Hysterectomy.

[Beanfield]

Hurrah and Hallelujah. My uterus has been given an eviction notice!

30 years of being a complete bitch. Let me down twice (miscarriage and ectopic). Did what it should do twice (2 grown up DDs). Never officially diagnosed with anything but suggestions have been PCOS and endometriosis. 30 solid years of hideous periods. 30 years of being fobbed off by assorted GPs who told me it was normal to faint, vomit, incapacitate and take over my life for one out of every three or four weeks.
It’s got to the point where my cycles are just 18-20 days long, I bleed huge amounts for 5 days (emptying cup every 2 hours), overflowing, clots. Light bleeding on and off for a further 4 days. Bleeding on and off randomly mid-cycle. Puking and dizzy. Period diarrhoea, excruciating, labour style pain. Another 3 days of pain while i ovulate plus bleeding then too.
Tried everything. Mirena - I bled for 8 months then it fell out. Painfully. Pill - unhinged. Drugs - I’m allergic to the good ones and the others don’t work so well. Herbs, flowers, tea, homeopathy, diet - all bollox.

Finally saw a Dr who actually listened and agreed to whip the bugger out. Not sure how yet as apparently it's ‘bulky’ (like the rest of me) so need a scan to see how big it is. Also waiting on smear results and endometrial biopsy (which hurt like a bastard and is still hurting 4 days later).

Good luck stripes!

stripes brilliant, you’ll probably be done by now then!

imacliche hope you’re feeling better now.

Well it’s done -yay! Although the pain is really kicking in now. I was promised painkillers ages ago, my water jug is empty and I’m really thirsty but I don’t want to be that patient Especially as I accidentally leant on the button earlier when I didn’t need anything
On a plus side I’ve smashed my MFP calorie target

Yay stripes! Welcome to the other side! Hope you had a reasonable night. The pain gets easier quite quickly.

Hi Ladies, I have come to the best forum I know that has helped me throughout the years on yet another topic.

I have suffered with horrendous periods for years, I have a Mirena coil in that was changed in September as the old one started losing its magical powers of no periods!

To be honest, I was hoping it would curb the debilitating 'low moods' and all those great emotions that come with hormones, as my cycle now pretty much dominates 3 out of the 4 weeks.

I have been on Anti Depressants in the past to try and assist, but they don't work in that I kind of like my personality and energy and with 4 kids they zapped the life out of me.

So I am now back to 3 weeks of misery, I have kept diaries and it is cyclical. I had my cervix 'blasted' due to some abnormal cells in September when they changed the coil, which has also left me with, how shall I put it? A decreased sensitivity during 'special cuddles' with my husband, I don't know if that is normal but it wasn't explained to me as a possibility prior to the procedure.

I get horrendous back ache, which makes me feel sick and wakes me up, and pain up the bum which I have doubled over from in the past.

I have had two laparoscopy's which did not detect any endo, but I have pain and occasional bleeding during intercourse.

Today, after yet more weeks of misery I have woke up feeling like a cloud has been lifted, I started bleeding yesterday so I can only assume that this is my few days of relief.

The consultant mentioned a hysterectomy when I was last there, and I am now considering if this will give me back my life.

I am currently in therapy CBT, but I am beginning to realise that the days of debilitating pain and my mental health could be improved if they whip it all out?

Can anyone advise if they found an improvement once recovered from a hysterectomy? Or am I setting myself up for more years of menopausal misery?

What are the hormonal/physical effects afterwards? Any help would be much appreciated. I am quite attached to my womb, it has served me well in the respect of out of 5 successful pregnancies but I want my life back! TIA

Should have read 4 out of 5 successful pregnancies!

Macaroon happy to say you are right, the pain eases very quickly.

more it’s far too early for me to answer your questions I’m afraid as I only had the op a few days ago.

I am having a bit of a panic that I made a mistake having my ovaries removed- I should have read more info BEFORE the op- reading now that ovaries still have a use beyond menopause, whereas my HRT will be stopped at a certain age, has made me worry. However, if I had kept them and still suffered pain I would have regretted not having them removed so.... 🤷🏼‍♀️ it’s too late now anyway, but I think the emotional response to it all is pretty normal. I feel pretty much ok. It’s actually really frustrating knowing the dishwasher needs emptying and knowing I shouldn’t do it. Who knew that doing nothing was so hard?!

stripes I left my ovaries in and I have been panicking that I’ve made the wrong decision too! We just don’t know what the future might bring so I’ve just had to accept that I made a decision based on the info I had at the time.

Big news here is that I drove my car today! Who knew a trip to Asda could be so bloody exciting 😂😂

Woohoo Macaroon exciting day out yes we make the decision we feel is best at the time-what will be will be.

Glad that the recoveries are going pretty well and that you’re all starting to come out the other side. I can well imagine Asda can be very exciting !!

