Hysterectomy recovery advice pls

[Howwilliknow122]

Hi everyone, so im 10 weeks post surgery. I had open surgery, hysterectomy and im not sure how my recovery is going and am worried I should be back to normal activities when im not. I struggle with walking too much, still can't do too much around the house because the area around my scar still aches, my tummy still looks swollen, the surgeon discharged me at 8 weeks saying everything was fine and recovery is different for everyone which is fine but should I still be this uncomfortable at 10 weeks post op? Ive also got a slight shelf (tummy over hang) just above my scar which apparently will go when I exercise even thou ive been doing all the exercises on the sheet the hospital gave me... anyone else had this issue? Will I ever be back to normal activities again? 🤦‍♀️

I would imagine the recovery is similar to a C section, I found wearing support pants to hold the scar in & support my muscles worked well. At first even going out on a cold day hurts, mine took about 3 months to be back to normal, I'm still numb across my scar 21 years later. Can you do any gentle exercise like swimming?

Would you say at around the 10 week point you still struggled to walk too? When u say support pants like the ones you wear to pull your tummy in under a dress or a skirt? Should I get my own size or one size up? Edited to say im too scared to go swimming at the moment but I am trying to walk every day and im finding it tough.

I had a radical hysterectomy with lateral scar and it took me at least 12 weeks to get back to about 50% of normal. I felt like you - that I wasn’t recovering quickly enough - and at the time it felt like I would never recover. I think after about 14–16 weeks I was getting there and recovery was quite rapid after that.

Everyone is different and don’t forget this is a major abdominal surgery, which has a huge physical impact. Your body needs time to heal at its own pace. Go easy on yourself, eat well, rest, listen to your body. You’ll get there. You will!

Oh wow, Thank you for this. I just feel like I swapped one hell for another and worry i may never recover, thank you for sharing your experience, sounds like you went thru alot as well, its reassuring to hear that im not alone in this feeling of not ever recovering.

I found it really helpful to have a few sessions with a private physio, she gave me exercises to help my balance and to strengthen the muscles in my stomach again.

The recovery from a full open hysterectomy is quite a lot harder than a keyhole surgery, often it’s been done that way because of other complications so you’re already on the back foot. I had mine in September 2021 and felt barely human for the first few months. I went back to work part time after 4 months but was still very tired and sore.
The best thing I did was to rest way more than I thought I would have needed to. At times it felt like I’d be poorly forever but 4 years later I’m mostly living my life as normal. The nerve damage around my crotch and down one leg is still there but less severe.
The overhang remains despite still being relatively slim and I can’t get into my old jeans anymore, if there’s no stretch then I have to size up. Feel better in firm high waisted pants.
You’ll get there, honestly!

It’s a hell of a lot tougher than a c section!!

Yep it was open surgery because two fibroids had grown too big and were pushing my womb out of place and my had pushed one of my ovaries out so the ovaries were riding on top of a fibroid. thanks for sharing your story, maybe I need to rest more as well . Im sorry to hear about the nerve damage... I was not warned about any kind of after issues, just warned about a small scar. Never warned about the over hang or the constant pain or told recovery could take months. I was told 6 weeks no heavy lifting 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️. Sorry you went through it so bad. I am starting to see from the replies that what im going thru is common and I can chill at least and not stress that my recovery needs to be faster then what it is.

Can’t emphasise enough about the lifting thing. There was a lady on my bay who was in to correct a prolapse because she had overdone it after her hysterectomy- the risk is higher because some of the internal anchors are no longer there. Also explains the change of tummy shape. Sometimes I think we were designed by men!

😲😲😲 exactly pro lapse and hernia risk which I've read about now. Yes we've defo been designed by a man. A useless one 🤦‍♀️

As others have said full recovery takes many months but you will get there. It’s major surgery. As well as your external incision your insides need to heal up from where your uterus has been removed.

A year down the line you’ll realise your life has transformed for the better in what you can do compared to pre-hysterectomy