Is there a hysterectomy support thread?

[ALemonyPea]

I had a laparoscopic vaginal hysterectomy, retained ovaries but everything else removed.

Day 6 for me, and I have some questions and would like some support as freacking out about the thought of vault prolapse.

I am managing pain wise now. Some slight pulling on one side, but manageable. Belly button keeps bleeding, but not enough to run out, so just cleaning it twice a day.

I feel quite heavy down there, is that normal?

I thought I had read everything there was about hysterectomies before I had the op, but the surgeon mentioned vaginal vault prolapse just before the surgery and explained it briefly. I then googled, and the first page brought up an awful image and I can't get it out my mind. I'm terrified that it'll happen to me.

Can anyone offer any help and support.

I just wish thee was a way to stop all the hormone crap without so much risk. It's rubbish they have so much impact on our lives. I've had such a productive day after nightmare period. The difference during and after is huge. I just want to be stable.

It's difficult to judge, but I have no reason to feel my surgical menopause is any worse (at the moment) than a natural one would have been - it's just come sooner. Though based on Sweary's point, my mum was through with hers before she was 50, so I may have been in line for an early one anyway.

Re. MH - My depression and anxiety is no better or worse since my surgery, but I no longer have the pre-menstrual weepiness and short temper that I used to suffer.

Happy Glad to hear you're back at work. I started to feel a lot more normal once I went back, though it was exhausting at first even doing half-days - I did a gradual build up to my full-time hours over four weeks increasing by an hour a day each week. I still have days when I come home exhausted and can't do anything but flop on the bed, though.

I actually think I'm better MH wise riding the ups and downs of my natural cycle. Anything that flattens it, like mirena etc makes me crazy. Part of my insistence of having a hysterectomy though was that my periods are hideola, and have been since I was 10. Had I had a more caring mother I suspect it would have been addressed when I was younger but we had a "it's a period, stop complaining" diktat in our house. Of course I discovered with anorexia you can stop the horrid, painful periods so having to go back to that as my normal if they just removed the submucosal fibroids was horrid to contemplate and there was a high chance that I'd end up back on the weight loss wagon. And my mother was still menstruating at 60 so it looked like I had a long time to go still - am 38. So for me it's more that the actual periods were the problem for my MH rather than the cycle.

We've realised today that if you put the DVD from my surgeon into the laptop the right way up rather than the DVD player you get to see the whole surgery. We had a 15 minute section before but have watched the whole thing tonight. It's amazing!

I wish I'd been offered a DVD - I'd have liked to have seen the things that had been responsible for so much pain over the years!

It's awful that your mother was so dismissive of your periods, and that this became part of your anorexia. I hope now you've got rid of your periods it will make it a bit easier for you to maintain your weight at a healthy level .

Yes I'm rather envious of the dvd!

I see Sweary, different triggers and symptoms affecting you. I really hope this is a straightforward solution for you in this respect, sounds like it could be.

I just wish thee was a way to stop all the hormone crap without so much risk. It's rubbish they have so much impact on our lives. I've had such a productive day after nightmare period. The difference during and after is huge. I just want to be stable.

Arms I completely relate and agree.

Arch that's interesting about your experience. I'm still regularly weepy and anxious, but actually you saying that has made me realise I don't have the rage part anymore, so that is something! I do hope you get some relief from depression and anxiety too. I'm so relieved I no longer have to put up with the physical/practical nightmares of heavy bleeding and everything hanging out, but I've been pinning my hopes on it helping with the brain fog and energy levels and I guess only time will really tell.

Did anyone see the piece on BBC 1 news this morning about how women with gynaecology issues ( Endometriosis and fibroids) are not taken seriously by health professionals and women have to see their GP at least 10 times before they are referred on.

Luckily this wasn't my case as I was seen and got the ball rolling pretty quickly.

10 times??? That's shocking!

I read something in the paper about that. There's a government report out today about it. If you want to read some misogyny and total claptrap then the daily mail comments are eye opening!

I found that referral was fairly easy but if you don't want to be stuck on hormones of some form - which tend to make me suicidal - the specialists weren't interested. I even had one gynae suggest I go on gnrh wotsits long term when they're known to affect bone density, which with my history of eating disorders is bonkers. The mirena is being presented as the new messiah in terms of treating menstrual problems and if you're outside the curve on that it's a huge fight to be taken seriously.

10 times is madness. Women with problematic periods should be taken a lot more serious than they are.

I was offered the mirena at first, but refused as it's not a long term solution amongst other reasons. Fake hormones don't agree with me, I bled 6 months solid when I got the implant, they refused to remove it until I had it in 6 months.

Lemony that makes me so mad. You bled constantly for months but they wouldn't remove the cause from your body? How is this acceptable? I get really het up about this but it's like the medical community is trying to effect chemical warfare upon women. I hope in 100 years time they look back and are horrified.

The Mirena worked for me. The first one I had a very slight bleed every month but kept getting regular bouts of thrush so I had it removed.

I struggled for 10 months with horrendous bleeding and when I met my new partner I decided to try again. I didn't have any thrush with the second coil so I'm now presuming that it was my ex P giving me thrush over and over (even though he was treated) I had no bleeding with the second, it was perfect for 18 months then one day it just stopped working.

That's when my GP referred me for a scan as I thought it had fallen out. I had no issues with getting a referral once they found the fibroids.

