Starting a new series of “How are you feeling after…?” questions to stick into the Fibroid Forum. These will contain excerpts from comments as well as links to my related posts. I think this will make it easier to find recovery experiences on various treatment options for fibroids.
——————–
Related Posts:
How are you feeling after your Uterine Fibroid Embolization?
How are you feeling after your Abdominal Myomectomy?
inquisitive geek with fibroid tumors ™ blog 
September 22, 2006 at 7:07 pm
After my exploratory hysteroscopy, I slept for the day after I came home from the out patient surgery. I was just flat out with the effects of the codiene they gave me for cramps. I had cramps and a small amount of bleeding for two days. And diarrhea for four days after my system cleared all the drugs. It’s not fun but necessary. My activity level was good, I did all my laundry the day after which means going up and down two flights of stairs. I would not advise that though because I was wiped out by the end of the day. With the laundry, my husband carried the dirites and the clean clothes up and downstairs, I just did the processing. The gas is the worse because they inflate the uterus to take a peek and the gas takes a while to go out of the system. Hope that helps. Anne
September 22, 2006 at 10:00 pm
See…..Yeah my hubby did laundry for 5 weeks during my recovery from AM ( and being the well trained in the Navy Reserves taught him to fold EVREYTHING into 2 in x 5 in squares LOL…even the King size comforters – I could put them into the underwere drawere LOL…gotta love him.) This past week I did actually did “do the laundry” …ok he did take all the stuff to the washer and dryer..Anne I love it – I am stealing your line “I just did the processing” LOL wonder how long I can milk this one…..LOL???
…Extra Strengh Gas X pills for the gas…works like a charm…the truck driver fart wind saver….
Hope you are on the road or done with recovery….
September 25, 2006 at 12:58 am
Anne:
I put a link back in the hysteroscopy thread in the Forum to make sure people find your great comment here. Didn’t know about the gas problem. Thanks for pointing that out. Remember – everything posted here helps someone. Best wishes with your recovery.
fibroid free:
LOL…truck driver fart wind saver…LOL
October 12, 2006 at 3:47 pm
I just had a laparoscopic myomectomy and hysteroscopy/endometrial ablation two days ago.
Pre-surgical issues and diagnosis: I had a huge, slow growing external fibroid that was about 9 * 10 cm at its peak, plus several smaller internal fibroids that were the cause of my long, heavy, painful periods. My gynecologist referred me to a surgeon who is head of Ob-Gyn at a local hospital and teaches at a major Canadian medical school. (Very relaxed guy, easy to talk to, and well-respected.) He checked me out and declared that the internal fibroids could be taken care of with hysteroscopy and ea. He’s done over a hundred of these procedures and is probably the go-to guy in my city for this procedure. He also said that it looked as if the external fibroid was on a stalk and could be at risk of twisting, although he also said I wasn’t showing any of the signs of being at risk — no feeling of movement — so it was up to me whether I wanted to just leave that one alone or remove it as well. I decided to go for the laparoscopy because of the twisting risk (my sister went through the horror of an ovary getting twisted and i didn’t want to go through anything similar) and because it would be nice not to look five months pregnant.
Surgery: It was supposed to be about 2 hours, but turned into three as it turned out the external fibroid wasn’t on a stalk, but was embedded in the external wall. I asked my doctor after surgery about the risk of adhesions given that such a relatively large surface had been excavated, but he says that I should be all right.
Recovery: I was in the recovery room for an hour after surgery, then moved to my hospital room, where I was told I was staying overnight just to be cautious, given the extended work required for the external fibroid (we had originally discussed the option of going home the same day). The nurses had me up and peeing within a couple of hours. The first time out of bed was a doozie, and my bladder was tight, sore, reluctant and overfull the first time, so I didn’t get rid of two cups of urine until my second attempt. After that, I was up and down several more times throughout the day, alternately reading, napping, chatting with my husband, or having my vitals checked. By 8 PM, I was adept at getting myself out of bed on my own, unplugging the IV from the wall, and going off to have a pee. (They dumped a few liters of saline in me, so I was peeing like a racehorse all day.) By 11 PM, I got out of bed and wandered the halls with my IV because I was bored and wanted to move. The pre-surgical anti-inflammatory suppository took care of most pain except what I felt when I got out of bed and the gas pains in my shoulders.
