endometrial ablasion

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Anyone heard of using Endometrial ablasion for permanent sterilization? I had a student tell me this is very popular instead of getting your tubes tied. She states 1. no periods ever, 2. higher success than tubal, 3. weight loss. I am thinking this is too good to be true. I looked on line and haven't seen anything related to sterilization. My friend works in surgery and says they do 5-10 of them a day.

Any info would be appreciated.

Laura

Specializes in LTC.

I had my procedure done on a Friday. I felt yucky the rest of the day but the next day I felt good but I just spent the day laying around. I took Ibuprofen and tylenol for pain as the Norco I was prescribed made me feel sick. I wish I would have asked my dr to do an ultrasound before he did the procedure to find out what was really going on. I think I have ovarian cysts and that those are whats causing my problems.

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I had it done 5 years ago. I was told in regards to periods one of a few things would happen

a)no more periods (thats not to say that once in a while a light spotting might not happen)

b) regulated normal periods

c) scant periods

d) no change at all (then I'd need the hysterectomy they were desperatly trying not to perform).

Lucky me I haven't had a period since that procedure! I get some of the the s/s of premenstration. (moody, crampy, sometimes some weight gain..)

I was told that they would not perform the procedure on anyone who had not had their tubes tied. They did not want pregancy to occur d/t a chance of uterine rupture. Although it would be little if any chance of that since they were taking so much of my uterine lining out that an egg would have a very hard time implanting.But if it did by some odd chance, it start to develop and grow and it would most likely tear through my uterous since I have very little lining in it.

In terms of pain, I have a very high threshold for pain. I have had numerous major gyn surgeries and have bounced right back no problem. With the endometrial ablasion, I had a longer recoup time. But I atribute that to the other procedures done during the surgery.

I would do it again in a second! Nothing was worse than having my period for 23 days straight, heavy, clotting the size of apples..stop for a day or two and start back up again for 19 days..stop a day..again for 32 days..on and on it went.

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Specializes in DD, PD/Agency Peds, School Sites.

Easy recovery. Had cramps for a couple of hours, but pain meds made all of that go away. I slept through the night and went on a job interview the next day.

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Specializes in Critical Care: Cardiac, VAD, Transplant.

"I would do it again in a second! Nothing was worse than having my period for 23 days straight, heavy, clotting the size of apples..stop for a day or two and start back up again for 19 days..stop a day..again for 32 days..on and on it went."

Thank goodness I'm not that bad! I usually run for about 9 days real heavy. The problem is that I've become so anemic during that time that I can hardly get out of bed d/t exhaustion. I thought I was just nuts until the doc confirmed the findings with labs pre and post. Glad this is an option. My luck, I'd be one of those that have no change :cry:.

I think I am going to call the doc in the next week and set up the pre-procedure stuff. Since I have class and clinicals at the beginning of the week, I could probably schedule it for midweek and have plenty of recovery time just in case...i have a high pain tolerance, just can't tolerate meds!

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.
I wish I would have asked my dr to do an ultrasound before he did the procedure to find out what was really going on. I think I have ovarian cysts and that those are whats causing my problems.

Isn't it standard to perform diagnostic procedures (pelvic exam, U/S, endometrial biopsy, labs, etc.) prior to an endometrial ablation to r/o uterine or endometrial cancer as a cause of bleeding?

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Specializes in Critical Care: Cardiac, VAD, Transplant.

I does make sense to r/o other causes. I know my doc has an order for an u/s and labs to be done prior to the procedure. I had the labs to document pre and post menses Hgb levels. No mention of doing a biopsy first, but he did require the standard pelvic. He mentioned several different versions of ablation available currently. A newer one that cauterizes the lining via expandable metallic 'netting' sounds very interesting.

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Specializes in LTC.

The only things I had done before the procedure were a pap smear and blood drawn at the lab. He did no other biopsies or diagnostic things, he was convinced that ablation would solve my heavy bleeding/clotting problem. I wanted to believe that it would be that easy and should have had more done first.

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I had the procedure last November - best decision. I have not had any bleeding since.

Before the procedure I was like one of the previous posters - had my period for 20-25 days straight with heavy bleeding & huge clots, then stop for a few days maybe a week and then start the whole cylce over. It was awful - always having to worry about it, constantly going to the bathroom - many times I would bleed thru tampons & pads.

Prior to my procedure, the doctor did a full gyn exam, blood work, ultrasound & hysteroscopy with biopsy. He also made me fully aware that I should be done with having children.

I had the procedure done in his office. I had IV sedation. The whole procedure maybe lasted 15 minutes. I had cramping the day of. The doctor prescribed me Vicodin - I took 2 of them that day & just layed around the house. The next day I was fine - no cramping or pain at all. Went back to work the next day.

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Specializes in Med-surg; OB/Well baby; pulmonology; RTS.

I just had this done almost a month ago for heavy bleeding during my period and for pain control (endometriosis). So far, my pain is better and the spotting has stopped.

But as far as it being used for birth control? My doctor told me it is still possible for you to become pg and you have an increased risk of having a placenta accreta if you do. I also had a tubal done at the same time.

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Specializes in Oncology, Triage, Tele, Med-Surg.

I have friends and family who've had great success with their endometrial ablation. I wasn't a very good candidate, but I wanted to try it anyway. (I had known fibroids - so was having a hysteroscopic myomectomy done at the same time. I ended up with a hyster anyway (fibroids, adenomyosis and stage IV endometriosis) but I still don't regret trying the ablation first. It was very well worth a day of my time to try to avoid major surgery. My periods were so horrid that the recovery from the ablation was a piece of cake. If I had been a candidate for a repeat ablation, I would have had one in a heartbeat. :redbeathe

I had to sign a consent indicating I understood the procedure could render me sterile, not that it was a sterilization procedure, though.

My GYN also insists all his E.A. patients have an endometrial biopsy (or D&C) prior to the ablation to screen for dysplasia or cancer, because these issues cannot be safely monitored once the endometrial lining is destroyed.

:nurse:

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Hi,

I had mine almost 4 yers ago. I had the electrode method. I was on my treamill and shopping at the mall the next day with only very mild crampsand no bleeding. Now nearly 4 years later I rarely see a tinge of pink when I use the bathroom and just in the last couple days I seem to be having some mild cramping and low back ache just like I am on my period. I saw more of a tinge of blood yesterday than ever but not even enough for a panty liner. I suspect a small area of the lining of my uterus has grown back and it's just letting me know it's there. I am scheduled for my anual pap and pelvic exam in late February. I will address it then if it continues or gets worse.

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