Female Sterilisation/Hysterectomy - anyone had either? Looking for advice

Going4TheDream

catkins wrote: »

I had a hysterectomy over 20 years ago when I was in my late 30's. I kept one of my ovaries. I had it because I had a fibroid the size of a football in my womb. I had very heavy periods which lasted over 7 days. I used to flood even with a tampon and a towel. My womb being so large was pressing on my bladder which was horrible.

I had the op on the Friday afternoon, had a shower Saturday morning and went home Sunday! My surgeon said he believed that most surgeons make the mistake of getting women to take it too easy. He believes if you are reasonably young and fit then you get up the next day and walk about. He told me when I got home not to do anything stupid but otherwise to try and carry on pretty much as normal. He told me I could do housework but not anything heavy like hoovering or changing the bed! He said being told you should not lift a kettle is just stupid. He also told me to make sure I walked every day which I did.

Friends and work colleagues that have had hysterectomies have all stayed in hospital for about 7 days, not being allowed to even get out of bed for 2 days and they have all had problems. It took them much longer to get over the op and none of them went back to work before 6 weeks.

I had 4 weeks off work but I could honestly have gone back after 2. I had no problems whatsoever. No pain nothing. I felt fantastic compared with how I felt before it.

You were very lucky... it is not like that for everyone, I saw two women who had been readmitted due to complications when I had my recent hysterectomy. They still get you up on the 2nd day and went home the 3rd . I too had fibroids, but would bleed for maybe 3 weeks at a time, with a few days off before it started again. I was chronically anemic and hence that I am off work for 9 weeks due to tiredness and will go back part time for 4 weeks, before being back full time.. a total of 13 weeks. Both the consultant and the DR have said that everyone is different and no two recoveries will be the same as everyones circumstances are different and that it is a MAJOR operation .... they do errr very much on the side of caution these days... and all along I have been told rest rest and rest some more...there is no way I was any where near ready to return to work after 4 weeks let alone two. Apart from the tiredness which is getting better day by day I agree I feel great compared to before

sealady

I've not read through the whole thread but have you thought about having endometrial ablation. In simple terms it's the removal of the lining of your womb. My main problem was incredible heavy periods and horrible period pains and this went on for serveral years. It got worse after my second child. It took ages for the doctors to actually start listening to me. The doctors did not know what was wrong as I also had loads of scans and nothing ever showed up. I was in my early thirty's when I had it done. Best thing I ever did. It was done as a day case and I think I was off work for about 2 days but felt perfectly fine afterwards. I've not had a single days problem since then.

This was 5 years ago and what a difference it has made to my life. My then husband and I had to agree and undersand that we would never be able to have more kids.

http://www.bupa.co.uk/individuals/health-information/directory/e/endometrial-ablation