They let me have jello, broth, juice and a few crackers for supper the first day, and a real breakfast of egg, bun and cream of wheat the next morning. I was discharged by 8:30 and home by 9:30, where I caught up with some clients for a few hours (self-employment isn’t all it’s cracked up to be sometimes) but I was sore by supper time and took off the rest of the day. Gas-X, naproxen and stool softeners were my friends, and even though I have percocet, I haven’t taken any yet. I did take some cough syrup to suppress coughing, which hurt yesterday, although much less today.
First bowel movement was late yesterday (first evening after surgery day), and there was no pain, although reaching to wipe was a little awkward. At my worst, my whole abdomen felt taut, swollen and sorte, with occasional gas pains on top. Today, I got up feeling significantly better, and my belly is less taut and numb.
I’d love to know how long it’s going to take all this swelling to go down. My face and eyes were very swollen the first day, I still couldn’t wear my watch and rings yesterday, although I can today, but my waist and belly are larger than they were than when I went in. (Gas? Fluid? Swollen tissues?) I have no idea how long it will take for those to shrink, as I would think that removing something 4 inches in diameter would make things smaller in circumference.
I’ll report back with anything else of interest.
October 24, 2006 at 7:29 pm
Hi Mary,
Thank you for sharing your experience by leaving such a detailed comment. Sorry I didn’t have more specific posts for you when you first visited but I do now. I’ve created two questions in the Fibroid Forum based on your terrific response. Please feel free to update us there.
How are you feeling after your Laparoscopic Myomectomy?
How are you feeling after your Endometrial Ablation?
You also could contribute here (or anywhere else you like):
Does anyone have a hysteroscopy experience to share?
Don’t know if you’ve seen this but until we get some specific comments in these threads, try:
How are you feeling after your Abdominal Myomectomy?
Thanks again and best wishes with your recovery!
March 31, 2007 at 4:55 pm
I had endometrial ablation in September of 2004. It was not an easy surgery to go through. I had terrible cramps the first two days and was in bed. It took me about a week to get back to a normal routine. The procedure slowed my bleeding dramatically. I am no longer anemic, which is a huge benefit. Unfortunately, the results seem to be changing now. I am starting to have heavier bleeding with the cramp/gush symptoms. I am also having periods that last two to three weeks. None of the bleeding is as heavy as before, but it’s enough to really mess with my sex life! My husband is very patient about it, but it’s still a total drag. I am also very afraid of becoming anemic again. That was the awful. I was just diagnosed with DCIS (non-invasive breast cancer), so hormonal treatments are out of the question. I’m leaning toward a hysterectomy to solve the problem once and for all. I just got an injection of Lupron yesterday, which is supposed to stop my periods and shrink the fibroids. The goal is to get me through radiation without getting anemic, and then to be able to do a vaginal hysterectomy. At this point, I feel like all my female parts are failing me. I’m 46 years old. I hope this is helpful to other people considering ablation.
July 20, 2007 at 1:30 pm
Has anyone had extreme back pain following endometrial ablation? The night before my procedure, I had to take medicine to open everything up. The doctor said it would be like putting my body into labor so that my cervix would open up. Well, the back pain started then. After the procedure, I had the worse back pain of my life that lasted for about 6 hours. It has now been about 7 weeks since the procedure and I continue to have back pain. I can hardly move today. It is as if my back was injured somehow and I take two steps forward and then 10 back. Some days are worse. Some are better. Today, I almost felt like there was cramping and it was coming out through my back. I have absolutely no bleeding and have not since the procedure. But, this back stuff is about to kill me.
