I'm 22M (trans) and am planning on asking about an elective or partially medical hysterectomy.

I have horrible periods and heavy bleeding, bad cramping, and large clots the size of quarters or clementines when I do bleed- although a CT and transvaginal ultrasound have confirmed nothing is going on in there to cause it.

I've been on birth control for 2-3 years to curb my dysphoria and stop my cycles altogether; similar to a hormone blocker- I skip placebos and it has entirely stopped all menstrual activity- but this comes with its own challenges. I have gained weight and find it hard to lose it, my appetite has grown, and I feel off.

I want to ask for one for the purpose of stopping my cycle, not having to take birth control anymore to better my health and ability to lose weight, and to avoid pregnancy and dysphoria both. I want to be fit and healthy, but I feel like my birth control is limiting that- and without birth control, I'd have horrible cycles again every month with pain and even worse dysphoria.

Does anyone have similar experiences and went through with it? Even if not, I'd love to hear about elective non-cancerous hysterectomies or hysterectomies without medical reasons (as cancer and endo can raise bleeding and risks, and I don't have that so I won't experience it likely).

I’m a screamer. I love haunted houses. But I’m a little worried I’ll be stuck walking too long or, lord forbid, someone near me freaks out and knocks me down. What do you think?

Hallo zusammen,

Ich hatte meine OP am 30.09 dieses Jahr. Also gerade erstmal 2 Wochen her. Habe hier zwar schon verschiedene Beiträge gelesen, aber nichts was mir wirklich richtig hilft.

Bin gerade von meiner Frauenärztin zurück gekommen. Eher ernüchternd das ganze. Denn der Frauenarzt in der Klinik, der mit mir die Entlassungsuntersuchung gemacht hat, meinte das ich in 2 Wochen wieder Sex haben könnte. Nun sagt mir meine Frauenärztin aber das ich mindestens 6-12 Wochen warten muss.

Mein Problem an der ganzen Sache. Ich vertraue ihr nicht. Sie hat mich auch nicht dabei Unterstützt mit meiner Op. Sie wollte die ganze Zeit, dass ich nach ihren Regeln tanze, Therapie hier und da. Ach egal. Jedenfalls ist genug vorgefallen mit dieser Ärztin, dass mein Vertrauen weg ist.

Ich bin soooooo empfindlich, selbst beim abtrocknen, wenn ich aus der Dusche komme, kann ich mich kaum zurück halten. Äußerliche Stimulation funktioniert einwandfrei und auch nach dem Orgasmus absolut keine Schmerzen.

Nun habe ich 2 grundlegend verschiedene Aussagen von 2 Ärzten. Na, wem kann ich nun glauben?

Hat hier jemand Erfahrung oder kann von seiner Geschichte erzählen? Ich möchte mich einfach nicht verrennen und dann mehr kaputt machen als es sollte. Bin jetzt im Moment total verunsichert.

Ich hoffe, dass hier jemand ist der mich auffangen kann mit meiner Unsicherheit.

Bis dahin wundervolle Grüße

Anja

Had my hysterectomy performed on Tuesday (Oct 13). Before being wheeled into the OR the nurse applied a scopolamine patch behind my ear.

The patch has caused my eyes to dilate a ton, and now I can’t see anything close up! It’s literally so hard to proofread anything I’m typing.

(Still so so so so happy I was able to get a hysterectomy at 31 with zero children!!!)

Also- yes I removed the patch today when I realized I’m literally going blind

Hi everyone, it’s probably the 10000th question should I or should I not, but idk who to ask. I’d like to keep this private from my environment.

So actually I (37) don’t really need a hysterectomy, I have several fibroids, one of them is about 6 cm. They don’t really bother me and I was taking the birth control to control the fibroids also. But I can’t take them anymore bcs my blood pressure goes crazy every day. I’m also child-free and wanted to get sterilised anyway.

