Hysteroscopy - painful?

[Adeno]

I've been diagnosed with adenomyosis even though I'm very young to have it. It explains the symptoms I've had since I was a teen. I have a hysteroscopy appointment soon to check if everything is ok as they saw something else in the ultrasound.

Is having a hysteroscopy painful? I also gave a very anteverted uterus which makes internal ultrasounds and smears/checks really awkward and uncomfortable.

GA isn't an option unless I delay this appointment further. Did they give you something to sedate/calm you?

Thank you.

Very much ask for sedation.

I am in the UK. Have had a few hysteroscopies. At my most recent one I was offered diclofenac (strong anti inflammatory) as a suppository, or Tramadol. They also offer a local anaesthetic injection. I think it depends on your pain threshold, and the condition they want to treat or test for. I would opt for a strong pain killer if offered, as a precaution (I think the experience on how painful it is does vary and it doesn't tend to be a long procedure). Hope it all goes smoothly.

Forgot to say, also offered gas and air!

I’ve had two and found them uncomfortable but honestly they were ok and I wouldn’t worry about having another. I was advised to take two paracetamol an hour before the appointment. The nurses were lovely. One held my hand throughout and made sure I was ok. Good luck - for me, it was fine and painless.

I forgot to say, I wasn’t offered any sedation and I really didn’t need it.

Could you have a spinal or would that cause the same delays?

I’m having one on Tuesday and I’m having a spinal. I’ve heard they can be quite painful so personally I wouldn’t have one without a GA or a spinal.

I had one two months ago with gas and air. I wouldn’t recommend it as a fun day out, it’s a bare down and suck it up situation.

worth doing if you’re like me and scared of delaying. If you can delay for a GA I would suggest it’s not urgent.

Please ask for Gas&Air and a local anaesthetic.
There has been a big campaign for this.
It never used to be offered and women just had to " put up" with it.
It can be extremely painful.
I've had 3 during in the 80s no pain relief at all.
Even though l cried and asked them to stop..

There is a big disparity between the level of pain or discomfort felt by different women during a hysteroscopy, and there's no telling how it will affect you before you have it. About a third of women feel only minor pain, a third feel moderate pain and a third suffer severe pain. You can't judge by others experience what you will feel. Likewise different hospitals seem to have differing ways of approaching the pain issue for patients. Some hospitals do hysteroscopies under GA as standard, and others seem reluctant to even give pain relief at all, and of course there's a range of policies between them. Personally, I had an incredibly painful hysteroscopy, which left me with PTSD. Not everyone does, but it's a risk. You are entitled to demand a GA if you want one, but it's quite likely that you will be told most women are fine awake as an outpatient. Take this with a big pinch of salt. They lie! Can I suggest you look at the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy website for more information. Best of luck.

In my experience there are some hysteroscopies that are quick exploratory procedures, sometimes with a biopsy. They may just require paracetamol. If they are expecting to find a polyp or growth that they want to remove on the day, then it may be something called hysteroscopy with myosure which is more uncomfortable and would probably require stronger pain relief. I have had both types and the experiences were very different. The team should talk you through all this and give you the most appropriate options for pain relief. This is just my interpretation of the situation, having had 5 of them in the last decade. I'm not medically trained. Hope it's straightforward for you.

I had one unexpectedly when having an internal scan. I didn't have any pain relief or sedation. I thought it would be like a smear test (which I'm fine with) but it was very painful. More like labour pain levels. Fortunately it is over quite quickly.

If I had it again I'd ask for gas and air

I had mine with no sedation. I did have local anaesthetic which just hurt for a very short time. The rest was just uncomfortable. They did have gas and air on hand in case it was needed too

I had one about 20 years ago, without any pain relief or sedation. I didn't find the pain excruciating, but it was very unpleasant as was the sensation of being utterly invaded. Gas and air or a spinal block would have been lovely.

If they did this without your consent during the scan then that is assault. 😳 How awful.

i have a very pronounced vagal nervous response that means i often faint after smears, etc and i found it painful but not as much as having a coil fitted. If you have the same then let them know!
i would definitely ask for pain relief, but dont be too scared - its bearable and over very quickly

Suppose you have to ask to ask what the local clinic use.

I have the coil put in by one hospital under ga who were adamant the GP could just pull it, the GP were like we hold no sedation on site. We’ll give it so many minutes before we start making a referral back.

Another hospital via PALS ended up taking the coil out in a hysteroscopy clinic in 15 minutes using an anaesthetic injection down below - I didn’t feel it and managed to get myself many miles home alone. Yet this was never an option in Nov 23 when the nhs tried to do a hysteroscopy on the day there and then at another hospital before resorting to ga in a ‘few months’.

To clarify, they did tell me they wanted to do it and asked if I wanted them to go ahead or to make a separate appointment for it - I just didn't expect it prior to the appointment.
I had no knowledge of the procedure and thought it would be like a smear test.

I think everyone has a very personal response and you can not generalise or dismiss others experience. I have a fairly high pain tolerance but my body reacts when anything tries to enter my womb. Having the coil inserted was incredibly painful and having it removed was traumatic. The consultant offered gas and air for the hysteroscopy and that was not sufficient. She then offered either to retry another day with a GA or to try a local. I went with the local alongside the gas and air and it was just about sufficient. She had to do the bare minimum when she was completing the procedure but once she had finished the pain disappeared.

She said that it was purely my body's response so never to have a coil inserted or have the procedure without GA.

I think I was incredibly lucky as everyone was so kind and understanding and at every point I was given the choice of additional painkillers or to stop.

Thank you everyone for sharing! I didn't know about local anaesthetic so I'll ask for that and gas and air and maybe sedation. I don't want to ask for GA because then the procedure will be further delayed. I really hope I don't have what they're investigating for but I just want this over and done with and found out asap.