TAH: Afraid of what they wont find during my hysterectomy!

At 15 I was having so much pain I was missing school and always in the er. I went to numerous GYN's they all said it sounds like endometriosis but your too young for that so its just cramps and I needed to tough it out. At 17 I found a GYN that didn't think I was too young to have a problem so she did a laparscopy. The GYN told me she had never seen a case of endometriosis so bad. A year later I had to have another laparscopy and it had returned along with a cyst. Luckily I was able to have children and delivered both by c-section. Now I am 24 and scheduled for a hysterectomy on June 20th. I recently started to fear that the GYN doing my surgery would open my up to find absolutely nothing wrong with me and age would close me up without doing the hysterectomy and I would be back to square one. I have become so worried about this I have actually thought about canceling my surgery. Please help me with this I'm SO confused and scared now. Thank you.

I'm so sorry you are going through all of this. This is a very scary time, that is for sure.

I'm glad that you found a doctor that would listen to you about your symptoms and you were able to get a diagnosis. Having said that, I hope your has explained to you that a hysterectomy is not a cure for endometriosis. Removing our reproductive organs will not make the disease go away. The key to success is the skillful excision of all of the implants. If even a speck is left behind, it could continue to grow and give you problems.

Have you spoken with your doctor as to what she plans to do to remove the disease? Many doctors are not skilled enough or familiar enough to recognize and remove all of the disease. It is always best to consult with an Endometriosis Speicalist. There are some good resources in the Endometriosis Support forum. There are even tips on how to find a doctor that specializes in this horrible disease.

If you are at all uncomfortable with having this surgery, PLEASE get a second opinion. You are so young and this is so permanent. Once it is done, you can't go back, so please, please, please make sure that this is what is best for you. I'm sure that if you and your doctor have decided that this is what is best for you in your particular situation, then the procedure will go forward as planned.

I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide and whatever happens. Sending you calming thoughts and

My experience was like yours, I had cramps so bad I'd end up in the er sometimes. After a million tests over the years, no one ever found anything wrong with me. The thing is, when I had my hysterectomy nine months ago, I was anxious to see the pathology report so I could FINALLY once and for all find out what was wrong with me. It turns out, my uterus was on the large size of perfectly average and there was nothing in there that was unusual, so I still don't know why or how my periods lasted 20 days and I had so much pain and so much heavy bleeding. But let me tell you, I feel TERRIFIC without it! The surgery has literally changed my life and it will change yours, too.