Women Beware - Do Not Have a Hysteroscopy Without an Anesthetic

Please all women beware

This is not an easy procedure you take in an outpatient hospital in the UK. I am not a doctor or a nurse. I talk about this as a patient.

Hospital procedures

I want to talk about Hysteroscopy in a Covid19 world. Covid is prevented by having a swab PCR test three days before and then isolating until the procedure. Hysteroscopy is classed as minor surgery, not some small procedure. When having a general anesthetic in the United Kingdom women are told to isolate themselves afterward surgery. These are the rules for Covid-19 prevention after any surgery.

Hysteroscopy

First of all, you may be wondering what this procedure is. This is a minor surgery in the womb. It is performed to look at the womb's thickness and surrounding area. The NHS state the following:

When a hysteroscopy may be carried out. A hysteroscopy can be used to:

investigate symptoms or problems - such as heavy periods, unusual vaginal bleeding, postmenopausal bleeding, pelvic pain, repeated miscarriages or difficulty getting pregnant

diagnose conditions - such as fibroids and polyps (non-cancerous growths in the womb)

treat conditions and problems - such as removing fibroids, polyps, displaced intrauterine devices (IUDs) and intrauterine adhesions (scar tissue that causes absent periods and reduced fertility)

Pain relief

Do not have a Hysteroscopy without a general anesthetic as it is a violation of a woman's privacy and the pain is excruciating! I endured this three times. Recently, I had it done with no pain relief which was a mistake but the consultant stopped it when I screamed in excruciating pain as she went further into my womb! In the United Kingdom, the NHS is trying to save money by putting women through utter hell when performing a hysteroscopy without pain relief. Especially if they are taking a few biopsies and cutting away fibroids and polyps, etc at the same time. So ask for a general anesthetic (put to sleep) if you need to have a hysteroscopy. It is the best way to do it in my opinion.

If you have no choice and do go for a hysteroscopy without pain relief make sure you tell the doctor to stop if you cannot tolerate the pain. Cramping excruciating stabbing pain usually comes on once they go further into the womb. I know because I went through this in the outpatients during a consultant Gynaecological appointment. The consultant asked for my permission to go ahead and do a hysteroscopy and I had to sign a letter of consent to have them do it without pain relief. She told me I could stop her at any time if it got too painful. Believe me, you do not want to go through this without pain relief. Local anesthetic is not possible as they still have to go into the uterus to give you an injection to numb pain. So, to get a local anesthetic they need to go deep inside of you without any pain relief at all and I would never have this done.

I speak for all women who have had this procedure without pain relief! Some have encountered horrific upset and terrible pain afterward, even mentally! Read the above picture of one woman's story. Read more stories here.

My experience with hysteroscopy

Just recently, I had this done with a general anesthetic and the complications are huge especially if you are diabetic, plus afterward, the pain is horrible! But it is a relief to be put to sleep and not go through it awake. Having this done without pain relief is a killer! I endured it once without pain relief and would not recommend any woman do this. The first time I was put to sleep was seven years ago under general anesthetic and then last month, I had it done again under general anesthetic. I suffered from cramping pain but my sugars were very high and erratic plus my blood pressure was high.

Also, I had low saturation and had to have oxygen on waking as I couldn't wake up! On coming round after anesthesia my sugar levels were in the hypo stage which is below four but I was number one which can cause a coma!

So I was given glucose intravenously but then that made my sugar levels rise which was another problem as it went up higher so insulin had to be given. My not waking up was a problem! I had a bit of an ordeal but when I woke up I was given some more pain relief and anti-sickness. Then I began to feel better although I was still in pain which is normal. I didn't have to go through it being awake which was my main concern. Unfortunately, I had a few things taken from me during the hysteroscopy. I had a few biopsies taken and a few fibroids scraped away and one polyp was taken out. This is why I was in a lot of pain afterward. I went home and recuperated, and worked as normal from home.

The point I want to make is that women can ask for a general anesthetic (be put to sleep by a qualified Anesthesiologist) to have a hysteroscopy especially if they are over 40 and/or in the menopause stage! In my case, I had a thickness of the womb called Hyperplasia. It's generally what most women have.

Hyperplasia, or hypergenesis, is an enlargement of an organ or tissue caused by an increase in the amount of organic tissue that results from cell proliferation. It may lead to the gross enlargement of an organ, and the term is sometimes confused with benign neoplasia or benign tumor. Wikipedia

Conclusion

If you don't believe me, that this can be an excruciating experience without having pain relief (being put to sleep under a general anesthetic), then read below other women's horror stories! See the picture above and read about women's Hysteroscopy experiences here.

You will be shocked!

©️ Denise Larkin 2022. All Rights Reserved.

Also published on Medium.com