Experiences of outpatient hysteroscopy and whether to have it without anaesthetic

[Sillybillypoopoomummy]

Please can I ask advice about outpatient hysteroscopy. I have obviously heard horror stories but can't judge how realistic they are? I have had a hysterosalpingogram about 18 years ago - this was something that lots of people said could be painful and I was lucky and it was not at all. Hysteroscopy is chunkier tools to get through the cervix though and there is the potential option of biopsy - all without any pain relief (other than the kind suggestion to take a paracetamol in advance...). I do not want a GA unnecessarily but I feel the literature about this is very mixed with the NHS on oneside and everyone who has experienced it on the other, but am aware that those who had no problems don't feel the need to write about it!
Please can I ask for opinions of hysteroscopies from those who found it fine and those who didn't. I have an appointment suddenly in a week so don't have long to decide.

I had one just to examine me, not to do any treatment through it.

I was terrified before it, had to get anti-diarrhoea tablets. During was bearable. I never got the option of a GA anyway.

Afterwards I had a stiff bum for 3 months!

I will really avoid having this test again, but I'm not reliant on the NHS so they can't penalise me for not undergoing a certain test/procedure, which I presume they can in the NHS.

I had this under local twice and each time had polyps removed and biopsies .
I found the procedure fine if a bit undignified, there was some pain when they numbed it but nothing awful.
I was fine afterwards both times and the second time I went back to work straight from the procedure. I had mild bleeding and cramping.
I wad really worried about having it done but I had a really positive experience

I had 10mg diazepam of my own and then gas and air. I can't remember much apart from a tiny bit of uncomfortableness. I'm so grateful to mumsnet threads as there is no way I'd have agreed to it with just the suggested paracetamol. It can be awful.

I had one earlier this year, I’m already on cocodamol for chronic pain so I took that beforehand and I was absolutely fine without even a local. I had some gas and air but that really helped more with my back pain from the position I was in. I had multiple polyps removed, biopsies and a mirena inserted with mine. I had quite a lot of bleeding afterwards but I was having that anyway, hence why I was having it done.

I honestly wish every woman could have an experience like mine, I was petrified going in to it as I’d heard of so many women suffering horribly with them. 😢

I've had two in the last 6 weeks. I took my painkillers before hand for the first but found it so painful the doctor had to give me a local anaesthetic, which made it bearable. The second was last week after the results of the biopsy from no 1 came back. I had to have several polyps removed, the lining of the womb removed and a mirena coil inserted to help prevent future problems. I insisted on a local anaesthetic at the outset. I still found it painful - giving birth to my 10lb+ child with only gas and air was less painful, but it was better. The cramping afterwards was unbelievable. I was advised to take the rest of the week off to rest and recover. I still have slight cramps but it is bearable now. If you have the option of a ga, I'd go for it, I didn't have the choice as I was on a 2week referral and the wait for ga is about 6 weeks here. I found it absolutely barbaric.

Edited for typo

Speaking as someone who finds smears agony (tilted uterus, stage 4 endometriosis) I wasn’t overjoyed when my GP couldn’t retrieve my Mirena, snapped the strings and after rummaging around for some time, admitted defeat and said I’d need to go to a local clinic to have it retrieved via hysteroscopy. The doctor who did it was a specialist and apparently very good but my god I was nervous. No GA was ever mentioned; iirc I’d been told to take the usual paracetamol but that was it, other than a nurse’s hand to hold.

I have to say, the doctor really was good - just as it was starting to feel very slightly painful, she managed to get hold of the elusive coil, and I could watch it happening on the monitor. If it had gone on any longer, though, I suspect I’d be reporting a different and much worse experience.

However, I’m a firm believer in medical procedures being as painless as possible, and tbh I still can’t quite get my head around the way women generally are expected to put up with frankly astonishing levels of agony as routine (that’s something you definitely encounter attempting to get a diagnosis of endometriosis, sadly).

