Hysteroscopy with just local anaethetic

[Agednotwine]

Has anyone had this done?

I had mine under sedation. There was never any question of being awake. I have no memory of it at all.

I had a hysteroscopy a few weeks ago and was done under ga. had the previous one under ga as well.

I went in for uterine biopsy and Mirena insertion thr first time. Prior to having ablation of the uterine lining. But they found fibroids so removed some and had to go back for further fibroid removal.

My recovery after was fine. Bleeding lightly for a couple of days and then my period came a week earlier than it should have done but was much lighter. So hopefully won’t need to go back for the ablation.

I didn't have to stop him mid procedure - he had nearly finished and I said 'that's becoming quite uncomfortable now' and he said 'ok I'm nearly done anyway I'll stop there'.

Honestly I sat and had a cup of tea for twenty minutes after then my DMIL who came with me took me for a carvery!

I'm not trying to be flippant but have you ever had a spinal? It's

a) incredibly painful to have done. Far more painful than I'm saying the hysteroscopy is.
b) very dangerous. You have to sign a waiver as there is a chance they can paralyse you.
c) takes ages to come round from - I couldn't stand for 12 hours after mine. You will have to have a catheter in which again has risks.

What I'm trying to say to you is it's really nothing to get worked up about. I appreciate people have 'issues' with having gynae stuff done and I'm not discounting that but if we're talking about discomfort from a medical procedure as someone who had it done yesterday I'm saying it would be totally over the top to have a spinal or GA for what I had done.

The posters underneath are talking about having something done at the time like fibroids removed - yeah I think I would want a local for that (there was no question of that with me as I have a fibroid in my cervix wall that needs more complex surgery) but if they're just going in for a look with the camera and water you honestly don't need anything.

I had this procedure without any anaesthetic and it was very manageable. They dimmed the lights, played nice music and we chatted. Just be careful when you stand up afterwards, as water floods out!

As a PP has said, if it's just to have a look you really won't need anaesthetic at all. I'm really surprised they offer it as the risks are pretty high with a GA.

As others have said, a straightforward hysteroscopy can be done under local.

From one of your posts it sounds like your potassium level is low and if that is the only problem it is generally fixable quite quickly. It would have to be really pretty low to make GA unsafe. Low potassium is not a contraindication to spinal anaesthetic (although abnormal blood clotting would be).

Someone posting above sounds like they’ve had a bad experience with spinal anaesthesia unfortunately. It is not normally painful. It is not normally more dangerous than a GA (indeed we often do it when a GA is considered high risk for respiratory reasons). The numbness should not routinely last 12 hours when just local anaesthetic is used and you do not routinely need a catheter. The risk of nerve injury/paralysis is extremely rare (1:10000 to 1:100000). It would not be the default mode of anaesthesia for hip replacement/ knee replacement/ c-sections & a load of other things if it were that dangerous.
(From an anaesthetist)

Hello, I’m a gynae nurse.

You can indeed have the hysteroscopy under local, especially if GA is risky for you. WRT to the pp who said they wouldn't worry about your bloods if you needed emergency surgery, that’s kind of irrelevant as the aim there is to maintain life, whereas a hysteroscopy is a planned procedure and if GA can be avoided, it will be due to the risks involved.

Could I butt in with my question please?
I've had a a hysteroscopy and cystoscopy a few days ago under GA and just realised I had no water gushing out afterwards at all. Is that normal? Or is it possible it had leaked out before I came around and they have changed my mat under me?
TIA

I had it done with no anaesthetic - not problem really - just took some paracetamol afterwards.

They don’t just put the fluid in & leave it there - it is run in & drains out via tubing throughout the procedure & there should be none/very little in at the end.

Thanks I didn't know that.

My hysteroscopy was done under GA and was to remove an AWOL mirena coil. They had tried to remove it in the gynae department but couldn't find the strings. I'm in Scotland

I had a Hysteroscopy done without any anaesthetic. The camera itself was fine but the biopsy was very very painful, like labour pains. I would not have it done without a ga if I had to go through it again. The gynaecologist said there was no option for local anaesthetic. There’s actually a campaign group here
www.hysteroscopyaction.org.uk/

Two hysteroscopys and biopsys here without any anaesthetic; it wasn't pleasant but not unbearable.

I had a cystoscopy a month ago and they escorted me to the toilet afterwards to empty my bladder and wouldn't let me leave until I'd peed four times, so I'm not sure that they sucked the water back out?

I had one and was really nervous; it was uncomfortable but nowhere near as bad as I'd feared. The local anaesthetic is injected into the cervix. I walked home afterwards. From my reading before I went it seems most people are fine, but some people do react badly and have a lot of pain and there's no way of predicting who will and who won't before hand.

I had a hysteroscopy to remove a uterine fibroid and was just advised to take paracetamol beforehand.

I found it difficult to tolerate the procedure and would never have one again without additional pain relief!

Christ I need to get some glasses. I read that as hysterectomy

I thought ‘fuck that’s savage!’

Anchor that's interesting....I only could go to the loo after I had about 3 cups of water....

I've had it without a GA. If I had to have it again, I would definitely have it with GA it really was the most horrible painful experience I've had.

Would also like to say that I had no painkillers and wasn't told to have any before hand. I also mean local rather than general.

cottonwoolmouth

Had one a few months ago, LA, polyp also found and removed while they were at it. Bit embarrassing (students observing doesn’t help but they have to learn! Lovely nurse chatted while they were at it which helped), not painful. Bit of discomfort for a few hours when the local wore off and light bleeding for a couple of days afterwards. Nothing to worry about.

I’ve had one done under local and at the same time I had a polyp removed. It was absolutely fine and I have a very low pain theshold. I didn’t think it was much different in discomfort than having a smear. I took some paracetamol and ibuprofen before I went and then went back to work that afternoon.
They now do this procedure in most areas in the colposcopy outpatient department and it is rarely done in the operating theatres under general.