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Original poster

Failed hysteroscopy

101 replies

theotherfossilsister · 24/02/2021 20:28

Hello, I'm feeling a bit crap and wanted some advice.

I had a failed hysteroscopy on Monday. It was insanely painful and they said they couldn't open the neck of the womb. After forty minutes of them trying various instruments they gave up. I was then very sick - dry retching for ages and literally lying on the bathroom floor in agony. I feel like something bead terribly wrong with me for it not to have worked but when I came out of the bathroom the doctor just said done women are like that.

We have been TTC for over two years now, abs a Hycosy said I had a polyp which was going to get removed at the hysteroscopy. But I failed to get it removed.

Weirdly our consultant thinks we have male factor and I am just being treated to rule anything our, but after the failed procedure I keep thinking I must have something terribly wrong with me. I've never heard of this happening to anyone else.

Please can folk advise? I don't think I have endo as periods are ok and regular, if a bit clotty, I just don't know why it went so wrong.

OP posts:
hopeishere · 24/02/2021 21:36

I had to stop a mirena insertion as it was so painful and I've had two kids. You can get it done under sedation.

Jambalaya76 · 24/02/2021 21:40

It is a very painful procedure. I had one 2 weeks ago and was given gas and air to help with the pain. Can you go for the procedure again, but this time with pain relief?

oneglassandpuzzled · 24/02/2021 21:45

It’s harder if you haven’t had a natural birth. Sometimes even if you have, the cervix can go into spasm. It’s not at all uncommon.

💐

Igmum · 24/02/2021 21:47

I have had a couple maybe 22 and 18 years ago also for polyps. I was given general anaesthetic. Sounds like they have changed the recommendations OP and not for the better 💐

Original poster
theotherfossilsister · 25/02/2021 08:55

Thank you so much all of you. You've made me feel better and less weird. @Jambalaya76 I actually had gas and air. I think the problem is my womb wouldn't open for even the narrowest telescope and they tried for forty minutes, a d it was excruciating.

@igmum they're sending me a letter soon they said so hopefully they will offer the procedure with general anaesthetic.

Thank you @oneglassandpuzzled and @hopeishere for making me feel less weird. So many things I've read have said it's fine and painless so I thought there was something wrong with me.

OP posts:
rawalpindithelabrador · 25/02/2021 09:00

You know who failed? Not you, but the NHS with this BARBARIC practice of doing this procedure with NO anaesthetic and/or just bloody gas and air. Absolutely horrific practice! There are reams of threads about this. It's nothing less than utter misogyny. A man would NEVER be expected to undergo such an invasive procedure with nothing. I'm so sorry.

AnyFucker · 25/02/2021 09:03

Please don’t feel bad

I had one recently and it was the most painful and frightening thing I ever had. Worse than childbirth.

You are not abnormal. If you google painful hysteroscopy you will find many women who could not tolerate it. Personally, I think doing hysteroscopies as an “office” procedure saves money and time but is actually barbaric

I think we need to ask ourselves would this be expected of men and the answer is no

Josuk · 25/02/2021 09:10

Some of us are just built that way.
With cervices that just not cooperating.
Mine is like that too. Wouldn’t budge to insert Mirena - even with injected double anastetic it was excruciating and they had to stop.
And when I tried to give birth naturally - even with being induced for 24 - it still wouldn’t open. So ended up with c-section.

So - do ask for the procedure with general!

rawalpindithelabrador · 25/02/2021 09:18

@AnyFucker

Please don’t feel bad

I had one recently and it was the most painful and frightening thing I ever had. Worse than childbirth.

You are not abnormal. If you google painful hysteroscopy you will find many women who could not tolerate it. Personally, I think doing hysteroscopies as an “office” procedure saves money and time but is actually barbaric

I think we need to ask ourselves would this be expected of men and the answer is no

100%!
choosername1234 · 25/02/2021 09:25

I've read numerous threads like this, about women who have endured this procedure with no anaesthetic. I am so relieved I was given a general anaesthetic / full sedation when I had mine

Original poster
theotherfossilsister · 25/02/2021 10:08

Thank you so much all of you especially @AnyFucker and @rawalpindithelabrador

I just felt so at fault and angry with myself for being so bloody nesh, but you've both made me feel better. Before hand the doctor said there may be a little pain and discomfort but not much.

Afterwards she spoke about sending me a letter but made it clear I'd go to the back of the waiting list again. We're supposed to be beginning ICSI soon because of dp's diagnosed problem, and I needed the polyp out before that so I felt terrible.

Dp kept telling me it wasn't my fault after, but I felt I jeopardised everything by being nesh. It was forty minutes of hell though.

When I was being sick afterwards I heard people outside moaning that I'd been in the bathroom for ages, which is true and also made me feel crap.

