tell you something different.
A fever. What constitutes a fever depends on whether you've had certain medications (for example misoprostol can often raise someone's temperature and therefore raise the temperature which some providers would consider a fever). Without medication, contact your provider for any temperature over 100 degrees Fahrenheit / 37.7 degrees Celsius.
Chills.
Abdominal pain that is different from expected cramping. In other words, if the cramping is more severe than your provider led you to expect it would be, or if the sensation is sharp or stabby rather than crampy, these would be indications that you should call your provider.
Vomiting.
Foul-smelling vaginal discharge. Typically this is more foul than a typical unpleasant odor associated with, say, using a different form of discharge management (switching from tampons to pads can result in a smell that you aren't familiar with). If you smell something foul that doesn't go away with a shower, call your provider.
For more information on some common approaches to physical warning signs after a loss, you can read information from ACOG (here, here) and RCOG (here, here).
