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Hi Again Puddin - just another thought - your insurance company may want a second opinion before they will cover the surgery. Believe it or not a hysterectomy is considered elective surgery. So please consult 2 or 3 gyns before you make your final decision.

Best of luck.

Mary

I do plan to get a referral from GP and also from friends. My old GYN was a disappointment and I won't be going back to him. My daughter and I have less trust in Docs than we used to...she is 24 and for several years would have pain and all the doctors tried to give her anti-depressants and treated her like it was all in her head -- well she was finally diagnoised with Fibromyalgia -- has every single tender point!
Beth In what ways are your hyst results disappointing? I am sad that 2 years ago when this first became a big problem that I didn't pursue and have done then. Phychologically I feel ready to move on. I remember my Mom had a D&C when I was about 12 -- she would have been about 50 then and I know she still had periods for some time...and went to some doctor weekly for HRT and ??? she's gone so I can't ask her for more details. I am already 50 and the thought of messing around with this for another 5 years is very undesirable. When people say they are disappointed I wonder if it's mourning for reproductive life...if so I am over it. Changes in sex life I feel can only get better--not so great now when period comes every 2 weeks and I'm always feeling miserable.
Last week when I was having extreme pain with period my uterus felt swollen and everything in my abdominal cavity felt squished. All the while hemorrhaging. It felt like something would fall out of me almost--like everything was dropping. I don't have room in my life to be incapacitated by something I can have fixed. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone else. I am looking forward to getting the results of my ultra sound. Just want to get fixed!

Hi Puddin,

I still have pelvic pain from the endo &/or adhesions, but what's most disappointing is in the intimacy department. It was very painful before, so I had high hopes for improvement. Things just aren't the same now though. I'm also bummed that I now need lubricant every single time, I have symptoms of urinary tract infections on a weekly basis now, and I've also developed 3rd degree rectocele and cystocele which need repaired. ~~~ Because I’ve always been one to do my kegel exercises, I didn't think I'd be one of the ladies who’d develop a cystocele or rectocele after hyst . I was wrong. Most women do fine with this surgery, but there are plenty of others who don't. If you visit The Road Less Traveled, Bladder Matters or the Sexual Dysfunction forums you’ll see what some ladies are dealing with. There's no way of knowing if we'll be one of the lucky ones who sail through, or one of the unfortuate ones who do not.

If I had decided on hysterectomy as my first option, I’d wonder if some of this stuff I'm dealing with might have been avoided. (We don't hear of women having sex-life issues or developing cystoceles and rectoceles from other options like we do after hysts.)
I was disappointed when my alternatives didn't work, but I don't regret trying because that's how I knew the hyst was necessary for me. Two of my sisters were success stories, I might have been one also.

One of my sisters was furious with her GYN because he wouldn't do a hyst for her heavy bleeding. He wanted her to try an ablation first. She reluctantly agreed and had excellent results. She never had another period. She was close to menopause, which can help the chances of success. (Sometimes younger women have the endometrial lining start to grow back over time.) My other sister has successfully treated her dysfunctional bleeding with the MIRENA IUD. She couldn't use oral hormones because of migraines, but her GYN and neurologist felt the Mirena was a safe alternative for her because it delivers a small amount of a progestin directly to the uterus. This thins the endometrial lining so there is less to shed each month. She hardly has a period at all now. Only needs a panty liner!

I hope your ultrasound provides some answers for you (((Puddin.))) I also hope you find a good GYN for you and your daughter. It's awful to not be taken seriously when you are suffering this way.

Please keep us posted.
Thinking of you and sending gentle s,
Beth