Hysterectomy

[Nograssisgreener]

Hi ladies, has any one had a hysterectomy. What operation did you have , key hole or open surgery? How has your life changed after the hysterectomy .
thanks

Vaginal hysterectomy (had multiple prolapses, accompanied by continuous pain).
A slightly complicated recovery, but haven't looked back.
What's your story?

Abdominal hysterectomy due to fibroids, one ovary left in - best thing I've ever done

Thanks for your response , I got very large fibroids and I either have to choose hysterectomy or operation just to remove the fibroids I have only read bad stories about hysterectomies so I wondered if there was any positive stories and good endings

Costa how was your hysterectomy done , key hole , virginal or open surgery

Sorry costa does abdominal mean open surgery

What sort of bad stuff have you read op? I'm two years post hysterectomy, I had one very large fibroid (the size of a full term babies head apparently!)
I had full on surgery, everything whipped out apart from my ovaries.
Recovery was long but I've never looked back!

You will need an abdominal hysterectomy if you choose to go ahead.
Any form of hysterectomy has at least a six week recovery period (remember it's an organ that has been removed).
There are threads here that will give you a good idea of what the general post-op period is like.
Your age, whether or not you consider that your family is complete, and your fertility will all obviously influence your decision.
You can get fibroids removed, but if they have invaded the uterus wall hysterectomy may be your only course of action.
Could you consider removal of the fibroids and then ablation if appropriate?

Yes abdominal is a bit like a caesarean

Day I have read sex life was affected and onset menopause even when ovaries were left in

Thanks mine...I can consider fibroid removal but I was told they are likely to come back and I can't stand the fact that I could have another operation in future and that's why I considered hysterectomy

Yes, the ovaries will probably fail sooner than they would have otherwise, but no sexual problems here, no negatives for me at all

Thanks costa , very helpful

I had a vaginal hysterectomy five years ago for stage one cervical cancer. It was done vaginally and my Fallopian tubes and ovaries were left. I remember being told that my ovaries might fail early too, but more recently I have been told by my gp that there's no reason for it to affect the onset of menopause so I'm not certain who to believe. I was absolutely blindly terrified before hand. I could barely say the word, but it's been such a wonderful release from my awful periods. I arranged to have a great deal of help at home for theee weeks after surgery. I stayed in hospital for a week and I took all the pain medication going. It was really relatively pain free, although for two or three months afterwards I would have no 'buffer' between feeling ok and then suddenly deathly tired and needing to immediately lie down, but this passed. Sex has never changed at all, everything still works as it should. I don't suffer from dryness, another thing that I heard may happen. My pelvic floor is just as it was, probably I noticed an improvement. Obviously if you have to have keyhole or abdominal there will be the extra healing and soreness to think about. Best of luck whatever the outcome, we have an incredible health service (assuming your uk based)...

Thanks Trash that's reassuring

I had a keyhole hysterectomy in March, also took tubes, ovaries and cervix.

I was out of hospital within 48 hours and back to work (as a TA so not a desk job) after 3 weeks. Best decision I ever made BUT recovery would have been very different if they hadn't been able to do it keyhole and I'd had abdominal surgery.

I haven't noticed any other side effects.

I just had tubes tired 3months ago am still in pain but when I went for scan I was told that pain should have been gone long time ago.

I had mine out 6 years ago. They reopened my section scar. Without a doubt the best thing for me. I had mine when I was 40.

I was off work for 5 weeks. Should have taken another couple of weeks but all good. I was really ready for the surgery though and I firmly believe that helps with recovery.

What advice will you give regarding the removal of the clips as the risks are just the same as leaving them on