When I had a hysteroscopy around 20 years ago, no pain relief was offered. I had it in a private hospital (on the NHS), too. It wasn't unbearably painful but it was deeply unpleasant. The dilating of the cervix caused by body to go into some kind of panic and it couldn't decide whether it wanted to pass out or vomit. They tilted the bed back so the blood rushed to my head. They said it wasn't uncommon for people to pass out. I've had quite few cervical procedures (biopsies, a large LLETZ, silver nitrate treatment, dozens of smears including with a intra-cervical brush). Many were more painful but none were as unpleasant as that hysteroscopy. I genuinely can't believe I was told that numbing or sedation are unnecessary - looking back I'm genuinely astounded that women were put through it with no pain relief or sedation.

Things are different now - they've realised they underestimated the pain involved in the newer, slimmer tools brought in in the 2000s. If I was given gas and air and a local anaesthetic (especially now I've had two kids), I think I'd avoid the GA. I wouldn't do it without gas and air, though. For me it wasn't the pain - I'd need to be high as all hell to risk feeling that faint, sick and vulnerable again - I've never felt worse

I had one recently, with a biopsy. It wasn’t agony, more uncomfortable and I found the whole thing a bit overwhelming. I think if I were to have one again I’d look for sedation

I had uterine polyp removal under local a few years ago. I mean it was pretty grim - sedation would made it more bearable. Thank goodness dh came to take me home as I was a bit shaken afterwards and def wasn’t up to driving.
The actually hysteroscopy to diagnose the polyps was really painful. The nurse said ‘we sometimes take out the polyp at this point but I can see you won’t be able to tolerate that’. No shit!

I had one done last year biopsy, polyps removal and merina and had it under GA privately as covered on DHs insurance and the private hospital only did them under GA...which I thought was interesting as I was on an NHS waiting list and that wasn't mentioned there

It’s so strange to me that we are all accepting the horror that was back street abortion but we just accept that women are still asked to go through procedures like this where they routinely pass out.

I passed out twice from Mirena insertions and had a GA for my hysteroscopy. But I had to argue very strongly for it!

Mine was agony - going from zero to what felt like full-blown labour pains. I was shouting with pain, so they had to move very quickly to get the biopsy done and get out. I had gas & air but it didn't touch the sides. I was fine afterwards (well, not fine, exactly, as I'd seen something very obviously cancerous on the camera), but if I ever needed another I would ask for GA. Luckily, as I have no cervix or uterus anymore, that won't be an issue.

Yes, I saw a female gynae for my first private one. (I need them annually and the NHS was not willing to do GA, although it changed its mind after I complained). When I told her about my NHS experience (vomiting and fainted), she shuddered and said there was no way on earth she’d have one without GA!

This is just the NHS trying to save money by encouraging the old “women are hard wired to pain” bullshit. They can get to fuck.

This is something that will be very dependent on you personally OP. I've had two hysteroscopies with only paracetamol as pain relief and would describe them both as mildly uncomfortable. I had one before having DC and the other after, so that wasn't a factor. On both occasions I drove myself to and from the appointment and was absolutely fine to do so (thank goodness!). Honestly, it was no worse than having a cervical smear. But I know some women find them agony. I was really surprised to learn that, as to me they were nothing of the sort.

Same here - exact same circumstance and had GA. It wasn’t even a question.

Just had one recently with a GA and it was a breeze. I had a big polyp removed, biopsies etc and I was only under for about 45 minutes - probably not even that long. I was home 4 hours later. My gynae (female) refuses to do hysteroscopies on conscious women.

Post op had a fair bit of bleeding, some cramping and general discomfort. Felt hungover from the GA, but one good night's sleep and I was fine again.

I've had two hysteroscopies, both were also in addition to having a Mirena coil fitted at the same time.
Both were extremely painful - the first time I was offered a local anaesthetic after I said they'd have to stop as I couldn't bear any more pain, the second time I asked for it before they started - it was never offered though, I had to ask.
Even with the local, it was very painful, my BP dropped through the floor and I nearly passed out.
If I ever need another one I will be asking for a GA, I can't do that again...

