Think I want a hysterectomy but unsure if they'll take me seriously

Hi there , found this site when doing some internet research about my options an decided to join !

So heres a little about my situation

always had heavy irregular periods since age of 11
went on Birth control at 15
stayed on til 30 ( husband had vascetomy)
periods gradually got heavier and more irregular
last year they started lasting for 2 weeks
eventually went to doctors after bleeding for over a month

tests discovered uterine polyps ( eventually diagnosed as non cancerous , thank God)

I've had various doctor/gyn appts , the first referred me to a gyn surgeon for mimimally invasive removal of the polyps and possibly ablation or Mirena insertion

I did some research and decided that I didn't want the Mirena. Had consult with surgeon who basically refused to do the ablation , leaving me with only the Mirena. I'd spoken with her Junior doctor and we discussed Hysterectomy as an option ( I don't want kids and husband has already had the snip). Junior doc was helpful but her Boss just turned round and said " we will have to refer you , we are a catholic hospital , we won't fund it here"

this upset me A LOT!!!! A major part of my problem is that I'm new to Canada and I'm having trouble navigating the health system here to start with , this didn't help , i never even thought of it as an issue.

I have my consult at the non catholic hospital on monday and am teriified that they won't take me seriously. I think I want a hysterectomy. I'm not interested in any hormal birth control anymore . I took it for 2 months while I was on vacation to give myself a break from the 3 months of bleeding I'd had before , and I really regretted it. I'd forgotten how crappy it made me feel.
I don't think I would get on with the Mirena for various reasons and again , its only a temporary solution. I don't want kids and I'm sick to death of the irregular heavy painful bleeding
I want to talk through my options with someone who is unbiased.

I'm frightened that my problem won't be seen as serious enough , this especially worries me looking at some of the posts here , there are people with faaaaar worse probelms than mine

If I don't want the Mirena and they won't do an ablation or the hysterectomy what options am I left with ?

Thanks for listening
Canuck2be

It's sounds like you are looking for a new doctor and with ghat I think you are heading in the right direction. You need to find a partner in your healthcare, somebody you feel comfortable with. I think you'll know it when you find it. I'm not super familiar with the healthcare system up north cause I'm one of your friendly neighbors down south but does it allow you to shop for doctors? This is your body and you need to feel good about your healthcare plan. Anything less than that will not do.

There are a lot of stories on here that make me feel like a big, whiny baby. I'm about a month out from my surgery and anytime I feel good I always ask myself if I am making more out of this than I should be. I don't know how to get rid of those feelings but I can say honestly, for myself and my family, I am making the best decision.

I have had irregular bleeding for 5 years and for the first year of that bleeding, I saw my doctor regularly. She was nice enough but never did any real tests to find out what was going on. I had just had my daughter, almost bled to death, and had to have a cone biopsy for a bad pap smear. In the end, she just thought it was my new normal. I spent the next 4 years just dealing with my new normal until this year when it became unbearable. When my new ob/gyn told me I had adenomyosis it was like a big weight had been lifted and now there is peace and a plan. I wish you that too.

i was 19 when they told me i had endo. i am now 44. i lived in pain and not stop bleeding for a long time. i was 21 wen i had the frist ablation done then again at 24 and again 26 and at 43. they realy didnt do anything for me. but every one is differnt. i feel so much brtter now that the battle is over. i had my hysterectomy done,(oct, 19,2010) but it to has its ups and downs. if your not planing on haveing any kids then i honestly would tell you to go for it.. enjoy the rest of your life without thinking your going to bleed to death.lol and pain free

Thanks for the replies. I'm really anxious about the appt on Monday. The last doctor was really pushing me to have MIrena fitted and I'm just not prepared to have it.

I don't know if they'll think my reasons are trivial though. I'm just so sick of hormonal stuff screwing me up. The pregestin I took to stop the 2 month long bleed , left me sick , spotty and feeling generally crap.
BC works really well as a contraceptive as it takes away any desire for sex at all !!!
I don't want something inside of me. I am a borderline obsessive personality . I will be checking for the strings every 5 minutes , be paranoid that my husband can feel them and everytime i feel a small twinge I'll be convinced that it's perforated me !
I can't cope with another possible six months of irregular bleeding , no matter how light. even now , everyday i'm constantly checking to see if I've had an accident, everytime I get slightly damp ( and its very warm weather here at the moment. I think that I've leaked. I constantly wake in the night to check if I've bled. I'll go insane

I don't need contraception. I need my sodding periods to stop !

I think maybe I have a slightly weird mindset. I don;t want children ( neither does my husband) so I resent everyday that I'm bleeding. I just don't see the point.

I also don't see the point of trying ablation etc when every thread I read on here seems to end up with the person having a hysterectomy anyway. I would like it done while I'm still young enough to enjoy the benefits

Wow... I know exactly how you feel!!!
My doctor wanted to try Mirena but I really didn't want to. My daughter was conceived while I had an IUD so as far as I'm cconcerned I don't want to mess with something that couldn't keep me from getting pregnant. My cousin had a stroke while on birth control pills and had to learn to walk again so with that and my own high blood pressure I really don't want to go down that road.

I just said no to everything too. Just tired of playing around with it also and I swear, if my pill is not in a gummy form, I will forget to take it! I hate taking medicine. I hate side effects. I hate it all.

I'm sure Monday will work out. But if it doesn't, keep trying. You know what you want. That's half the battle!

Thanks , scary to hear of people conceiving with an IUD. Luckily I know that won't be a problem for me.

I know that i need surgery one way or the other to remove polyps. I'm fairly high risk again for them coming back and I'm just not going through all the biopsy stuff again. Waiting for those results was the longest two weeks of my life. I swear I was still feeling cramping pain from the biopsy a month afterwards

Btw this forum is really helping me put my thoughts into some coherent form for my appt on monday , its really helping me focus on why I'm set on certain ideas , which can only be a good thing

Thanks again

I'm special! The only form of birth control I haven't gotten pregnant on is having my tubes tied but even then I was worried.

I love this forum too. It's like writing in a journal but the journal answers back!

So my appointment wasn't greta but it wasn't a disaster either. trying very hard to be positive.

negatives first

I didn't get to see the actual suregon as she was on vacation , so although I spoke to a collegaue , a decision couldn't be made until I've seen the surgeon

the Dr I spoke to couldn't understand why I'd been referred to them as the hospital I was at previously does do hysterectomies ( I'd been told that as a catholic hospital they wouldn't)

the referring hospital hadn't passed on any of my test results so I've got to chase them up now or have to have another polyp biopsy ( bleurgh!!)

the positives

the dr didn't think that the surgeon would have any problem with doing a hyster , even though Im only 35 and have no kids !!! BIG YAY HERE !!!!

she seemed to understand exactly where I was coming from and agreed with me that anything else was just a short term solution , again BIG YAY !! that someone understands me finally

So I have another appt on Nov 4th , this time I checked 100% that it is with the actual surgeon. The Dr seems to think we will schedule surgery on that appt.

In the mean time I've got to decide what I'm going to do to tide me over until the op. I have a choice of either Birth control ( bleurgh) or progesterone tablets ( double bleurgh!!)

Oh and I've got to have yet ANOTHER ultrasound scan to see if I'm a good candidate for laprascopic surgery ( fingers crossed).

Ah well at least its only a transvaginal and not another hysterogram !