Mesh or hysterectomy?

[Afibtomyboy]

For a pro lapse.

My surgeon has said that very equal but he would probably recommend mesh for me but ultimately my choice as not a huge amount in it. Surprisingly mesh has a slightly elevated success rate than a hysterectomy. Thanks

As a single parent of two children with no support network, I am mainly concerned about the recovery period.

How long until you were able to drive? To walk? To exercise?

Any thoughts gratefully appreciated

Thank you

Haven't they stopped using mesh?

No

Unless my surgeon is planning on operating illegally! So no it is still being used widely

I wouldn't go near mesh with a bargepole, I'm genuinely surprised they still use it.

I'm googling now it's only banned in Scotland (they are making payments to people injured by mesh!)

I've seen too much VD to even consider it.
Have you considered the risks?

Two friends both had mesh in last two years and have said it was transformative

Anyway I’m really looking for experience Rather than views on the procedures themselves

Thought they used mesh for urinary incontinence? But it did have huge issues.... Did work for me though

Have you researched this, OP?
Mesh has crippled many women.
I have had surgery for multiple prolapses, but have never had mesh.
Sadly, one of my repairs has failed.
I would NEVER allow mesh. The risk is too great.
Pig tissue, as revolting as that sounds, used to be an alternative. When I'm ready to consider asking for a repair again, I'm going to ask about it.

Oh, and coming back to add - the problems tend to become apparent several years down the line, so recent experiences may not tell you what the eventual outcome will be.
Think long and hard about it.

I had a partial in January instead of mesh.

Because of the risks from mesh.

If you know the risks and you are ok then crack on you did ask.

Are you aware of the news coverage surrounding mesh implants, OP?

BMJ article:
www.bmj.com/company/newsroom/investigation-exposes-vaginal-mesh-scandal-that-has-left-thousands-of-women-irreversibly-harmed/

Summary page of all the BBC articles on the scandal:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c7z4n8xjz27t/mesh-implants

Just about every mainstream news source you can think of has covered this - pick according to the sources you are most comfortable with and have a read.

I get that you're asking for first hand experience, but frankly, even if you find the odd woman who's got on okay with this as a line of treatment, I wouldn't go within a million miles of a mesh implant. It might go well - but if it goes badly, it will wreck your life.

Hysterectomy. I had mesh for a bladder prolapse and wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Though a hysterectomy for a prolapse does sound a bit ott.

I really don't know, op, I'd have such worries about both. I have a rectocele and had started the process for surgery but withdrew for various reasons; at the time I read a lot about the problems with mesh. It's not so much the failure rate that concerns me- as you say, it's slightly lower than that for hysterectomy- as the reports of women left in great pain who were repeatedly dismissed by hcps and not helped.

I suppose if my issues get worse and I have to face surgery, I'd want to know the failure rate for the specific hospital looking after me for each type of procedure. I'd want them to be able to talk about the issues with mesh, what they now do differently, what their follow up is, offer me genuine reassurance that if I had problems I would be taken seriously.

Relatives who have had hysterectomies have needed proper looking after for at least a week and not to lift anything more than a kettle about half full for at least two. It took about 3 months for them to feel fully recovered iirc

Hysterctomy any day. I wouldn't touch the the mesh with a bargepole.

Relatives who have had hysterectomies have needed proper looking after for at least a week and not to lift anything more than a kettle about half full for at least two. It took about 3 months for them to feel fully recovered iirc

This is true of most abdominal surgery, tbh (I should know - I had abdominal surgery early this year, and the recovery was not fun). But it's about what you feel like down the line. Friends and rellies who've had hysterectomies mostly report that it's a very positive thing once the recovery period is out the way (though of course, if you have to have your ovaries removed too, it will pitch you into a premature menopause - and I believe even if they are left in situ, they tend to stop working after a while).

Re. recovery time (I'm a single parent too). How old are your kids, because this will be a big factor? Toddlers/early primary school, it will be very hard to juggle, 9 or 10 and over, they'll be a bit more self-sufficient.

My abdominal surgery - DS with a school friend for a sleepover, mate came down to take me to and from hospital. Do you really have no support network, or are you just embarrassed to ask? (I ask this because I know only too well that feeling of "I can't be beholden to people, I'll never be able to pay them back" - but actually people are more generous with their time than you might think, and they don't keep score, in my experience. I've had parents of my son's school friends pitch in to help when I had no-one else around.)