So today my gyn told me to go off the birth control and warned me that the fibroids may or may not grow without the pills. I asked him what he would advise and he said: “the fibroids are in not so good spot, to delete them will be inefficient and every surgeon will advise to delete the whole thing. As you don’t want kids, I’d do that”. I’m a little bit dumb about my body, so I asked if it will affect my body regarding hormones and so on and he said no. The ovaries would stay, so would the cervix. They also won’t cut my belly lol. I said I’ll think about it.

The next dumb thing I did was to ask ChatGPT and Gemini what the consequences could be, and ChatGPT provided me with some moderate feedback and links to the medical sites and research. Gemini didn’t, it said that I’ll probably get a weak bladder, my vagina will get dry, I won’t orgasm anymore (wtf) and I’ll get Pelvic organ prolapse (I better not translated that into my native language 😱). I know I should not trust AI and especially bcs it didn’t provide any sources but I have anxiety disorder and now I’m kinda scared.

I’m sure that I don’t want kids and as I said, I’d have my tubes cut anyway once I saved some money. The hysterectomy however would be free for me bcs my insurance will pay for it 🤔 I’ll certainly have to talk to the doctor and surgeon but first I want to see some opinions of the others.

Thanks for reading this text and sorry if I used some words wrong, English is not my second language 😁

I had a full hysterectomy, removal of my fallopian tubes and cervix, a rectocele repair and a cystocele repair and then a mesh sling for bladder placed on October first. Excessive air in my abdomen and severe pain lead to an emergency surgery on October 4th. But they found now perforation. I spent a total of 6 days in the hospital. And I kept failing my voiding tests. I've been out of the hospital a week and failed again. I go again next week and I fear the same thing will happen. A year ago they had me try to self cath cuz I wasn't able to empty my bladder fully. I succeeded in the Dr office but failed every single time at home. And I injured myself. I just cant do it and all of this has been very traumatizing and im not in a god head space. I cant self cath. Im still on foley

Has anyone else struggled to get off the catheter following this major of surgery. Is there any tips?

Warning: talk of #2

So I wanted to come on here and ask if anyone experienced diarrhea either a few days after discharge and for how long because I’ve had diarrhea off and on for a few days. Some normal and others watery. Told my surgeon about it that did the surgery and she wants me to get lab work done + stool sample tomorrow. Also have a little bit of chills off and on but I’m anemic and have had this for 2 days.

Any advice? I’m thinking about going to my primary tomorrow for all of this instead of Quest Diagnostics because Quest has a habit of long waiting periods even though there’s an appointment

With the hysterectomy done, I’m planning on seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist as soon as I get a referral. I’m super curious how that went for people. I hear they can be miracle workers for people like me (with IBS symptoms and IC). What was your experience like?

It's been one year since I (42f) yeeted that thing out of existence and I only have one regret:

I wish I'd done it sooner. :/

I always knew I didn't want kids, and my periods were horrible and somehow getting worse as I got older. I officially started looking into the procedure 10 years ago, and along the way I got gaslit, sidelined, scared, doubtful, basically all the things that could delay or prevent it from happening, did.

Debilitating periods ruined half my life. My cycle averaged 28 days, where 11-14 days I'd be bleeding, and 1-3 days of that I was bleeding so much I'd sometimes black out. The cramps were crippling some days. Even with iron supplements my highest iron count was 8 in a good day (I think 30 is the min recommended for women). Events had to be skipped. No clothing or furniture was safe no matter what I did to prevent leaks. Couldn't focus on anything, it consumed me. I was miserable and severely depressed whenever I was bleeding, I just wanted the suffering to end.

It finally did. :)

I'm now sitting here wearing light tan pants I never would've worn before, thinking about how peaceful my days have gotten without having those horrifying days of blood and pain and stains and blackouts. No having to decline plans or grit my teeth through them because I'm in agony. I am free.

So to those on the fence, scared shitless about their surgery (I sure was too), know that it's worth it.

You're worth it. You got this.

