Hysterectomy, I'm 43, Fibroids, anybody out there had one, are you happy you did? Any major problems?

I had an hysterectomy last year. I was 47. I had loads of fibroids and terrible periods, which lasted sometimes for 3 weeks. I was also aneamic. I had my uterus and cervix removed, as i had trouble with abnormal cells a few years ago, so thought i might as well get rid of that too. I was in terrible pain when i came out of surgery, which lasted an hr or so. The next day, i was fine and wanted to go home but stayed one more night and never looked back.

My advice is to get out of bed as soon as you can.and walk around as much as you can.

You hear of women who stay in bed for ages and don't do anything fot a long while, i never felt that way. I've had no problems at all, and i haven't felt this energetic in a long time.

I was back teaching aerobics in 6 weeks.

Just read the post re the mirena. A friend of mine has one and it's great, for her. I did consider having one but decided against it as i'd had 6 yrs of problems and i'd had enough.

Sounds like me. I just had an IUD inserted last week, because of fibroids - I had been bleeding for over 100 days and sometimes it was so heavy I ended up in ER. Why they just didn't do a hysterectomy, I don't know - I am 46 and have had my child - However, I will see what happens with this IUD - which is the Mirena, by the way. I did a lot of research on it via the web, but nearly all of it was negative. It is now day 10 and I only have very light spotting. I have actually lost weight too. Then again, I will still have to wait 3-6 months to see if I improve. If not then I will definitely go ahead and have a hysterectomy. I know it is fairly radical surgery, but most people I know who have had one are glad that they did. I hope that you find some answers here. good luck

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I had one 2 yrs ago when I was 33. I had severe menorrhagia (spelling?) and was becoming increasingly more anemic each month, despite taking iron supplements and adding more iron rich foods to my diet. They found a large growth within my uterus and we decided together (my husband, doctor and I) that a hysterectomy would be the best and most definitive answer to the problem. He left my ovaries, so that I might have a normal menopause, but removed the uterus and cervix. The last two years...well after the painful recovery...lol have been fantastic and problem free!

How they perform the procedure and your level of pain tolerence will determine how you feel after surgery. I have heard they can do it vaginally, which is less painful...however, I had a c-section at 25 and the doc said he would need to go in through the previous incision. I had my surgery Wednesday afternoon and I went home late Friday morning. I was in a great deal of pain for about a week...but that could be a personal thing.

I will tell you, though I never had the problem, my gynecologist did tell me that some women suffer emotionally after the procedure. Something about losing part of their womanhood...I think as long as you don't feel that your uterus is what makes you a woman...and you don't get any kind of infection AND (very important) you follow your doctors orders on release, you should be fine. :) Good luck...and be well!!

Happy Hysterectomy

I haven't but a colleague had a hysterectomy, one which left the ovaries and the cervix in place. She was a little younger than you are, had 2 teenage sons and didn't want any more children.

No regrets, no early menopause as the ovaries were still functioning, no periods, no more pain.