Can I ask for a hysterectomy?

[WildFlowerBees]

My mum died of ovarian cancer, prior to her diagnosis she had huge fibroids she was 67.

I'm now 45 and have endometriosis, awful periods, I'm now in constant pain and the last few months sex has become painful. I'm seeing my GP for a gynaecologist referral but can I ask for a hysterectomy?

I'm so fed up with being tired, bloated being in pain and bleeding heavily.

I don't want the coil and have tried different treatments but nothing seems to be helping.

Even a private gynae couldn’t offer 100% that fitting a coil was the answer, that it would take away all discomfort and get me back to the normal tummy sensation I remember in Nov 2022.

I deplore the answer is well you can have this removed dear as quickly as it is inserted. What a waste of time if you are nhs or private.

Me too. Five years of jumping through hoops with Gynae (and that was after three years of the useless GP fobbing me off before a locum eventually referred me to Gynae). After the hoop-jumping, they put me on the waiting list for a hysterectomy which was another 18 months. I was suicidal by this point and looking at having to give up a career that I’d worked incredibly hard for, so there was little option but to go private, despite paying a lot of tax every month to supposedly have access to the NHS. To be fair they did treat me when I collapsed in A&E from the bleeding, and was hospitalised (twice). But apparently it was acceptable to carry on like that for another 18 months until they got around to me. The hysterectomy was life-changing. Within two months of the operation I was able to start doing all kinds of things that I hadn’t been able to do for years. My forties were ruined thanks to how disgustingly shit the NHS is.

Ask for a choose & book appointment to your nearest private hospital, you get longer with the consultant, tell them you are at the end of your tether & you need a hysterectomy. You will stand a better chance under choose & book. If you could wait 6 months, join Benenden, it's £13 a month & you can have it done privately, you just need to have been a member for 6 months.

@WildFlowerBees I’m sorry that you (and everyone else on this thread) haven’t felt heard/have had difficult experiences with the health service and it’s certainly not been my intention to add to any of that by posting here.

I do understand that many women feel let down by the health service and by medicine in general, particularly when it comes to gynae issues. I simply came here to offer a perspective from the clinician’s side of the desk regarding your planned conversation about having a hysterectomy.

I’m not hanging around here for more doctor bashing here or on other threads though (which unfortunately happened this evening). I get enough of that at work. Believe it or not, we are all simply trying to do our best for our patients right now in an utterly failing system, and completely burning ourselves out doing it too.

Good luck with the hysterectomy OP.

Look at going private. Probably not cheap because there’s a lot of knife work but it depends how badly you want that relief. Otherwise you may be waiting ages, even if you can pursued the NHS to treat you. And then you will have to jump through endless hoops. It’s shit, I know. Big hug 🤗

I agree with this. I wish that I’d paid to go private years ago. There comes a point where you have to decide what several years’ quality of life or being able to stay in your job is worth to you. The private providers offer payment plans as well.

Edited to say: mine was £7.5k with Spire

I think if you can, private may be a good option. As others have said, payment plans are of often available now, to make things more affordable.

Waiting times on the NHS are way too long now and when quality of life and careers are compromised, well it doesn't matter how hard the medics work sadly, patients must have a back up plan.

Good luck OP.

I have health insurance with my work so I'll look into it. Thank you, shame so many of us are in the same boat and have been so let down by the NHS.

I don’t have endometriosis but did have fibroids and had a hysterectomy at your age. I’d had nearly a year of constant bleeding, had expelled my coil in a huge clot, had a failed ablation (uterus was a funny shape), next step was hysterectomy which I gladly accepted. It’s been about 6 years now and it’s so much better.

I did have to keep stressing that I didn’t want another coil (for me this was about not getting accidentally pregnant if it came out again without me noticing). I did try everything else so didn’t really have to fight for the hysterectomy.

As you already have an endometriosis diagnosis have a look at the ‘endometriosis guidance and information resource UK (endoRevisited)’ on Facebook.
it contains loads of information and the NICE guidelines for treatment of endometriosis.

with their help my 52wk wait for gyno turned into a 6week wait for an endometriosis specialist at a regional centre. I’m late 30s and will be having a total hysterectomy due to deeply infiltrating endometriosis with bowel symptoms.

I wish I’d known about it years ago. I hope it helps some people on this thread.

Yes, you absolutely can. I had a full hysterectomy at age 48 and after years of experiencing painful periods, it was the best thing I've ever done.

They didn't try and talk me out of it. Probably because I was so adamant it was what I wanted. I'd completed my family years ago, plus I had tried alternative methods to control the painful periods. They also let me decide whether to have a full hysterectomy or partial where I would keep my ovaries. I decided to have everything removed.