Hysterectomy Questions and Advice

I've had several abdominal surgeries and never had difficulties but then I've been in good health. I suggest you find and work with one doctor that you can trust. One doctor, the surgeon or your gynecologist, can get information from all the others. What you describe is chaos. The one doctor can put everything together and help you decide.

I also urge you to start with a counselor who is trained in managing health decisions.

Do you have a doctor for each condition? Have you followed their advice for receiving treatment for each condition? I suggest that you find out if it's possible to improve your health and work on getting healthier first.

My daughter has at least 3 doctors who are treating her for several medical issues. These doctors talk with each other so her treatments work together as well as possible. Her doctors are following a plan together.

I suggest that your anxiety and fear is caused in part because your treatments are not organized. I suspect that because you're so anxious you don't follow through with treatment. I urge you to get help from a mental health professional to reduce your anxiety. You are likely to benefit from antianxiety and antidepressant meds. Start with learning a way to manage your anxiety. Then find out how all your doctor's can work together in making a recommendation for or against surgery.

you have a lot of issues, and they all need to be taken into account. probably the biggest comfort for you will be in having ONE doctor who can be the pilot and make sure that all the other doctors aren't bumping up against each other. it's very common for specialists to ONLY take their own body part into consideration without thought to how fixing their little bit will impact other bits.
typically that's the GP but sometimes one or another specialist needs to take on that role. for example, my FIL has about a gazillion issues from cancer to kidneys to diabetes, but because his kidneys are the most critical, his nephrologist takes point and the others defer to him when it comes to treating any of the other problems.
my main question is how much help you'll have afterwards. if you can keep quiet and focus on healing, you'll get through it much better than if you have to take care of kids and so forth during your recovery.
a hysterectomy is major surgery and you'll have to be careful afterwards. but if it needs to come out, it does. so a) get your professionals sorted out and make sure they're talking to each other. identify which one is running the show and make sure everyone's on board with that. there are lots of pain meds on the market now- they should be able to identify something that will ease your pain while you recover. and b) get your post-op team lined up and ready to go. it will be way easier to meditate or pray your way into a good state of mind if you've got all the practicalities ironed out.
good luck!
khairete
S.

Check out HysterSisters.com
They'll answer all your questions and tell you everything you want to know.

Fibroids are no fun. I had them and had very heavy periods and bleeding in between my cycles. Surgery was done and it was a bikini cut and took them out with what was left inside. Healing was not that difficult but I did not lift anything heavier than five pounds. So my purse was very small. It takes a good six months to completely heal internally.

My doctor said I looked much better after surgery than prior. My coloring and discolored circles under the eyes were gone. I felt much better and had a good view on life.

Take a list of what has happened to you to your doctor and let him take leader. The doctor should be able to work with your allergies and other issues prior to the surgery to make sure you have a good outcome. Talk to a counselor about your anxieties and get help. Think positive thoughts about what is to happen and go from there.

Every person's experience is different so what we have had done may be quite different from yours.

the other S.

It sounds like you have some preexisting issues that could possibly make a hysterectomy more complicated for you, at least a bit more stressful. I would certainly discuss all of these issues with ALL of my Dr's.

www.hystersisters.com is a fantastic site for getting all kinds of information and options about hysterectomy.

I had my complete hysterectomy about 13 years ago and it was the best thing I ever did for myself. I have a bikini line incision and I opted for the Dr. to take everything and go on the HRT patch. I have not used the patch in several years and have had no side effects from it.

That said, I believe attitude and the physicial as well as emotional shape you are in when you go in for surgery (any surgery for that matter) the better off you are if you are in good shape and have a positive outlook. I went in to surgery in good health and I do believe that is important.

I never had side effects that I read about such as swelly belly, weight gain, no sex drive, etc. I weigh the same or less than I did going in to surgery. It was a pain to not be able to drive for 2 weeks but my physical pain was not intolerable, of course this depends on your pain tolerance. I laid around for about a week until the staples were removed from the incision. I made sure to follow the Dr. orders with my daily routine. If you do overdo it, you know very soon because you'll be in pain. I was at my daughter's track meet within 6 weeks.

I urge you to get all the pre-counseling you can before you make your decision. Everyone does not heal the same, have more or less pain, etc.

I am glad I opted for the route I took and I have no regrets.

Honestly, I think you need a counselor. I had weight loss surgery several years ago and had to meet with two separate mental health counselors to qualify. It's not saying you are not mentally healthy, but they will help mentally prepare you for this - better than any of us could.

I haven't had a hysterectomy, but I have had two C-sections and WLS. You have to follow post-op instructions and be easy. Let your body heal. Don't rush to go back to normal, even if you feel fine...the doctor's will know when you can return to normal activity.

I agree with B, below.. DO check out the website hystersisters.. they discuss all this stuff and more.. In terms of abdominal surgery, I did have a c section and honestly, I felt that took at least TWO months before I began to feel good.. I was able to get around SLOWLY in about a week.. but by slow, I just mean walking.. which is something they want you to do so that blood clots don't occur.. However, in terms of feeling like I could put some pep in my step.. that took longer..
Also, I have fibroids as well and have been holding out on surgery in hopes that they might shrink.. I am 51 now and they are still active and do give me some discomfort...I didn't readily go for surgery, because after the c-section.. the idea of being cut open does not appeal to me.. and like you... I do wonder that if I did, underneath, would there be a lot of scar tissue, and then what.. so it's makes me nervous.. keep us posted.
best of luck to you

Hi i am 29. I too had a GREAT deal of female problems i had a complete hysterectomy a year ago by lLaparoscopic Procedure.i have. One ovary left. Im glad i had it somewhat because i have no pain like i was constantly in before.but u should really talk to your dr about pain control for after the procedure because it was alot worse than i expected even w the pain medication it was barely acceptable after abt two weeks it was a little better but it really took 6weeks to be back to almost normal. I was looking so forward to no pain all the time after i didn't ask all the questions i should have before.i wasn't expecting to loose an ovary and my one ovary isnt working like it should so i kinda going through menopause now😞 this whole last yr has been a train wreck ive gained 40lbs for no reason my hair is laterally falling out i have very bad acne and boil like sores all over my face all the time not to mention the massive mood swings and hot flashes...its a lot to deal with. Next month i will start hormones im alittle woried but it cant b any worse ! Not trying to scare u just get all the information u can and make sure that is your only options! Good luck !