Women's Health Community

Yes I regret getting my thermal ablation. I got it done in Feb. 2010 and ever since then I have pain with intercourse, odor, itching and burning and have gone to the Dr.'s 4-5 times and they say nothing is wrong. I too looked on the internet for anything negative about the procedure, but found nothing. Now I have my old heavy crampy period back after 8 months. It was not worth it. I would stay on the pill if I had to do it all over again. I have a whole set of new problems since the ablation. I have started using over the counter estrogen cream for some relief. I don't know if it is helping I still don't feel like myself. I hope there is help out there for us! Thanks for listening!
Snitchel

I had an a D & C in Dec 2009 then an ablation in Jan 2010. and promptly had a period in Feb 2010. Ablation didn't work. My doctor offered to do it again but told me my odds were still the same as before. 90% chance of less or no periods 10% chance of not working. Seems like good odds for most people but not for me. Hormones also did not work. I was have 28 day painful, heavy periods and maybe 5-7 days of no bleeding. It has been exhausting and frustrating. This July had a supracervical hysterectomy. It's been great to be able to plan things and leave the house without worrying if I was going to start hemorhaging.

Thanks everyone for sharing their experiences that they had with the ablation procedure. I have been thinking about doing this and I am having second thoughts now after reading everyones comments.

I am thinking about having endometrial ablation procedure. Right now I am having extremely heavy flows, with accidents. Never had children. Since starting (40 years) ago, it has been problems, horrible cramps, endometriois problems and now this. It is my understanding that after this procedure I will still have a flow (maybe even heavier), I will still have cramps (maybe worst), still don't know when, am not going to have children....so why would it be suggested?

Hello,
I had this procedure 15 yrs ago. It was the best thing medicine ever invented. I have not had a period since this time. The mood swings have ceased, heavy bleeding has ceased, crying jags have stopped. It's amazing, I am a human being. I understand that this procedure does not eliminate periods, but my Dr. explained to me that, 60% will not have periords and the other 40% will have periords not as bad before they had the surgery. I had a few complications for several months later like: cramps when my period was to start, infecting after the surgery (antibiotics helped). If I did not have this procedure done, I feel I would not be able to handle all the stress in my life. (my dtr. causes all my stress). Things do bother me, but in a different way. I dont fly off the handle, I take a quick second to think what Im going to say or do. I feel this procedure has made me a better person. I wonder how I kept it together before this procedure.

hi, i never had children eiether and had heavy periods with wicked cramps. i did have a fibroid removed which kicked everything off as i hemmoraged as a side effect and needed an ablation for that. i had the Her Option cryoablation (freezing technique). 4 years ago at age 46. it lightened my periods to what i'd call "light" with no cramps. at times they would linger with spotting and i'd use a tampon to catch it. the procedure was in office and i had no pain, only some rather severe nausea and dizziness for about an hour afterwards. i had the watery discharge but for less time than expected. my experience was overall very good. now i am having issues again due to more fibroids and ovarian cysts and my dr. is recommending doing another one or a hysterectomy if i really want it. i am at a toss up as to which way to go. i can't find much on women having 2 ablations and am worried about side effects due to the uterine lining already being too thin (burning....etc.). any helpful comments would be appreciated.

I know this has been a year ago ...However always remember when theres an odor ...theres an infection....the doctor was suppose to give you an antibiotic after the procedure....

I was wondering what type of ablation treatment you all had. I was looking at the the NovaSure treatment. I understand there are different types.

I had my procedure over a year ago. The bleeding stopped and I love life without the fatigue etc that anemia brought with it. The weight gain has been significant, however, with no change in diet or exercise patterns. Would love to hear if anyone else is dealing with that......

I am so very confused. I am a 45 year old woman who has had 3 children, 2 d&c's and am considering either a partial hysterectomy or endometrial ablation. I have had heavy bleeding and tissue passing for years and because of my 2 fibroids my doctor advises me that I will likely increase in bleeding prior to menopause. I also have a descending uterus which is dropping and growing in size. Sooo, I was seriously considering the hysterectomy but reading the possible side effects, especially the possibility of pushing me into menopause already made me take another look at EA even though it won't address my descending uterus.

I had no idea at all about the amount of side effects for EA. The one that concerns me most is weight gain, I have to be honest. I already have cramping and bleeding intermittently but don't want to put on any more weight.

Is there anyone out there that has a similar situation to me (children, terrible monthly bleeding, descending uterus, D&Cs done but not making an impact on the bleeding) that may have had EA and is willing to discuss their outcome?

I don't know what I am going to do now but my periods definitely run my life. Help!