I've read a lot on here about poor experiences with Mirena - I too was horrified with bleeding daily for months to start with (so cruel when that's what you're trying to stop) but it did the trick in the end for me and I guess helped put off surgery til now. But it's a long time to give something a try if it doesn't work at the end of it!

All the stories about the coil are interesting. I used the reluctance to take it out as an objection to my GP. She basically said don't be silly of course we would, but it's clearly true. It makes me angry the way we are treated and dismissed.

That's crap about your moods still Happy. Glad to hear you feel more in control Sweary.

Have other people who have kept their ovaries found it helps their mood swings around their periods? I am hoping not losing loads of blood etc and (hopefully) removing a lot of the endo with my womb/cervix will be a great help, but maybe I'm being optimistic about that (and the state of my ovaries - who knows what state they'e in). I tend to suffer from optimism when I've not got PMT/Period crap going on so is a happy day today!

arms I think I'm too early in recovery to help you but I've read a few things in the past linking anaemia to low mood and I suspect not losing a huge amount of blood every month will improve iron stores and therefore lift mood? I also think that the reality of dealing with very heavy periods can be incredibly draining and demoralising, the knowledge that you have a small window before you leak or the painful cramps or the horror of dealing with a public flood, so no longer having to deal with this has to have a positive impact on people.

I ran a couple of errands yesterday - was out of the house for about half an hour but all on foot - and I'm exhausted today. I've not been able to nap but have lain around like a slug whining about it to DH. It's amazing how much the exhaustion floors you! I'm a lot less sore and on a lot fewer painkillers now, which is a good thing I suppose. One thing that baffles me though - there is now more space in my abdomen for my bladder so why do I need to do micro-wees all the time? I should be able to do big fat horse weeks!

Glad you're feeling a bit better Sweary. I think lying on the sofa groaning sounds well deserved. When I'm ill I take to my bed like a Victorian lady and refuse to move. Maybe you'll grow a horse bladder? That would be handy.

I probably should look into iron. It's been ok in the past but bleeding has been much worse recently. Next life we should all come back as men.

Glad you managed to get out Sweary, the tiredness is weird isn't it, like you don't expect it.

Are you 2/3 weeks post op now? I had a bit of an odd time weeing around then, it did get better.

Micro wees, yes . My bladder was over-sensitive for a few weeks after the op - I put it down to the after-effects of having a catheter in (which I found felt quite irritating to my bladder at the time). It's back to normal now but I haven't noticed any increase in capacity as yet!

It's 2 weeks tomorrow so still really early days. I suspect the catheter - which I also really didn't like having - caused some irritation/inflammation that is taking a long while to go down as there's a lot of other healing for my poor body to do. I'm quite prone to UTIs so am probably a bit over-vigilant to it but fingers crossed that, like those of you further down the path, it'll ease up soon.

Hi everyone. Glad to see we are still chatting and muddling along.
Sorry have no experience of hormone management or the Mirena coil which I declined when offered.

I have my pre op assessment on Monday and they have said to be prepared for it to take half a day. Bit mystified by that unless there is a lot of waiting about. I am expecting blood tests, weight, bp and general health notes - what else should I be bracing myself for? Any input hugely appreciated!

My pre op took half an hour! I didn't need a heart trace because no heart conditions in my family. Took height, weight, bloods and full history.

I know my preop is next week because I phoned and asked. But I've had no paper work for that or my op which is making me anxious.

I had to answer a lengthy health questionnaire, which took some time, plus the things Lemony mentions. I did have a heart trace, because my blood pressure was high when they measured it. They would have taken a urine sample, but I was having a period, so they didn't (presume this would have been to check for pregnancy).

I had to do a bowel prep before my op, so they also took me through what that would entail and dispensed the sachets (small wait to be seen at the pharmacy - might be longer if NHS, based on my experience of NHS pharmacies)

I think I left work at about 10:45 and got back about 2, including 20 min drive to hospital each way.

Mine was like Arch's but I wasn't sent away with bowel prep stuff. They weren't going to give me a heart trace, just wanted me to calm down to get my blood pressure down but I'd got so distressed being weighed that I cried and the nurse took pity on me/wanted to get rid of me and did the ECG. I also had to do MRSA swabs. The questionnaire was the longest part, it took forever. I hope it all goes through easily Gig and you're cleared for surgery.

I got my paper work through. It suddenly seems real - mostly, I still won't be convinced it will happen until I'm on the table! Really anxious now. Sleeping rubbishly.

I have to be there at 7am. Does that mean I'm a morning one, or do you think everyone is called in at the same time?

Pre-op letter says allow 1-4 hours. I have a questionnaire to fill out. It says I may need blood, ecg and x ray. I've to take a urine sample. Nothing on my op letter to say anything about bowel prep.

Sorry I don't think I was clear - I wasn't sent away with bowel prep stuff because there was no bowel prep required. In the spirit of oversharing I did have a massive panic on the morning of the op because I hadn't pooed for 2 days and really wanted to before the operation. Fortunately I managed before we left to go to hospital.

I suspect that means you're on the morning list Robots - I had to be in at noon and went down to theatre as the 2nd for my consultant (first was v minor procedure) just after 3pm. I can't imagine they'll want to wait to operate until the afternoon on someone who has had no fluids since the night before.