severe haemorrhage after lletz -- aftercare?

[Nosejug]

I had the lletz precedure about two weeks ago, and on halloween night I (appropriately) started gushing blood and clots. I lost around four pints. Ended up have blood transfusions and platelets and all sorts. Had to be resuscitated 3 times. It was a horrific experience. Im home from the hospital with iron tablets and antibiotics, but Im just terrified at every little blip feeling inside of me. I have no idea how much to rest, how much to move, how much to worry.

If anyone else has had a similar experience, I would dearly appreciate hearing about it, and your recovery and setbacks, and any advice. Im sure I'm just a bit traumatised rather than in danger or they'd have made it clear to me, but bloating suddenly, and feeling little pings in my abdomen, it just terrifies me. I think I just want to talk to people who have experienced the same or similar.

Hey, I've seen this post and you also post on another few about your experience after LLETZ. I was in last Wednesday at 3pm for the LLETZ by 5pm I was haemorrhaging. At 3am Thursday morning I was taken to theatre for stitches. The successfully stopped the bleeding. I've been spotting very lightly since mainly pinky/brown but today seems slightly heavy. With the odd drop of red blood. And a slight twinge in my stomach. I'm still only wearing a liner. When I wipe it's a watery light red. It's not been a week yet since the trauma but I have been doing a lot today and yesterday night sure if I've over done it felt very tired this afternoon. Wondered if you could tell me what your experience was like after how long you bled for etc. seeing someone at my GP to speak about the trauma of it all.

Aw hey @Turningamumagain sorry to hear you’re going through this. It’s so hard to find others that have had such extreme bleeds after lletz, but have a look at Reddit for more experiences.

My bleeding was two weeks post lletz which is a common time for bleeding though it was extremely uncommon to have such a massive haemorrhage. For me it was very sudden, and all at once, but not spotting before or after. The surgeon had cut through an artery and cauterised it but when the scabs all came away (as expected two weeks later) my artery had bulged and burst which is why my bleeding was so extreme. It’s probably good that you bled at the time as opposed to later, becuase they’ll have looked at the damage there and resolved it rather than letting things simmer.

I had partly blamed myself for allowing activity to rise again in the lead up, but have come to understand that it was going to blow no matter what I did, and thankfully it wasn’t on the long haul flight I was due to take two days later (or in America 😬). You def should take it easy till things settle, but it sounds like they’ve addressed the main issue of your bleeding and you’re now healing. But yeah, let your pelvic area rest (stop yourself from lifting heavy stuff etc where possible).

After the bleed I was terrified it would happen again (I didn’t have surgery on the artery but just packing) and didn’t move for a few weeks but I probably could have, but I was traumatised. Well done on reaching out to your GP for help, I should have but didn’t. Currently under the care of a psychologist through nhs as, even though it’s two years later, I’m still dealing with the fallout mentally and physically (pregnant after 5 years infertility and at risk of losing the baby due to cervix damage).

The main thing I’d say is that you deserve to feel safe, so call the department that performed the surgeries and tell them the amount of bleeding and that you’re worried. I was basically abandoned (the guy who did it went on holiday and didn’t even get in touch after the haemorrhage despite me calling his office, he called a month later to say there had been no cancer and he was sorry as he must have cut through an artery.) in the last month I’ve discovered he removed a far more significant portion than he told me at the time, basically the entire external cervix. If I lose the baby I will probably be pursuing the reason for this not being communicated, but right now I’m just waiting day to day hoping to keep being pregnant till 24 weeks.

That sounds so traumatic. I really hope all goes well with the baby 🙏🏻 it's 7 days today since the procedure. last night I started to get slight cramps and I lost a small clot.
so now I am still panicking. I spoke to the hospital who didn't sound worried and more or less said unless I start to bleed profusely again just monitor it. I told them
there was no way I would let it get to that as I am so traumatised and do not want to be put to sleep again. I am taking it easy today. The bleeding isn't enough to be changing pads at the minute I've only been wearing a liner but it's the fact it's red that's worrying me plus the loss of this small clot. After your big bleed did you have any spotting? I'm during my ovulation period at the min so wondering if that's making it look worse. I'm just so scared. I definitely think they cut too deeply with mine too to cause this. I wish I'd never had it done now 🥺

I’d say taking it as easy as your life allows (from your name I’m assuming you have a child so I can imagine that’s tricky). I suppose our stories are different in that you bled right away and I bled two weeks after, so maybe the comparison isn’t too helpful. But no, I don’t remember actually bleeding much at all after the bleed, if I’m honest it was the most scary few weeks (post H) of my life so my memory might not be accurate. I played a 2000s computer game called harvest moon obsessively whilst listening to New Yorker podcasts and audiobooks in order to not be freaking out all the time. The good thing is that just becuase your fear levels are extreme, it doesn’t truly match what’s going on in your body. I can so understand why a clot would freak you out, I didn’t get my periods back for a few months after the bleed but when I did I was terrified of them. If you’re resting, eating well, not drinking alcohol etc, your body will be in the best place to heal you. I mean mine managed to close an open artery by itself, your body is incredible and knows how to deal with the damage and is busy doing that right now.

It was no small thing you’ve been though. Even now if I’m asked by a consultant or nurse (or recently a psychologist) to say even briefly what happened the response is usually “oh my god”.

You're still only in the first week since the procedure and then rescue, it does make sense that your body is still bleeding a little, but don’t let anyone put you off calling them as often as you need to in order to feel safer. I had a miscarriage about 6+months after and was bleeding quite heavily, obvs freaking out. The epu gave me really good advice which might help here just to help you feel in control. Keep an hourly log of how much is in a pad, and change the pad every hour. That was you can see if the bleeding is steady, increasing or decreasing. And when you’re feeling freaked out, you can look at your log and think, actually, I’m not bleeding excessively, it’s not getting stronger, and hopefully getting lighter.