Here’s my thread from 3 years ago on this subject.
The last time I saw my now former doctor, his brilliant solution to my problem was tubal ligation. Uh, thanks doc, now I won’t have to worry about getting pregnant by my vasectomied husband, but what do I do about those pesky irregular periods?
So yesterday I had my first appointment with a new female OB/GYN. She spoke to me about ablation, but also mentioned that one in ten women will not be helped by it in the long run. I expressed my fear that I would be that one in ten. She nodded her agreement that it was certainly a possibility.
When the conversation turned to hysterectomy, she was remarkably open to it. I’m 34 now, she said. In one year I’ll be considered “advanced maternal age.” I choked on that one :D. Then she told me that she was confident that I knew what I wanted and needed. I almost started crying right there in the exam room. No doctor had ever said that to me. Up to that point, I always felt like a child in a doctor’s office. This time, a doctor truly listened to me for the first time ever.
So I’m scheduled to go under the laparoscope on August 12. After a period of recovery, I’ll never have to carry backup supplies in my purse again. I’ll never again have to remember to pack a box of super-plus tampons when I leave on a trip. I’ll never again have to make a midnight dash to the convenience store.
I already feel free, and I haven’t even been pre-admitted to the hospital.
My doctor agreed to let me have a tubal ligation at age 27 because she, too, listened and could see that I had thought about the decision carefully and had contingency plans in place in case I get to be 35 or 40 and suddenly lose my mind and just have to have kids. I still don’t think that’s going to happen, but I do understand that people can change their minds so I have considered what we would do in that situation (adoption). It was really nice that she took the time to listen and not just pat me on the head and act all condescending (like my previous doctor, also female, but much older than my current doctor).
Congrats on finding a reasonable and understanding doctor, cruel butterfly. I know someone who, after almost dying while giving birth to her third unplanned child after enduring a debilitatingly high-risk pregnancy, literally begged for a tubal ligation only to be told that since she was in her early 20s she was far too young to make such a life-altering decicion. This was the same doctor who advised her that her next pregnancy could kill her. I wanted to fill a pillowcase with oranges and beat him to death.
Hormonal birth control WILL regulate my cycle. However, my problem with it is three-fold:
First: the pills themselves set off my gag reflex in a terrible way (the feeling can last for hours after I swallow the pill).
Second: I’m intolerant in a general way to the medication. “Allergic” would be an overstatement. I usually spend the whole day feeling like I’m going to throw up.
Third: I’m horrible at remembering to take the damn things every day (which is why I have a four-year-old bundle of preciousness).
Because of the queasiness I experience, I’m unwilling to try things like the NuvaRing, the patch, or that new hormone-releasing IUD called “Mirena” just because I don’t want to commit the time and expense only to find out that I have to feel sick every day or worse, end up with the same “irregular bleeding” that’s outlined in the side effects.
My husband’s response to it was: can’t you wait until our summer season is finished (restaurant business)? I asked him if he would like to wait two months to fix a leaking dick. He shut his mouth immediately. God I love that man!
This is pretty much what a friend of mine said, word for word, after being diagnosed with cancer (after visiting several doctors who told her she had allergies or was simply anaemic). I think this is something a lot of people go through, regardless of their medical history or needs, after being conditioned to just follow orders from whomever’s in the white coat.
Congratulations! I had a hard time healing up from mine, and I’m STILL very glad that I got it. I think that you will be absolutely astounded at how much easier life is when you don’t have to worry about dropping a clot in public.
Just remember not to lift anything heavier than a damp washcloth for six weeks after your surgery.
A friend of mine who referred me to this doctor, has had a long road of recovery. I can only hope that I heal as quickly as I did from my c-section four years ago.