I’m curious how y’all are tending to incision scars? I am curious both for long term cosmetic uh niceness, but also keeping what is under the scar very healthy/no complications like adhesions etc.

- My friend lent me a red-light therapy wrap thing I have been using since week one,
- My Dr. suggested using “Prequel scar solutions silicone scar stick” which I have been using since start of week 3.
- I can’t tell if these are helping or not. My scars are a little red and still a little raised and I think some if them were not raised before I started using Prequel…

Any of you have experience with Prequel…
Any of you have experience with red light …for scars? I was setting the thing to “aches and pain” bc I was hoping it was penetrating through and helping my internal stuff heal too but sh I switch the red light to “wrinkles” or “acne” for scar repair??

What else are y’all doing and how’s it going?
Do scars flatten over a long time line?
… Also I am wondering about using topical castor oil to prevent adhesions … Any experience with this?

(FWIW Me: 4wPO total laparoscopic (kept ovaries) with added help from a general surgeon to clear adhesions...
(Had a bUNCH of fibroids removed almost 12 years ago and developed some abdominal adhesions since then.) Overall feeling/healing great.
4 of my laparoscopic incisions were sealed with glue and then I had a longer vertical cut by my belly button that had surgical tape(?) all glue and tape was removed at 2 week post-op.)

I just wanted to share my experience and see if anyone has gone through something similar.

I had a laparoscopic hysterectomy 6 weeks ago (kept my ovaries), and the first two weeks of recovery went pretty well.

Around week 2, I started having some light bleeding for the first time.
About two weeks ago, I had an ultrasound and they found a hematoma above my vaginal cuff, along with partial vaginal cuff dehiscence.

Apparently, the opening isn’t big enough to need another surgery, so my doctor gave me some medication to stop the bleeding and help things heal. They also extended my medical leave.

Has anyone dealt with something similar? How long did it take to heal?

I’m about 5.5 weeks post op and I have been experiencing the craziest things! Body acne (mostly on my back and chest) when I’ve never had to deal with that in my life, itchiness in the most random places like my feet, my ears, arms-pretty much feels like I have skin sensitivity or allergies now to what no idea?!, and I’m so thirsty!

I had a full hysterectomy, including cervix both ovaries, tubes, all of it-I haven’t started any type of HRT.

as soon as my appointment with the gyn surgeon started I advocated I want hysterectomy. She told me my pain intensity and symptoms were more than fibroids and ordered mri. I told her regardless of my symptoms I know something is off and want to get rid of uterus. just found out I was right I have ad!
ladies always trust your intuition. Im scheduled for hysterectomy for 11.

My Hysterectomy Cake Day! Kind of exciting.

I wanted to thank everyone for making this sub so great, especially with the mayhem from the other day. So many of you helped me over the last couple of years, and I hope I’ve helped others in turn.

With that, here’s my story because I don’t think I’ve ever even made a general post:

I had fibroids my whole adult life. Never wanted kids. Also never wanted elective surgery. Twelve years ago my fibroids grew a lot, to about 26 week pregnancy size. And I’m tiny. Things were getting in the way. Just wanted to wait for menopause to have surgery though.

I had none of the other classic fibroids symptoms, but I suffered in many many other ways which also really amped up in perimenopause. So that was 10 years of intense hell during which I got the default response from providers: maybe you need an SSRI/ literal shrugs. I’d suddenly had a ton of MSK issues since the pandemic, which coincided with hitting menopause and losing a bunch of family members and friends all in the same year. I lucked out getting on MHT (menopause hormone therapy) right when it hit in 2023. That helped a lot. I was in PT all the time and was able to see a physical therapist who put up with my undiagnosed everything and helped me get extra strong before surgery.

I had a family history of ovarian cancer so I knew I wanted to pursue oophorectomy along with salpingectomy. Again lucked out with genetic counseling, because of a family history of breast cancer and Lynch Syndrome markers, and they approved me for a BSO.