I filled the freezer with frozen food on the assumption that I'd have 2 weeks of not being able to do anything beyond pull something out the freezer and shove it in the microwave.

The op was actually easier than the emergency which preceded it. At least for the op, I could plan ahead. When I got blue-lighted to hospital a few months earlier, I was entirely reliant on DS's best friend's parents just "adopting" him for the weekend until a relative could get down to where I live.

A friend had a hysterectomy the same week as I had a C-section. She was going to be my day time care for older Ds but was in the same boat as me. She recovered faster than me. She was given very similar instructions about lifting, driving and activites. She was back at work in 4 weeks.

@Afibtomyboy Think we need to know a bit more about your prolapse. Is this a bladder or uterine prolapse or both? Mesh is usually for a bladder and as others have said it is very controversial now.

Your surgeon is giving you two options but there are more. Are you convinced he is experienced in this? Is he a urogynae specialist? Have you checked him out- his experience and reviews? Please don't just let anyone set to work on you without doing some homework on his expertise.

If it's a bladder prolapse, a hysterectomy is not really the answer.
You can have a repair where they tighten the vagina and take up the slack.

The risk of a hysterectomy for prolapse is that in the future you can get another type of prolapse called vaginal vault prolapse - where the vagina at the top end where you cervix is- collapses because the uterus is not there to give some support.

I had a repair to my bladder, uterus and front/back vaginal walls over 25 years ago. This was a traditional repair to lift it all up and give support. So far, it's held up more or less, but I can't do any high impact exercise or lift anything heavy.

My recovery was 6 weeks at least and I needed help at home as I had a 3 yr old.

Anyway I’m really looking for experience Rather than views on the procedures themselves

But the two go hand in hand! Read online for the awful experiences some women have with mesh- have you not seen them interviewed on TV and in the newspapers? I think they set up a support group.

[quote JinglingHellsBells]@Afibtomyboy Think we need to know a bit more about your prolapse. Is this a bladder or uterine prolapse or both? Mesh is usually for a bladder and as others have said it is very controversial now.

Your surgeon is giving you two options but there are more. Are you convinced he is experienced in this? Is he a urogynae specialist? Have you checked him out- his experience and reviews? Please don't just let anyone set to work on you without doing some homework on his expertise.

If it's a bladder prolapse, a hysterectomy is not really the answer.
You can have a repair where they tighten the vagina and take up the slack.

The risk of a hysterectomy for prolapse is that in the future you can get another type of prolapse called vaginal vault prolapse - where the vagina at the top end where you cervix is- collapses because the uterus is not there to give some support.

I had a repair to my bladder, uterus and front/back vaginal walls over 25 years ago. This was a traditional repair to lift it all up and give support. So far, it's held up more or less, but I can't do any high impact exercise or lift anything heavy.

My recovery was 6 weeks at least and I needed help at home as I had a 3 yr old.[/quote]
Really helpful

Mr Slack. Very highly regarded.

Uterine prolapse

So you can’t run jingle?

Just to add- a hysterectomy is really only used now for severe uterine prolapse where it's coming right down into and out of the vagina, and therefore impossible to put back.

If it's your bladder, you need a repair and it sounds as if your dr is looking for the easy way out rather than trying to repair things for you.

sorry for the multiple posts.

I can run, physically, but it would put too much strain on my pelvic floor. I tried running a few years after the repair and felt things coming adrift. I went to a women's physio and asked for advice and was told no high impact exercises, which includes running, star jumps, some kinds of Pilates as this pushes on the pelvic floor, and no lifting anything over half a stone ( 3.5kgs.) FOR LIFE.

You can find loads of info online about exercises on the website of Michelle Kenway- Oz physio who specialises in pelvic floors.

If it's your uterus ask him about vaginal vault prolapse and what he will do to stop it happening in the future.

You had yours done a long time Ago

Now the advice is very much that high impact is acceptable. Certainly my two friends that had done within last 3 years are beside me at body attack and hiit classes
And mr Slack said absolutely fine after min 3 months

He said he wouldn’t do an operation on a young Women that would so impede her quality of life