October 3, 2007 at 10:23 pm
Had the Novasure endometrial ablation done a week and half ago. Bottom line. Have had very little pain post op. Discharge everyday with only 1 day that required more than a panty liner. Still not feeling even close to 100% because of weakness post op. Not at all unhappy at this point to have the procedure done and am looking forward to getting all my strength and stamina back. Time will tell if was over all successful. Oh and by the way women, if you bounce back in two days after having any kind of endometrial ablation done…just lie and say it takes you longer to recover!!! I think docs hear a couple people say they were back to normal after two days, tell you that’s the recovery time, and you feel like a whimp for being down for longer. So let’s unite!!! 🙂 Everyone take care.
December 5, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Gals:
Did you have fibroids, and what were they like? Trying to decide what to do.
Thanks,
Jan Watson
November 6, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I had the Novasure endometrial ablation done on september 4th of his year! I honestly think it was a BIG mistake! I had my first period and it was ALOT of pain. My second one…..well, I a still waiting for it! I have been having cramps for almost 3 weeks and my breast are so tender I almost break down in tears if they get the slightest bit touched! I thought that this was going to be great! I had my tubes tied in Jan of 2006 and have had issues since! I had a palup in my uterus and they also removed that at the time of my Ablation. I am just at a loss of words now as to what is going on with my body!! I think I am going to go back to the Dr. and ask him to give me a hysterectomy!! Oh and I am 27 years old!! Oh well!! lol
February 24, 2014 at 1:18 am
I’m curious, how are you doing, now? I’m having the same symptoms my breast hurt so bad?..
May 19, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I am scheduled to have a endometrial ablation done on june 3rd of this year and I have read all of your testimonials I hope I will have a little more luck with this I am so sorry to hear that this procedure didn’t work for you all. Having had my tubes tied after the birth of my daughter in 2005 and having consitent bleeding since then I hoping this will work for me. I am keeping the postive on this so I may proceed with the life I will be back to let you all know how everthing went and I do wish you all well.
Walk with God ladies he’ll never steer you the wrong way
Jacalyn
40 yrs old
May 19, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I am scheduled to have a endometrial ablation done on june 3rd of this year and I have read all of your testimonials I hope I will have a little more luck with this I am so sorry to hear that this procedure didn’t work for you all. Having had my tubes tied after the birth of my daughter in 2005 and having consitent bleeding since then I hoping this will work for me. I am keeping the postive on this so I may proceed with my life I will be back to let you all know how everthing went and I do wish you all well. be strong.
Walk with God ladies he’ll never steer you the wrong way
Jacalyn
40 yrs old
May 21, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I’m one-day post-op. Procedure went fine. I was pretty crampy yesterday afternoon, but by bedtime I was pretty much normal in terms of comfort without taking any meds. I was a bit bloated last night, but it seems to have gone down a lot by today. Apparently they blow air into the uterus to stretch it out, so they can give it both a good look-see for problems, and so that folds don’t prevent the ablation from working everywhere on the uterus lining. I have some minor spotting–blood diluted with other fluid, it seems– but feel perfectly fine going back to normal exercise tomorrow. Time will tell how effective the procedure was, but I’m really pleased with how comfortable I feel now.
June 11, 2009 at 2:45 pm
I had my procedure done on June 8th. I have had very minimal cramping and discharge. I was back to work the next day and except for being a little tired, have felt good. I am anxious to see what affect this will have on my periods.
July 13, 2009 at 5:36 pm
YES EXTREME BACK PAIN HERE! I just had this procedure done two weeks ago and as far as the surgery everything seemed to go just fine, however I am having severe lower back pain in my right side and cannot seem to get rid of it. Some days its worse than others, and the only thing that seems lessen the pain is ibuprofen. I already had a follow-up with the Dr and he says everything internally looks good…he then sent me to a bone specialist and we are scheduled for a bone scan. I just cannot understand how my back could have been injured! VERY WEIRD! I have had no bleeding since the procedure and very little discharge, I just cannot explain the back pain. I just can’t seem to get in any comfortable position and cannot sleep at night unless I dope myself up with ibuprofen which is not something I want to be doing. HELP!!!!!! Does anyone know what is going on?
December 30, 2009 at 8:59 pm
What did the doctor do as a followup to check the inside?