Surgery was laparoscopic, they put all my 1300+ grams of lady guts in a bag and used the morcellator and pulled the bag out through my navel, which they enlarged. My dead mother and grandmother left signs they were with me, both before and after, that was wild! I didn’t have complications, except I couldn’t pee but they wanted to discharge me (USA!) so I went home with a catheter and bag. The lab report and my surgeon said everything was unremarkable. Which is good, but I was hoping for more dramatic explanation and proof of all my suffering; no dice there.

Over the months I grieved, which was unexpected and funny. I kept my daily goals simple and selfish, but felt mentally and physically lighter. I waited for something bad to happen but so far it has not, in this arena at least. I learned that fiber supplements help with balancing out, not just helping you go. I still have exhaustion that comes on at random times, working on sorting it out.

It was the hardest thing I’ve ever chosen to do for myself, but I’m happy and don’t have regrets about the timing or anything else. I conquered a lot of fear to do it. I had so much help, but it was ultimately just me, exposed, alone and open.

Still haven’t had any vegan cake. Goal for this coming year.

Hi everyone,

Two things first:
1: English is not my native language, so I apologize for any errors in grammar or spelling
2: I suffer from anxiety disorder and sometimes panic attacks, so it‘s often hard for me to be objective and calm

3 weeks ago, I had my hysterectomy. Cervis + uterus were removed. I kept my overies!

The reason for the hysterectomy were my very painful periods, anemia and the fact that I never want to have children.
During my first visit with the surgeon, she informed me about adenomyosis (seen in ultrasound) and confirmed that the surgery is necessary and a good choice.

Surgery went well, except for me not waking up 100% afterwards, so they had to sternal rub me twice. The morning after, the surgeon visited me in my room and said that my uterus had been full of adenomyosis and that surgery was the right decision.
I stayed at the hospital for three days (two nights) and my recovery has been „okay“/well.

However, last night I started bleeding quite heavily and passed quite a large blood clot (approx. the size of a 2€ coin). I was also in pain, it felt like I got my period.
Since there has been no spotting whatsoever after surgery, I was completely caught off guard and started panicking.

I did end up going to the ER.
They checked my internal wound and everything seems to be fine, no lose stitches etc!

Apparently there is a small lump of scar tissue at the right end of the wound. The surgeon on call (not the one who operated on me) assumed that that‘s where the bleeding came from. I don‘t have enough medical knowledge to understand why scar tissue that isnt flat would cause a bleeding.

After a while the bleeding got better. It‘s not 100% gone, but getting better.

However, last night, they finally handed me my pathology report.
Apparently I had no endometriosis, and no adenomyosis! What?? Why did my surgeon talk about adenomyosis afterwards then?
The pathology report mentions fibroids.

I‘m confused. I‘ve been reading up on fibroids now and I‘m overwhelmed by all the information.
My gynocologist is on vacation, so I won‘t have the chance to discuss the report with her for a while.

Has anyone had this „misdiagnosis“?
Can fibroids come back?
Can a lump of scar tissue really cause bleeding and a big blood clot?

I‘m sorry if I sound over the top. I‘m just so anxious and nobody seems to explain this to me.
Right now my anxiety thinks „what if this never gets better?“
Can anyone help me or at least have some kind words?

Hi, I’d really appreciate if anyone had a surgeon recommendation for one that can do a horizontal incision? I have giant 30 cm fibroids plus 13 more and a cyst. I’m private near London but of course willing to travel?

I’m obviously miserable and waited too long on the NHS.

I had my 2 week follow up today and I was told that healing is going perfectly, so YAY! I did think it was funny though because he told me no penetration for the next 10 weeks and then immediately put the speculum thing in me for the pelvic exam (which I know is totally different but still funny). I have been cleared to go back to life as normal and can finally take a bath 😁 Now for tomorrows appointment to get this dang uterine stent removed.

As the title says, I am very anxious about my coming surgery. Iv had one other surgery in my life, my gallbladder, but that was 17 years ago.