Thanks for everyone’s good wishes. I just can’t stop being excited about it! I never thought I would look forward to an invasive procedure, but I almost want to have a hysterectomy party…
Am I the only woman in America that doesn’t hate her uterus? It’s true that it’s never really given me any problems, and I’d probably feel different about it if I’d had difficulties, but I really question the high rate of hysterectomies these days. It seems like it’s rare to find a woman in her 70’s that hasn’t had one. I want to keep mine if possible- it’s my body part, and I like it.
No, you are not the only one. I have not had a problem with my female parts, they are in fact remarkably unremarkable. Although I did not utilize my uterus for its intended purpose I see no reason to remove it as it is not troubling me, thus, I have no need to disturb its repose.
However, I have also known all too many women who suffered mightily under the yoke of a malfunctioning or dysfunctional uterus, who bleed to the point of collapse, who spend too many days whimpering in pain, whose lives are blunted by suffering that can be eliminated permanently by an operation that, these days, is relatively safe and, for major surgery, relatively safe. I long ago decided not to criticize or question women having hysterectomies because I am not qualified to decide when it is either necessary or advisable, nor do I have to live in pain and blood and misery. It is not my place to judge.
I am jealous of women whose periods run by the atomic clock. I would love to have a period that comes on the 15th of the month without fail and runs for 5 days, transitioning smoothly from light to heavy to light, then ceasing precisely on schedule.
Unfortunately, I am one whose period was never regular. I had read that it might take a while for some girls’ cycles to even out to a schedule. I kept waiting for that to happen, but it never did. Then, when I was almost 18, I was in a pretty bad car crash which set off a span of 28 consecutive days of heavy menstrual bleeding. That bleeding was only stopped with the aid of birth control pills prescribed as such: 4 pills the first day, 3 pills the second day, and so on until I took only one a day for a year or so until I just couldn’t stomach it any longer.
After I decided to stop refilling the prescriptions, I realized that my cycle was not going to become predictable. As a younger woman (20s), each period I endured was accompanied by unbelievable cramps, extremely heavy flow (I’ve always used the super-plus tampons…often with pads to pick up the slack), and days of bleeding followed by maybe months or a year of nothing. Then, when I would least expect it, Aunt Flow would make her appearance. No warning.
Believe me, if I could find an alternative to major surgery to alleviate my problems, I would jump at the chance. Alas, there is no real alternative. So here I am, offering a toast to hysterectomy, and looking forward to the rest of my life. Woo hoo!!
I do agree that if it’s necessary, a hysterectomy is a good thing. I’m not judging anyone for wanting it done when medically necessary. It just seems to me that so many women and their doctors see it as no big deal, a thing to celebrate, even, getting rid of that pesky uterus. I know several women that have had it done for essentially no reason, or for the sake of convenience. I’m not saying anyone here is doing that, but it does happen, and I feel way too often. There seems to be almost a hatred in this country for the uteri of women past child-bearing age, as if it’s natural to just chuck it once it’s done it’s job. I’m not planning any more children, but I want to keep my babyholder as long as possible just because it’s part of the original equipment.
If there is any anger in my heart for anyone or anything in this whole situation that I’ve been in for my entire adult life, it’s not directed toward my uterus. It’s just doing what it does. I am angry that I gave 12 years to a doctor who, when it came down to it, wasn’t interested enough in my well-being or the quality of my life to help me. I’m also upset that there are people who have frivolously chosen to undergo this particular procedure and that there are doctors out there who would do it on a patient’s whim when I had to wait and wait and wait until a liberated woman decided to set up a practice in this ultra-religious town.
It’s not a festering anger. It’s really more like Disney Princess anger.
Although I will point out that there are a lot of things that can go wrong with the antiquated plumbing past menopause … cancer, cysts of varying sorts, fibroid tumors that are benign, adhesions … prolapse :eek: google images is not your friend sometimes …
It is amazing how much that can go wrong, and so many women don’t have it go wrong … and how many women dont realize that something has gone wrong because they are just so accustomed to pain or issues that they dont realize it isnt normal…
I wanted to fill a pillowcase with oranges and beat him to death.