Hysterectomy with spinal block

[Lilyannarose]

Has anyone had this?
I'm terrified of GA.
I had a spinal block after one of my children's births to repair a 3rd degree care and coped way better than I would have if they had put me to sleep.
It's looking highly likely that hysterectomy will be the only option re very heavy periods. I'm 43 and perimenopausal.
My mum went through exactly the same at this age and managed to avoid a hysterectomy, so hoping I can too. It would be an absolute last result and hoping I can find something less invasive that works for me.
It is physically and emotionally draining and I dread each time of the month (I'm fine in between).
I'm a single mum and carer to my severely disabled youngest child, and I know the recovery time would not be ideal in my situation.
More than anything though it's the thought of GA that scares me.

• tear not care

I have a friend who requested hysterectomy with a spinal block. She wasn’t the only one that day who did.

It’s certainly possible to do a vag hyst/ total abdominal hyst with just spinal anaesthetic but in someone with no particular contra-indications to GA it’s probably more common to use GA. It is not possible to use spinal alone for laparoscopic hysterectomy.

The spinal block for a hysterectomy needs to come up much higher up the body than for a repair of a tear so the spinal may feel different to what you’ve experienced before.

If you end up getting booked for surgery it may be worth asking if you can speak to an anaesthetist pre-op (most places have pre-op anaesthetic clinics & even if they don’t it may be possible to arrange to meet someone pre-op) to address your concerns re GA (because GA is always the back-up plan even if a spinal is used).
(From an anaesthetist)