Back to Hospital today, saw another Registrar. He mentioned the Mirena coil and I thought here we go but he did say I could have hysterectomy. Then he started explaining about keyhole but it came up that previous consultant had said open Surgery pre embolisation and he decided to check that last person I saw had actually examined me to check uterus size had reduced as well as fibroid, she hadn’t.

After that was a very different story, said to forget Mirena. Yes my urinary symptoms are due to uterus pressing on bladder. It was equivalent to 16 week pregnancy pre embolisation and has shrunk but only to about 14 weeks now, despite fibroid shrinking by half. Too big to be keyhole and possibly too big to go back through section scar so might need to be vertical. Will be having 3 lots of monthly injections to induce menopause in attempt to reduce uterus size and bleeding during op. Will be in 4 to 6 months and now on list.

Oh post sorry to hear it can’t be keyhole but great they have now put you on the list. You will be like a new woman by Christmas

I hope so, thanks!

Post They had warned me it might have to be vertical for me as my fibroid was 20 wks + size, but they managed it with a horizontal incision albeit with what the consultant described as ‘a bit of a wrestle’ to get it out. (I really didn’t need to know that! )

Glad you're on the other side Stripes! Ive been doing pretty well. Feeling a bit ropey and lightheaded today, but otherwise not bad at all. My DH has had a fortnight off to keep everything going though, and is back to work on Monday...so we'll see! 😏

Foo2 have you managed okay with DH back in work?

I have thanks Stripes...although am exhausted after microwaving my soup for lunch! Was at GP's this morning, thought my wound was infected, but it's all good and just normal sore.
Feels like I could sleep for a week!

Hope everyone is doing ok

3rd May cannot come quick enough. Just had another admission for bleeding which was horrific, spent hours in A&E with a team working on me as my veins were starting to collapse. Had a reaction to blood transfusions and a bastard nurse called security to come and hold me down to do the second transfusion as I refused it when I was on the ward. Thankfully others nurses intervened and called a Dr who administered anti-histamine and reminded nurse the second shouldn't have been done until I felt ready for it as I have had previous reactions. Also had a reaction to an Iron infusion.

Have the second injection for menopause tomorrow which I am dreading although still no menopause symptoms.

In a catch 22 cannot operate now as the uterus is still too big for the keyhole, surgery needs doing, cannot do it because of blood reactions.

Fed up of people saying ooh it's only a period and comments about wasting a&e time/resources rather than going gp. I should just suck it up with paracetamol and ibuprofen like everyone else. Like I really want to spend time in the hospital for a week at a time.

Hope everyone else is doing good.

World that sounds horrendous

Oh World that sounds awful and what an upsetting experience for you. People just don’t understand how much gynae issues can impact upon day to day life. Fingers crossed things improve for you soon.

Just wondering if a hysterectomy is better or worse than an elective c-section? I'm assuming it would have to be abdominal because of previous c-sections.

I can’t say as i didn’t have c-sections, but what I can say is that I take my hat off to all of you who had to do this recovery with a newborn to deal with as well! And even more so if you had other older children to look after too. I am in awe of anyone who did that.

Good grif world you would think that, being as you need blood transfusions, they would stick you on the urgent list and whip it out next week and do abdo not wait around to try to get it small enough for lap! Awful.

Foo glad there wasnt any infection.

Macaroon I also wondered how new mums manage with a baby. Seems incredible you are told not to lift more than a cup of tea yet you are sent home with an 8 llb baby to care for!

ellie I have no idea if a c sec means it has to be abdo. Do you have an upcoming gynae app so you could ask?

I veer between feeling so great that its Frustrating I can’t go and dig in the garden or paint the dining room and so awful I can’t get off the sofa. I had my last injection last night -looking forward to finally being able to have a glass of wine if I feel like it. At the drs tomorrow to discuss HRT.

Thank you Foo and Macaroon. Hope both your recoveries are continuing to go to plan. And as well as the Asda shopping trip you are getting lots of rest.

5 weeks and 1 day to having my life back. And good luck to those that still have several months to go. I know that I have been lucky in a way that from diagnosis to the op I won't be waiting as long as some, and this selfishly is what is getting me through. And as long as I get through the next 11 days I won't be back in hospital x

Bringbackthestripes - it was explained that doing open carries more of a blood loss risk than keyhole. And my blood is complicated as I don't produce B12 which normally is under control until I start heavily bleeding. I did honestly think they were fobbing me off, but I have a friend who worked on gynae for years who I trust and after showing her all my notes she reassured me the risk is too high at the moment.

The shit we go through as females hey lol.

world it all sounds really complicated for your treatment. Keep counting down the days.....hopefully not too many more problems before you have your op.

advice needed sorry TMI warning.
To those that have had op how was the bleeding? Today I am bleeding more than ever. Wondering if I’ve overdone it with my 10 min walks? It had just been, mostly, a bit of staining but now it’s fresh bright blood and I’m on my 3 pad already. It’s not heavy but just constant.
Did any of you have an increase that then stopped?

iamacliche you had awful probs, I don’t think this is quite in the same league . I hope everything has now stopped with you.