Newcomer...really in the dark

i am a 47 y/o childless Mensan. i am a H candidate due to fibroids, enlarged uterus, heavy bleeding resulting in anemia. i have just let it go, but now it's at the point i'm ready to yank the thing out myself. i can no longer have comfortable sex, constant pain, and i'm seriously anemic from blood loss.
they have to do an abdominal incision due to the size of the uterus.
i am also severely overweight, so i'd like to hear from anyone else with this health concern. the dr. didn't insist i lose weight, but when i mentioned i'm tryin to get bariatric surgery, he said it would be "optimal" if i did that first, lost weight, then had the H. that may or may not happen depending on my insurance company.

what's all this about incontinence? that scares me.

FluffyLemur

The weight issue comes up often on these boards, so you may want to do a search using "overweight" as the search word.
I too am overweight and my surgery was complicated a little bit because of it- but the doctor did not seem too concerned when I brought the concern up to him.

Bariactric surgery is a very radical procedure. (I'm considering it myself) Hysterectomy is an invasive procedure. Both take time to recover from. You have to decide which one is right for you at this time.
(I wish they could have done both at the same time )

Lamb and Lion

I am not sure what you consider severly overweight. I was about 80 lbs. overweight when I had my hysterectomy. My doctor was not concerned at all. I had gall bladder surgery a year ago at 150 lbs. over weight and that doctor had no problems with my weight. That surgery was laproscopic but we had discussed my weight in case he had to do a full incision for some reason. I had an abdominal, vertical incision with my hyster and had no problems with recovery. Needed no pain meds. Everyone is different and recovers at their own pace, I'm not sure weight has a lot to do with it. A very close friend had bariatric surgery a year before my surgery. Her recovery was much more difficult than mine. Just talk it over with your doctor and decide which is best for you at this time.

Peggy

FluffyLemur,

I was trying to get approved for weight loss surgery when my doctor decided that I needed a hysterectomy. I asked her if the Hyster could wait until the Fall, and she said that it was more imporant to get rid of the large fibroid and enlarged uterus, then to have the weight loss surgery. In her opinion, the weight loss surgery could wait a while longer. My doctor does not seem overly concerened about my weight and doing a TAH, leaving ovaries. I am pretty sure that they do quite a lot of hysters on fluffy women, considering that about 50 % of Americans are considered to be overweight.

I also asked about the weigh issue on this site, and was assured that it really was not a problem. I am sincerely hoping that I will have more energy and will want to be more active once I recover from this surgery.

I am sure we are going to do fine and will feel so much better very soon!!

Hugs....Joan