July 18, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Connie, you don’t say what procedure you had done…. but I’m curious to know… were you put out too? I’ve been having back pain, well, sacro-illiac pain for some time now and the only thing I can tie it to is when I had my hysteroscopic EA. I don’t think it happened right away, but I’m not really sure. At any rate, after reading through some hysterectomy sites I found other women with unexplained back-pain… and it really makes me wonder if doctors move us into a certain position for surgery and we then stay that way for too long if it screws our backs or sacrum up… or if a speculum is too large and it wrenches our illeum in some way. Do you have the pain always and at the same rate? Are there times when it is worse? Mine was the worst when I went from sitting to standing, then I discovered huge relief if I leaned my upper body forward before I stood up. It doesn’t happen to me anymore, but I do have ongoing problems with my sacro-illiac joint that may or may not be related… It’s all very annoying and a big puzzle. Please let us know what you find out from the bone doc. Good luck!
July 26, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Amy…I have some major pain in the very bottom of my tailbone. I have been trying to figure out what I have done, and thinking back to when it started. I retrace it also to my procedure (novasure). I hurt so bad if I sit for very long, which is unfortunate~because I am a nursing student and in school. I wonder also what during the procedure has caused this sort of pressure that I am having this sort of pain. It is very intense, there are times I can barely get up! The procedure itself has given me no problems…this has been my only complaint!! Has anyone else had any of these problems???
July 26, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Crystal, I actually spoke about my sacrum above, but of course the tailbone is right next to it, and I often wondered if my tailbone was really the culprit. I found the following website was really interesting… http://www.coccyx.org/. There is a wealth of info there, and if you look under personal experiences , someone posted some yoga positions that really helped her – so you might try some of those.
I never did figure out just what happened but I am better. It could be the coccyx was dislocated, it could be a nerve was damaged.. oh, and I’ve also had chiropractors adjust my pubic bone. And I’ve also been working with someone who does chinese massage and working to loosen some muscles that have gotten really tight in my legs, which may be causing one side of my sacrum to twist…(who knows!) Basically I’ve been trying all kinds of things, so it’s hard to know just what worked… and at work, I tried all the different chairs until I found one that works pretty well. I discovered that softer chairs or chairs made out of mesh were very uncomfortable for me.
Finally, since you mention pain on standing up, have you tried leaning forward (almost with your chest to your knees) and then rising? It was embarrassing to do at first, but it helped an awful lot.
I sure wish I knew if these procedures are causing these problems…
July 29, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Hi all. I was given an hydrotehrmal ablation and tubal ligation 6 days ago. THe cramps were excruciating for the first day only. Now I am suffering horiible lower back pain that no over-the-counter meds seem to help. Aside from the back pain all is healing wonderful. Has anyone else had back pain following an HTA for a week? THis is horrible
July 30, 2009 at 3:25 am
Hi Sandra,
Sorry to hear you’ve had so much pain! I didn’t have a hydrothermal ablation, but it sounds like you should contact your doctor if you haven’t already.
However, I did have some back pain that may have started after my ablation…but I was never sure what caused it… just suspected the ablation. My theory is that maybe when we’re put in the stirrups for a while while they do the procedure, it might throw something out, but that’s just a guess. Can you be more specific about the location? Sacrum, tailbone, lower vertebrae? I had a lot of pain whenever I started to stand up or sit down, but once I was up or down, I was fine… I think mine is in the sacro-illiac joint…. and I’m better, but it took a while – and I want to stress, I don’t really know for a fact that it was caused by the ablation. That said, I’ve seen complaints from women who have undergone other gyn procedures like myomectomies and hysterectomies…
July 31, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I am considering an Oblation, I had a sciatic nerve problem in July 2008. I also have a problem with migranes. My doctor claims that taking away the uterine wall could relieve the migranes as well. Did any one have migrane headaches and get relief after their procedure? Am I crazy to try this if I had prior back problems? I have heavy periods every 3 weeks that last 6 days with severe migrane headaches and nausea, I also have 1 fibroid. Comments? HELP???
