How Long Will I Hurt?
Particularly if you had an abdominal procedure, or any additional repairs along with your hysterectomy, you can expect to experience some degree of pain for several months post-op, although many women report that their significant pain diminished by around the fourth week.
A hysterectomy is a major operation. Internal organs that were not removed were pushed, pulled and rearranged. Even if you are fortunate to have had a “textbook” surgery and were given a “clean bill of health” at your post-op exams, you need to accept the fact that post-op soreness may linger for quite a long time. We are all eager to resume our lives at full capacity. Realistically, however, healing occurs very gradually for most women. Feeling terrific rarely happens all of a sudden. It is more likely that, as the weeks go by, your constant awareness of your sore and achy body becomes less constant and more off-and-on. Read More
Do I Really Have to Wait to Have Sex?
Post-op hysterectomy patients are told "nothing in the vagina for six weeks and/or until the doctor exams the stitched vaginal cuff during a routine post-op exam and sees it healing properly.
Post-op hysterectomy patients also tend to experience a heightened sense of libido during this time which makes waiting all the more frustrating.
Libido or not, hysterectomy patients should not put *anything* into their vagina until released by their personal doctor for sexual intercourse. Read More
When Can I Drive?
Not being able to drive for a couple weeks can leave you stir crazy! Each doctor can have different post op instructions. Some doctors may tell you six to eight weeks after surgery, while others will recommend one week from your post op check. It’s best to check with your doctor about your time frame for driving again.
There are several reasons why driving isn’t allowed. You may be taking pain medications and shouldn’t be driving for that reason. Anesthesia might still be lingering in your system causing your reaction time to be slower than needed. If you were to need to stop suddenly, you could easily hurt yourself, tearing stitches internally from the pressure. Read More
Can I Do Too Much?
Whether or not you have an abdominal incision with visible staples or stitches, with any type of hysterectomy you will have many healing tissues. It is this internal healing that can take anywhere from six months to a year to be complete.
If you strain yourself too soon, one of the most catastrophic things that can happen is that you can tear some of your stitches. This can result in bleeding, possibly even hemorrhaging.
There are women who had to go back to the hospital requiring emergency surgery and blood transfusions. Read More
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