Ladies, your thoughts on hysterectomy, please

Is that the same as a fibroid (I am thinking so). I had a small one that was a serious bleeder back in the late eighties, just at the start of the new kind of surgery, called then a resectoscopy, that didn't involve a hysterectomy. But I might have been eligible for that because it was only one.

I have read fairly recently that these are estrogen fed and that some physicians don't do hysterectomies because with menopause they can/tend to subside; I can't remember where I read that and it may not be valid. Obviously, your gynecologist is more up to date with pros and cons than I am. I will say that my one little bleeding fibroid had made me near totally anemic by the time I got it sorted out - that is, I had almost NO iron stores.

Re: Ladies, your thoughts on hysterectomy, please
Come to a decision? Then are you saying she gave you other alternatives and surgery was one?

I had to look that up, osso. While from the descriptions I found it does not seem to be the same, it sounds very much the same from what you write.

My sister has them, too. They are trying to treat them with hormones to bridge the time until menopause starts. But my gynecologist said that I am too young for hormone treatment. I am 45 and it will take too long until I go into menopause. During the ultrasonic examination, two myomas were found. They almost double in size in 6 months.

I am inclined to say get rid of the uterus and be done with menstruation and pain. But it is serious surgery and I have never been to a hospital and never had surgery. So this scares me...

Re: Ladies, your thoughts on hysterectomy, please


No, TTH, she suggested hysterectomy. Of course, there is always the option of living with menstruation pain, increased bleeding and waiting for menopause.

Would the surgery be a total hysterectomy or partial?

OK, according to Mayo Clinic, a reputable place here in the US, uterine fibroids and myomas are the same.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/uterine-fibroids/DS00078

I didn't read the rest of the link yet on treatments, etc.

urs53
I had a partial hysterectomy, not a total one.

Well, based on the Mayo Clinic thing, I would get a second opinion before a hysterectomy. My surgery was a laser excision of the fibroid, not a laparoscopy, but via the usual route to the uterus. Very quick; I could watch it on a screen, and then it was followed by a uterine ablation/curettage (d & c). Before that I had to take on uggy shot (lupron, I think was the drug) to cut off the estrogen before the resectoscopy. I was very pleased with the result of the procedure, and got my normal hemoglobin, et al, back fairly fast.



I could tell you a funny story of me in Rome before I'd been to the doc re what the hell was the matter.... funny in retrospect anyway.

OK, according to Mayo Clinic, a reputable place here in the US, uterine fibroids and myomas are the same.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/uterine-fibroids/DS00078

I didn't read the rest of the link yet on treatments, etc.

I found some info on resectoscopy as part of a 2006 meeting on minimally invasive gynecology (post graduate courses), so I presume it's still a current procedure for appropriate patients.

Hi,
Not sure if you've read any of my posts regarding the line of work I'm in so bear with me if you've heard this before I work in a division of radiology that performs non-surgical interventions with imaging guidance. We are very similar to a cardiac cath lab only we image all the other blood vessels in the body as well as interventions such as arterial stenting, angioplasty, abscess drainage,etc....... Ok, to my point....One procedure that we've been performing more of lately are Uterine Fibroid Embolizations(UFE). When women are referred to our radiologists with heavy bleeding from fibroids, the procedure is performed by an arterial puncture to the femoral artery.(All this being done with local and consious sedation) A small catheter is guided through this artery into the uterine artery that is supplying the fibroid. Once the feeder artery is selected, embolization particles are injected into the vessel shutting the blood supply to the fibroid. Eventually, with no blood supply, the fibroid shrinks and stops bleeding. The catheter is then removed and the patient usually stays overnight for pain control due to the cramping from the fibroid shrinking. No incisions are made, it is done through a needle puncture and you can walk within 4 hours of the procedure end.
I will send you a link soon.
Hope this option helps with some decision making.

http://www.sirweb.org/patPub/uterine.shtml

you spoke of waiting for menopause...how old are you?

And I was 46 when I had my procedure...

On the embolization thing, Marty, I saw some reference to that when I was looking for the other procedure. All very interesting...

Thank you for all this information.

marty, I read about UFE on the internet but you made it very much clearer for me. This is definitely something I want to look more closely at.

When my doctor talked to me on Tuesday this was completely out of the blue for me so I couldn't really think straight and could not think of very many questions to ask. But as I said - I have some time until October to collect information and questions.

I have the feeling that here in our small town area they tend to think of one way only which is total hysterectomy. However, we are close to Tübingen, a university town with pretty good clinics. So this is most likely were I will go for a second opinion.

Your thoughts and information and experience are very valuable for me. I talk to the women around me. But of course we are all more or less of the same background. So I wanted to know what you ladies around the world think and know. The more information the better...

Urs--

Nearly twenty years ago I had a total hysterectomy as treatment for cancer of the cervix followed by radiation treatment.

I didn't miss my uterus one bit--nor the cramping, nor the bleeding, nor the mood swings (in the 80's hormone treatment was much more enthusiastic than it is now).

For me the operation was liberating rather than de-feminising.

I don't know if this applies but several years ago I had a painful bout with endometriosis and fibroids and my doctor performed a laparoscopy, followed by a d & c and nine months of drug therapy. No problems since.

Get a second opinion.

I think that laparoscopy is the same basic operation as my resectoscopy, but through the abdominal wall instead of vagina (probably because of more than one fibroid).