When I was getting changed after the second one, there was a lady waiting in the changing rooms who had forgotten to take any painkillers - she asked the nurse about the pain level and the nurse said she'd be fine.
I waited until the nurse left then told the woman that probably wasn't going to be true, the procedure can be extremely painful and to ask for a local as they definitely wouldn't be offering it to her first....

I had one done last year - hysteroscopy, polypectomy and biopsy. I took paracetamol and ibuprofen before hand and was prepared to halt it if things were too painful. I found it no worse than a smear test but I’m aware others have a lot more pain. I’m 64. I was told to rest for 30 minutes with a cup of tea, then I drove home.

I had one without. I took paracetamol and ibruprofin before as suggested. It was very uncomfortable but doable. But I’ve had a life time of really awful period pain (fainting, throwing up level pain, and I think I’m quite brave/pain tolerant as a result). Think hands gripping chair and teeth gritted. Personally I think there should be anaesthetic for all of these.

the sample taking was the worse bit, but was very quick. It was a sharp pain rather than a throb

on the positive side it resulted in referral for ablation under general and that was awesomely life changing 😊

I hope yours goes ok

ha ha I have a reprieve. Was scheduled for saturday but now have my period and the way I bleed they won't see anything (was predicable given they are every 2 weeks). Will talk to lots of people, re hysteroscopy and then (if suitable) ablation under GA given that nothing hormonal is suitable for me. Thank you hive mind :-)

I had one with a biopsy on Tuesday. Glad I hadn’t read this thread beforehand as I would have been anxious. I had 2x ibuprofen about 2 hours beforehand and I found it absolutely fine. I had a smear first and I found that more uncomfortable. I didn’t really feel the camera go in - only felt cramping like period pain when he was taking biopsy samples. The team were lovely and chatted away to put me at ease. I’m 49 and have had one vaginal birth. I walked away and drove home no problem.
I’d be happy to have another one without a GA. I’ve only had one GA and it made my very tired and low for a few days after.
I’m not in the UK and there was no mention of a possibility of a GA so wouldn’t necessarily put it down to an NHS thing.

I’ve had two hysteroscopy procedures, both in my fifties. I took two paracetamol beforehand and two later on ( as advised). Both were practically pain free and there was nothing terrifying about them ( what was terrifying was being diagnosed with cancer but that’s another story!)

l was told both times that if hurt, then to say so. The nurses were skilled and chatted to me throughout the procedure. I went back to work straight after, both times. No GA required.

I had a hysteroscopy at 41fibroids were removed as well as biopsy. I found it ok felt a weird scraping sensation though but not painful at all. Also 3 colposcopies (2 with local anaesthetic) and last year a hysterectomy with full removal only needed paracetamol for a couple of days.

I’m 50 and have had 3 hysteroscopies this year. The first 2 failed to get into the uterus. I had IVF treatment and some of the tests I found very invasive, especially the hycosy procedure with the dye, which I also found painful.

So when I went into the room I was in tears before they even did anything.

The all-female team was very kind and it was the consultant who decided to stop and recommended GA. This was offered as an option when the appointment was first booked, in a hospital leaflet. Anyway I had a third hysteroscopy under GA last week, all fine, they took biopsies but could not find the polyp they were meant to remove - it had disappeared. I didn’t find it particularly painful the next day and was doing my usual exercise routine 2 days after the procedure. Hopefully I won’t have to do it again, but if I did, I would go straight to GA. I sort of enjoyed the process of falling asleep…it was quite relaxing. I was the first appointment of the day and I was back home before lunchtime.

I hate general anaesthetics so I’ve had about half a dozen done without. I swear a lot and usually at some point yell “I’m about to change my mind”. Then minutes later it’s over, I feel fine and I’m pleased I decided not to have a GA. They are fucking painful but only for a few minutes