Is a hysteroscopy very painful.

[bigmistake1]

I'm having one next Tuesday and am dreading it. I've been referred following post menopausal bleeding and a thick endometrium was discovered after an ultrasound last week. So they'll also need to take a biopsy at the same time.

No sedation / anaesthesia apparently.

[Egghead68]

I wonder why GA is standard in some countries and not here in the UK

Cost saving.

[Justme10]

Unfortunately I can see it being a painful one for me, I had a coil put in during my last c section which has moved so they need to reposition that and then they want to look at the lining of my womb since they couldn't get a clear picture because of the coil with a pelvic ultrasound.
So I'm thinking it won't be a quick procedure

[bigmistake1]

Just me 10. Hopefully yours will be fine. I'm really interested to see that lots of women on here said it didn't hurt, whilst mine was really, really painful. Wonder why it varies so much? I was told as I'd had 2 vagina births it would be fine, but it wasn't, so it's not that which makes the difference.

[Justme10]

I wonder why GA is standard in some countries and not here in the UK.
I've got mine at the end of the month and the letter says take some paracetamol an hour before hand so hopefully that works for me 😬

[Egghead68]

This website might be worth a look:

www.hysteroscopyaction.org.uk/

[JillofTrades]

Sorry I didn't see your update. Sorry op I didn't want to say this before but I'm actually horrified they would do this without ga. Its standard procedure here to be done with Ga (not uk).
I'm glad though that you are finally getting it though. Best of luck

[Empressofthemundane]

On the other hand, I had a merina cool inserted and it hurt so much that I went into shock!

[Empressofthemundane]

I had this done 4 years ago. No pain relief. I was fine. It was awkward, but did not hurt at all.

[JillofTrades]

I had one in November and it was under GA. I didn't even know it could be done without. I went private though. Can you ask if it could be done under Ga? I had scarring that needed to be removed.

[DuchessofDerbyshire]

I think women should always be given the choice and a local can be as good as a full GA.

I didn't want a GA or a local unless absolutely necessary.

And I think the skill of the dr has a lot to do with it. Ramming in the scope isn't good- my dr took ages and ages to gradually get it in.

Just posting to give the other side because although I'm sorry OP you found it horrible, not all women do.

I did have a coil fitted once decades ago and that was agony so it just shows how different the experience of something like that can be.

[Holothane]

Hugs lots of them you should never have had to go through this, thank goodness your next is under ga, oh and I’ve had the biopsies done as well.

[bigmistake1]

Jaffapaffa I think I could have endured it if I'd had gas and air. Would have saved the NHS a lot of money.

[Jaffapaffa]

I had one in June. It was very painful, but I was offered gas and air.

[bigmistake1]

I do think I need to add, some people dont find it painfully, apparently, but yes, as a previous poster stated, I did find it traumatic, I was shaking and sobbing afterwards.

[quickkimchi]

Oh gosh OP, I'm so sorry, I was hoping for the best for you. They proposed that I have it without any pain relief and 'see how you go, you can stop it if it's too much'. It doesn't seem fair to ask you to potentially undergo an unbearable procedure where the burden is on you to stop the whole thing, it's traumatising.

[Cantbelievelife]

Sorry it was so sore..I had to have the nurse holding my hand while consultant did it,I hated it and found it traumatic. They had to bring me.back for cell removal.but thankfully the consultant said I couldn't handle it and offered ga

[MostIneptThatEverStepped]

That's so awful, I'm so sorry you went through that OP.

It's unbelievable that there isn't standard sedation or GA for this.

Hate to say but if men had to have a similar procedure I can't imagine for one second it would be done without pain relief!!

[Murinae]

@bigmistake1 don’t feel bad. The consultant doing mine said they often have to stop when they don’t use a GA when I apologised and said sorry for causing all the fuss and choosing a GA. I also have a heart condition which means they had to get cardiology involved as well to turn off my implanted defibrillator before the procedure and turn it back on afterwards. As I said earlier mine ended up with a spinal rather than a GA as they said it was better in Covid times. Mine was definitely a hysterescopy with a biopsy. I got to see inside my womb on the camera as I refused the sedation (just had the spinal and was fully awake for it all). Downside was the spinal lasted for four hours!

[Justme10]

Oh I'm sorry to hear that at least they will do it under GA now though, did they give you an appointment or are you waiting?

[DuchessofDerbyshire]

I'm sorry to hear that. :(

Just for anyone reading, I do think a bit depends on the dr doing it.
I had one and it was fine- no pain- BUT it did take the dr 30 minutes to get the scope in and complete it all. I had the option to have a local at any time, or reschedule for a GA.

[bigmistake1]

Well it didn't go well . It was so painful they had to stop. My pain threshold for that kind of pain is really low, can do other types of pain ok. I didn't find child birth too bad, but this felt like a red hot poker. They did a smear which was fine, but it was agony when they put the scope through my cervix.

They're going to do it by GA. I must have been really stressed though which would t have helped, as my blood pressure was 250/123!

[SusannaSpider]

I'm wondering if all the procedures mentioned above were hysteroscopies? I had a womb biopsy that was performed in the dr's office (without warning), but no camera was used. No pain relief, it nipped a bit and I felt a bit light headed afterwards. I'm fairly robust, but felt really vulnerable afterwards and am embarrassed to admit I needed a wee cry in the car.
When seeing a different consultant for the results (not private), he wanted to remove a polyp and have a look inside, there was no option other than GA, I asked as I wasn't keen, but they said they didn't have the equipment to do it without. It all went fine, tiniest amount of bleeding, no after effects from GA and I went home the same day, felt far better than after the original biopsy, although I did feel knackered for a couple of days afterwards.

[Balaur]

I'm 44 and had one a few weeks ago. I barely felt anything beyond mild discomfort. I'd taken pain relief before as per the instructions and the nurse said she would stop it was unbearable. There were 3 nurses, one just to chat to me throughout as a distraction I think. It was absolutely nowhere near as bad as I thought and not bad at all in fact. I went from someone who hadn't even had a smear in 18 years to having a smear, an internal scan and then a hysteroscopy all within a few weeks

[Justme10]

I wouldn't worry about that, this whole process has took ages for me so I would imagine waiting times are different in every area

[WhySoSensitive]

I had one last June/July and only found it a little u comfortable.
I guess it really is one of those personal pain threshold type things!
Good luck OP.