I’m getting laparoscopic surgery. Removal of the uterus, cervix and fallopian tubes.

Those that have had similar surgeries, how long was the actual surgery? Mine is scheduled for 8am.

How was recovery? I am going to be off 8 weeks because my job is extremely physical and working with special needs children. So I’m going off for 8 weeks but iv been told I might need 12. 😬

How was sex after?

How were bowel movements after surgery? I also have IBS-D, so I’m a little apprehensive to take stool softeners.

I am also pretty nervous about bladder prolapse. I am 33, 3 kids. Last kid I had was 9 years ago. I have IC in my bladder already and just scared that it will happen to me.

I am excited for the surgery, but of course I have my anxieties about everything.

Had my total hysterectomy and surprise appendectomy on Monday. Was in the hospital for about 24 hrs total due to not being able to keep food down, think it was due to the anesthesia. They gave me 2 anti nausea drugs in my IV which I think has helped in the days after. They had to remove the patch they put behind my ear.

Was able to slowly go upstairs to my bed after we got home and have not gone back downstairs yet.

The gas pain has been hard, feel like I need to breathe shallowly due to that. Pooping has been difficult but I was able to go some on day 3po. I don't like Miralax so have been doing Senokot gummies and Mag Citrate. I might need to get a suppository or stool softener too.

Also I have hardly any appetite, wondering when that will return.

Heating pad and the pillow they sent me home with have been helping with things. Also the grabber thing since I keep knocking things off my nightstand.

Hoping to maybe go downstairs and be able to see my dogs tomorrow. They are big dogs that get excited and jump on me normally.

Been alternating the Tylenol and Ibuprofen every 4 hours. That was the schedule they told me to do, even though the bottles say 6 hrs.

I am also having more done in one go. The uterus is being removed for severe adenomyosis. Tubes and cervix for cancer prevention as it is in my family. I also have uterine and bladder prolapse. They are going to repair my bladder and urethra for urinary incontinence post baby (she is now 2). I was going to have surgery 2.5 years ago when I found out in the operating room that I was pregnant. I had been bleeding for 2 months so it was a shock to say the least. This has been a long time coming, I can't wait to be done with my years of misery, but I am so curious if anyone has had prolapse surgery at the same time, OR had issues with prolapse as a result of a vaginal removal. I am seeing so many women lament having pelvic floor issues post op, and my pelvic floor issues are part of the reason for my surgery.

Any experiences welcome. For context I am getting the surgery done by a woman who had the same procedure herself and I trust her fully, outside of Boston, USA.

Turns out this is a PSA!

Strange turn of events over here! I just passed my 1 year anniversary of having a hysterectomy and I've gotta say, things are rough. I started getting insane headaches and histamine issues, and this awful puffy swelling in my sinuses with dark bags under my eyes. I have nausea and constipation, and I feel poisoned every day.

So, I got a huge lab panel done and it turns out I have iron overload (iron levels almost 300) and I test positive for the gene for hemochromatosis. Turns out my heavy periods were actually helping the iron overload, because the main treatment is bloodletting. Now that I don't bleed monthly like I was (and I was bleeding a TON), the hemochromatosis is getting severe and overloading my liver.

lThis is such a niche thing, but I'm wondering if anyone else can relate. Since my liver is doing poorly with the overload of iron, it's also causing elevated SHBG and hormone issues, so it feels like I'm in menopause even though I'm not because the SHBG is stealing all of my bioavailable hormones.

Just feels like a never ending saga of problems. Thank you for listening! I hope this helps someone else who is feeling better in a few ways post hysterectomy, but worse in a lot of others.

Post-op hair loss.

I am 6MPO tomorrow, and my usually thick and dense hair has taken a hit from the stress of surgery. It started about 3 months post op when I started losing strands of hair for a good month every time I washed it. Not to mention is a lot drier than usual too.

Has anyone else dealt with the hair loss? And did your hair eventually “snap back”?