Hi! I had my Endometrial ablation done an a D & C 11 days ago.. and OMG the pain after. It felt like hard labor.. not the fun, ooo..... I just had a contraction, labor.. like the full want to bite your lip off labor. The nurse was telling me that I had to get up and get dressed they only alowed 1 hour of recovery.. I wanted to just stay in bed. anything that could hurt in the general area? it hurt. bad.. And I am the type of person that can handle pain pretty well.. I had 3 c sections after hard labor failed.. nice right? well I still cramp.. I have light and sound sincitivitys. I am angered easily now. I have a watery discharge that makes me feel like my water is breaking. I have gushes of this watery discharge. WHY? I have sharp pains on my left side ab. I know I should ask my doctor.. but.. I am kinda mad at her telling me this was going to be a 1-2 day recovery.. BS! Yeah I can function but I rather be in a dark room in bed and this is 11 days after.. Advil Sometimes helps.. I can't wait to take a bath.. I just want to relax in a hot bath, the pain to stop and the gushing water to STOP! *sigh*

I am 51 yrs old and just had an ablation using the hot water in the balloon method. I have 3 children through natural childbirth. My uterus was "tipped" back. I had a fibroid that was about 2cm.Monthly bleeding was terrible for my periods. Many clots and often overflowing a tampon and pad within an hour for the first 4 days of my period. The procedure was done at out patient surgery. I had a D&C, then the fibroid was pared down, then the ablation. The procedure was done at 7:30am and I was in recovery for about 1&1/2hrs. The pain was very bad after I got home but only lasted 5hours. When I came home I didn't have to change my pad until I went to bed that night. I had some bright red bleeding but it was minimal. Today is the 2nd day after my procedure. I am spotting on and off and the pain is minimal-mostly from the side the fibroid was on. I am hoping this will be the end of my horrible periods and I can lead a normal life again. I had this done instead of hysterectomy since recovery time is minimal and I can go back to work in a couple of days.
I hope this helps give you some info to make an informed decision.

I am 51. I had 3 children delivered vaginally. A "tipped"uterus and a fibroid that was 2cm big. Heavy periods requiring tampon and pad to be changed every hour for the first 3-4 days and a lot of pain prior to and with my period. I opted for the ablation instead of a hysterectomy. The procedure I had was with the balloon and heated water. I went to out patient surgery for the procedure just 2 days ago. I was in recovery for 1&1/2hrs and then went home. The severe pain I had at first made me want to cry but in 5hrs it was gone and I just had some minor pain on the side the fibroid was on. I had minimal bleeding. I used the same pad until I went to bed that night. I am taking Ibuprofen every 6 hours and vicodin every 6hrs and the pain is under control. Today-as I said 2 days later-I am up and around and have had a pantyliner only which I haven't had to change yet. I am taking flexaril (a muscle relaxant)-one a day for 3 days after the procedure. I don't know if I my periods will stop but it has to be better than what I suffered through with my periods. Hopefully this will help you make an informed decision on what you want to do. So far I have no regrets.

I had my ablation done 2 weeks ago using the hydrothermal method. I have experienced little to no side effects from the procedure, just some slight serosanguineous discharge. My question is has anyone experienced emotional lability after surgery? I am all over the place with my emotions for the past few days. I typically am very level headed and in good control of my emotions at all time, I have to be, I'm a RN on the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit. I am angry and impatient with my kids, crying when my husband leaves for work and feeling a bit overwhelmed. I haven't spoke to my provider about this yet, thought I would do some research on my own first. Anyone else experience this?

I feel your pain. The moment I woke up from the surgery, I had severe lower abdominal pain for hours, to the point it was making me vomit. Instead of releasing me after the anestesia wore off, they continued to give me shots of morfine two to four hours afterwards. It was finally tolerable to where I could go home. I had my surgery approximately seven years ago. Since then, I have not had a period. Maybe a little spotting once a month or so, but that is all. Through out the years I have been trying to tolerate the pain that shoots from within the lower left side of my body, hip and groin area, down the inside and outside of my leg, around my knee cap and is now traveling down to my ankle. I have been to the chiropractor on several occasions, thinking that I have a pinched nerve in my back, without any relief. In fact sometimes it even worsens the pain. I am constantly applying Boi Freeze to my inner thigh and kneecap, just to get to sleep at night. But awakened in the middle of the night after it looses its affect. I travel alot and this pain has gotten so much worse that it is now preventing me from driving for very long periods of time.
I am and always have been a very active person, but paricipate in work outs less and less because of the pain afterwords. Going to the grocery store is even becoming a problem for me anymore.
My question to you is: Have you ever talked to a genologist about this and if so, have they suggested anything that will help? I talked to my family physician about it and he is suggesting that there may be a possibility that scar tissue has developed throughout the years and is putting pressure on some of the nerves in that area. Also mentioned that the doctor may have permanently damaged some of the organs outside of the area.
I am going to speak with him again this week because the pain is getting untolerable. I will email back and let you know what he says. Thanks for shedding some light on this for me. It is nice to know that I am not alone.
Marsha