OP posts:
rawalpindithelabrador · 25/02/2021 10:11

That ol' BULLSHIT chestnut, 'A little pain and discomfort'. So sick of women's pain being minimised and dismissed like this.

frazzledasarock · 25/02/2021 10:14

I had a hysteroscopy a few years ago, I was completely sedated and under general anaesthetic, I would not have considered it any other way.

I can't believe this procedure is being done without sedation, you poor thing.

There's nothing wrong with you for rightly feeling pain when undergoing a painful procedure.

AgnesNaismith · 25/02/2021 10:16

Oh my gosh I’m so sorry OP. I don’t know why we’re expected to put up with this shit.

I’ve had a hysteroscopy under GA and an extensive colposcopy with nothing. Never again. Please demand a GA!

LaLaLandIsNoFun · 25/02/2021 10:19

You didn’t fail OP - the NHS has failed by lying about exactly how painful the procedure can be and implying that women are over reacting if they say it hurts.

LaLaLandIsNoFun · 25/02/2021 10:21

As for the people complaining - it that was NHS staff I’d be putting in a formal complaint

clopper · 25/02/2021 10:24

I had one and was not even offered gas and air. It is barbaric.

MsMarch · 25/02/2021 10:29

This makes me so angry. I had one about 13 years ago privately. It wasn't even discussed as an option to do it without a GA. I only discovered it was sometimes done without GA from MN. It is barbaric. After mine I bled for a month (which, my consultant did gently tell me I was an idiot for not consulting her about that earlier). It is not a pleasant or painless procedure.

OP, I don't have any advice but I would say if possible please push for a GA if they try to do it again.

Original poster
theotherfossilsister · 25/02/2021 10:30

Thank you. I felt like it was my fault. One of the nurses who greeted me and took my temperature wouldn't even look at me on my way out. Maybe they were busy and genuinely didn't see me go and say 'bye' but it felt like they were deliberately not looking at me. Might have just been the state I was in.

It was NHS staff @lalalandisnofun but I couldn't say which ones, and there was one very nice woman who came and squeezed my hand afterward I came out of the bathroom and wished me luck with the Icsi, which I really appreciated.

I just called the Lothian Gynaecology secretary and left an answer phone message asking if they could please call me back about maybe having it done under general and not going right to the back of the waiting list. I struggle with making a fuss but you have all made me feel a bit bolder and like I am not to blame.

OP posts:
KellyMarieTunstall2 · 25/02/2021 10:43

I'm having this procedure on the 8th via my private health policy. My gynae a Male, said it was a quick easy process, no GA required. He even said as I've had several pregnancies it will be a piece of cake!
It's clearly not, and now I'm becoming anxious about it.

frazzledasarock · 25/02/2021 10:55

I had the procedure done privately too, my female gynae didn't even suggest I have the procedure done without sedation, I'd had two DC by then also.

@KellyMarieTunstall2 don't agree to paying for this procedure without sedation, ask your gynae to have his arsehole winched open, liquid pumped into it to inflate his colon and cameras shoved up it. Without pain relief.

What am I reading, this is insane.

AnyFucker · 25/02/2021 10:57

You are not making a fuss. I was told to expect some discomfort a bit like period pain. It was nothing like that. I did have a sympathetic nurse who held my hand and tried to distract me by chatting and she couldn’t meet my eye afterwards. She knew.

I found it distressing and I am a tough cookie. Never again.

@KellyMarieTunstall2 maybe some women do sail through it. In your situation I would be discussing my options for pain relief. I had mine with none at all. I was told to take paracetamol beforehand but I work in the same hospital and dashed over at the end of a busy clinic and stupidly forgot. I don’t think paracetamol would have touched it though.

rawalpindithelabrador · 25/02/2021 11:00

@KellyMarieTunstall2

I'm having this procedure on the 8th via my private health policy. My gynae a Male, said it was a quick easy process, no GA required. He even said as I've had several pregnancies it will be a piece of cake! It's clearly not, and now I'm becoming anxious about it.
This makes me so angry. Nope, just nope. Wouldn't accept this at all. It is not 'quick and easy', well it is if you have a cock. The fucking nerve of these so-called professionals. I had an ERPC for a missed miscarriage. My cervix opened up quickly, apparently, as I'd given birth vaginally twice. But I was never expected to endure the procedure with NO fucking pain relief at all (I had a GA).

I actually wouldn't want a doctor doing this on me who felt it was reasonable to do it with no pain relief and would be on the phone right now noping that.

Fucking sick of how women are minimised when it comes to these procedures.

rawalpindithelabrador · 25/02/2021 11:01

You are not making a fuss. I was told to expect some discomfort a bit like period pain.

Yeah, they use that bollocks expression all the time, too. I tell them I've never once had pain with a period. I haven't. As for a man saying this, my counter is always, 'How would you know?'

rawalpindithelabrador · 25/02/2021 11:02

Women shouldn't have to 'make a fuss' to get adequate pain relief. This is not 'making a fuss'.