Teenager considering Hysterectomy??

Hello everyone,

I've looked at this website for a while now, and I'm excited to have finally joined the HysterSister community! So, a little about me:

I am 19 years old, I'll be 20 later this year, and I have unbelievable menstrual cycles. Since my very first period (7 or 8ish years), I have never had regular, manageable cycles. For years I didn't think much of it, because I knew that for the first while periods are almost always irregular. But a random month of my life would look something like this:

10 days bleeding--3 days not--4 days bleeding--1 day not--15 days bleeding

And so on. I literally can never go without at least a panty-liner, because I never know when I'll start my period. I'm almost always bleeding, and when I'm not then I'm constantly wondering when I will. Long story short, this is absolute hell. I have tried hormonal birth controls over the past half-dozen years: about 6 types of pills, of all kinds, the ring, the patch, and the IUD will be next. Nothing has made any difference at all, and the constant fluctuating hormones from it are taking a toll on my body, emotionally and with weight gain, and I really can't do this any more.

I'm in a wonderful, stable relationship of around four years, with an incredible guy, and he obviously feels this pain with me. Aside from the hormones, I've had an abdominal ultrasound, preventative antibiotics, tons of bloodwork and even an exploratory laporoscopy, all of which were normal, which leaves us all extremely frustrated. Both my fiance and I have discussed at length the issue of my quality of life vs. the chance to have biological children, and we are really leaning toward fixing this bleeding through surgery.

One of the biggest issues is that I am so young. The bleeding is very light--often just nonstop spotting--so there is no real health risk involved with this; just that it is making my life a living hell and it has for years and years and I'm just done with it. There is no cause or fix to be found, and a partial hysterectomy is the only conceivable way to end this crap will also mean no biological family--if I can even find a doctor to perform it. Even with the support of my loved ones and my potential children's father, I don't know any doctor who will do an elective hysterectomy on a person this young, not to mention the fact that health insurance will surely not pay for it under my circumstances.

So, that's me. I'm very sorry for the short novel, but for anyone who actually made it all the way to the end of this post, I would so appreciate any kind of advice or thoughts, or even just to know that I'm in their prayers.

You guys are awesome!

Hi CallieBee! I know how you feel - I had terrible periods when I was a teenager and throughout adulthood (I'm 45 now). It is really tough dealing with bleeding all the time!!

I encourage you to consider trying an IUD first. I got one in 2013 and almost immediately my periods greatly reduced and within a year I was having only a couple of days of spotting a month, at most. Definitely a vast improvement!

Also, please consider that at 19 years old you might not feel the same as you will when you're 25, or 30, or 40. Just think back about what you liked when you were 10 or 15 years old ... different than now, right? You might want kids someday so please don't make an irreversible decision like hysterectomy unless there is a true health reason (versus inconvenience). Trust me, you will never regret giving yourself time to consider this choice!

Good luck and hang in there!

I also had bad periods the thing that changed for me was having my daughter, it seemed to regulate everything. If you have a fiancé then have a child, a hysterectomy is a radical solution with many years to regret your decision. It just might fix things for you too.

Hi CallieBee,
Your pattern, unfortunately, sounds familiar to me. Since no one could figure mine out until recently I will put this out there in case it helps: have you ever been evaluated for a bleeding disorder? There are over 200 of them, and they can produce crazy patterns like that where it takes forever to stop bleeding and then the slightest "insult" to the flesh makes it start up again. Many don't respond well to the standard treatments (i.e. hormones) but some of them have their own treatments that will reduce the bleeding.
I was 18 when I decided I wanted a hysterectomy. At that point my period had not yet reached the stage where I went on bleeding forever in unpredictable patterns very much like that, but I had absolutely horrific cramps and nothing could even take the edge off. Now, finding a doctor willing to do it was a whole other story and that didn't go so well at all. The difference was, I was absolutely certain even then that I didn't want children. In fact, this was part of what fueled my misery: apart from the sheer physical suffering, which was so bad I would actually wish I could pass out from the pain since nothing else would relieve it, there was the point that my body kept putting me through this every month to prepare for an event I wanted nothing to do with (and which, as it turns out, would not have been a very good idea because of exotic underlying health problems that had gone undiagnosed). You don't sound so certain about whether you really want to give up the chance to have biological children, and this is a permanent and irreversible decision.
Also, just throwing this out there, why a "partial" hysterectomy? If you mean you want to keep your ovaries then this is by all means a good idea unless there is a grave reason to remove them. However, "partial hysterectomy" usually means removing the body of the uterus and keeping the cervix, and if you do there is a risk of continued bleeding-as I know all too well.

CallieBee- I can completely relate to your situation. I chose to have a total hysterectomy (removed the uterus and cervix) b/c of non stop bleeding for years...on light days it would be minimal spotting, but most days it was heavier...often times excessive menstration is diagnosed as either menorrhagia or adenomyosis, both of which are valid medical conditions and are covered by health insurance. My hysterectomy was 'fully covered' by my health insurance although I still had a painfully large deductible I had to pay first.

You are definitely very young to have to consider a hysterectomy. Like several other women here have already mentioned, even if you feel that right now you and you're fiance don't want children, time causes many people to change their minds about big life decisions like that.

If you are dead set on getting a hysterectomy (if you can find a doctor willing to give you one, like you said) have you looked into possibly freezing your eggs as a 'just in case' option for your and your fiance's future?

Please do your research and exhaust all other options before choosing to get a hysterectomy...it is an irreversible choice.

Also, it's important to know, like velvetandlace said, a partial hysterectomy only removes the uterus. And when the cervix is left intact there is still a possibility of having mini periods after surgery which can defeat the purpose if your are wanting to stop all the bleeding/spotting.

A total hysterectomy is removal of the uterus and cervix.

I would definitely give an IUD a go first. 19 is very young to be having a hysterectomy. And while you don't want kids now, that can change in your late 20's and 30's. The need for children becomes very strong.

IUD's like the Mirena can help with the bleeding and last for 5yrs. It is worth exhausting all options before considering more permanent things such as surgery.

If you do have a hysterectomy but keep your ovaries, you could go the surrogate route and would not have to freeze your eggs, you can simply do IVF to mature and retrieve them.

I had my daughter who is an IVF baby at 28 and at that age the yearning for kids was incredibly strong.

I agree with the others give an IUD a try. Take some more time to do research on a hysterectomy. There are definite pros in your case but there are also potential cons. At 19 are you willing to live with the cons for the rest of your life if you were one of the unlucky ones. Light spotting may seem like a blessing compared to some of the issues that women suffer with after a hysterectomy. Most have successful surgeries and no matter how much you trust the surgeon sometimes things go wrong. No doctor can tell you how your body is going to respond to surgery (of any type). They make educated guesses based off their experiences and research but each patient is different. Usually women who choose a hysterectomy choose it because the quality of their life is already very poor - lots of pain, uncontrollable bleeding that makes them anemic, cancer, etc. is your quality of life so bad that you feel you have no other choice?

A hysterectomy is like spinning a roulette wheel some people win big and some lose big and most fall somewhere in between. How much are you willing to gamble on your life at 19?