August 2, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Hi Cheryl, You don’t mention how old you are, but when I was about 45 my doc checked my hormones and I had very little estrogen the first time and then the next month it skyrocketed…. sort of reverse puberty you might say! At any rate, he put me on a low dose estrogen patch (vivelle dot) and it helped me in a lot of ways, incuding completely getting rid of my migraines. I had also begun to lose some hair, had trouble concentrating, was somewhat depressed ( a lot of PMS symptoms) and I was also getting chest pains. I had no idea they were all related to the low estrogen, but they all went away when I started on it. I had an endometrial ablation, but was still on the patch so I can’t say if it would have helped or not… but *maybe* if estrogen goes into one’s endometrium and the endometrium is gone, it may be more available for the rest of our body…. just a thought. Look for this blog’s thread on endometrial ablations. Hope that helps.
January 25, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Hi, last Monday I had a number of procedures done. Hysteroscopy, laparoscopy, PAP and Dye Study were what the Dr. intended to do while I was out (I assume all were done).
I’m 32 years old and have been trying to conceive via at home Artificial Insemination for the last 9 months. I was aware I had very large Subserosal Fibroids, 2 per the ultrasounds I had. My GP told me to go ahead and try to conceive, shouldn’t be a problem (I’ve not had the nerve to see him again or I will yell I think).
Well, turns out the fibroids are the problem.
Anyway, I have been having low grade headaches since the procedure. I had no cramping, and the bleeding was actually normal for my AF, which had started a few days prior to the surgery. I also had no pain from any gas or liquid, which I had expected. He prescribed pain meds, but I only took half the dose, and only about 3 doses in total, mostly as a precaution. I simply slept the night and next day following the surgery. A bit of pulling and bruising in my abdomen. Actually, I had quite a bit of bruising, but that seems to go along with the fibroids.
Anyway, are head aches fairly common, and are they due to the sedation?
I have never had a procedure before now, so just am not sure.
My Dr’s plans are to give me Lupron Depot, shrink the fibroids, then go in and remove them. I’m waiting for my follow up in 2 weeks before this occurs though.
Anyway, any thoughts on the headaches? I am somewhat aware I should get used to it anyway knowing it is a side effect from the injection I will be receiving.
January 25, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Hi – I had a hysteroscopic resection of a fibroid, and have started bleeding bright red after 4 days – no bleeding beforehand. Does anyone know if this is normal. No pain. Just tightness of the area around, rather than of the area where the procedure must have taken place.
February 2, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Excellent website. You have brought in a brand-new devotee. Please keep up the superb writings and I look forward to more of your intriguing writings.
March 2, 2010 at 11:41 am
Hi, I had the Novasure procedure 6 days ago, I tried to go back to work 2 days post op but had such severe back pain I only stayed a few hours. I tried to work yesterday and was in pain that only intensified as the day went on, so I made an appt to see my OB this morning to make sure nothing was wrong. She couldnt find anything that would cause this pain. My mother in law said there is a muscle that gets stretched too far when these kind of procedures are done that most people dont know about and that is where the pain is starting. I will gladly take the back pain over the pain and bleeding I was suffering from before.
August 13, 2010 at 6:36 am
Hello I’ve recently had a laporectemy to remove 9 fibroids that were outside of the uterus. Since the surgery I am having terrible gas pains and abdominal cramping for gas and bowel movements. There is also this intermitent pain on the right side of my pelvis (which is where the largest fibroid was). Is this common? Any suggestions?
Thank you
August 13, 2010 at 6:37 am
Hello I’ve recently had a laporectemy to remove 9 fibroids that were outside of the uterus. Since the surgery I am having terrible gas pains and abdominal cramping for gas and bowel movements. There is also this intermitent pain on the right side of my pelvis (which is where the largest fibroid was). Is this common? Any suggestions?
Thank you
June 28, 2013 at 10:37 pm
You are so cool! I don’t believe I’ve truly read anything like this before.
So good to find somebody with genuine thoughts on this subject matter.
Seriously.. thank you for starting this up. This web site is one thing
that’s needed on the web, someone with some originality!