Endometrial Ablation / Novasure

I had the Novasure done yesterday afternoon. I am 33 years old and have had 4 children. After a tubal ligation almost 12 years ago my periods got progressively worse. My periods always came on the 28th day but were very heavy. During my 2nd thru 4th day I literally could not leave my house. I could not use tampons because I would easily bleed threw a super plus within 10 minutes. I was sick and tired of my life revolving around my periods. I had tried birth control, but my gyno had to keep upping my dose because it just wasn't working, and in turn raised my already high blood pressure. So I had to stop taking that. I had finally had enough after I had my 2nd 3-hour iron infusion, because my ferritin was at almost 0.

The procedure yesterday went fine for me, I started off 24 hours before taking 800mgs of Motrin every 8 hours and then, the next day 2 hours before the procedure I took 2 Darvocet and a Serax ( mild tranquilizer ). It was a outpatient visit and I went in a hour early. The did my vitals and then gave me a shot in my rear of Toradol ( helps with cramping ). I laid down for about 50 mins. and then they started the procedure. It went fine for me, the only pain was from the 2 shots to my cervix which numbed it, but that wasn't too bad either. It only lasted about a half hour total. I did so well that they only watched me afterwords for about 5 mins and sent me on my way.

I was woozy only because of the meds. About a hour or so after I got home I did get some pretty intense cramping but the Motrin helped with that. I slept very well last night and today I am feeling very well. I am having some brownish d/c, and some watery d/c as well, but no more cramping at all. My period had started yesterday, and I am curious to see what is going to happen in the next 2 days, seeing as normally I would be on my worst period days. If this doesn't work I will be having a hysterectomy. Time will tell. :$ Hope it does. Good luck to all who are getting it done.
Melissa

I was just wondering if anyone has had varicose veins and have they gotten any better after the surgery?

i had this done earlier this year, july, and i had discharge for about 6 weeks, not quite so much bleeding, and i am soooo happy with this. unbelievably happy. i have minimal discharge, minimal pain, discomfort during the time when my period should be, and i can wear light tampons, or nothing more than a pantiliner. thats it. its so wonderful. i love it! if you want to do this, research this, all your options, talk to your doctor, make sure they do all the necessary tests. i am so happy for now.

I had the Nova Sure done on July 17, 2008 I had heavy bleeding due to a fibroid and was anemic. I happened to be my Dr.s first patient because of that she had a supervisor present during the procedure. I was awake during and hooked to an ultra sound machine at 1 point I heard the supervising Dr. ask my Dr. "what is that?" to which my Dr. replied " I don't know, maybe a cyst" and the supervisor asked her what my histology had said the Dr. replied that she hadn't done one apparently a histology is something that should be done prior to surgery. I was released about 20 minutes after the procedure (which by the way was painful) I was in extreme pain within an hour np painkiller worked I ended up screaming and begging for help ( I am not sensitive to pain usually) At the ER the injected morphine and I woke up 6 hours later with very little pain. I had almost no periods since then but always had a strange p[ain I had never had before, in June it became awful and unlivable worse evry month, had an ultrasound and found that I now have literally dozens of fibroids which live in a pool of blood caused by scar tissue from the novasure which was caused by the fact that my Dr.burned the hell out of me which explains why my procedure was so painful and why the supervisor told her at 1 point "that enough" I now spike fevers during my periods, have pain that ruins my life and painkillers do not help, I have a new Dr. and will h ave a hysterectomy next month.When I asked my old Dr. why this happened she said "oh, some uterus's are touchy about having anything in them"! I told her that was funny because I had 2 children living in them for 9 months each and my uterus never tried to kill me before! Get an experienced Dr.!

I was told by my co-worker that its the best thing she had ever done and that it didnt hurt at all, that you would only feel slight cramping.

WRONG!!! I opted not to have anesthesia due to $$ so the doctor sprayed a numbing spray on my cervix and then gave me a local on my cervix... ladies,, that was the easiest part of the whole thing! He then went in and measured with the novasure gun. Once he stuck that in, your cervix does not like any foreign object in you so it clamped down on it and started to contract and I mean contract hard!

On a scale from 1-10,,, ten being the worse pain of my life... it was a 9.99! It was the worse 90 seconds of my life. It feels as if you are having a baby, the cramping is unbelievable! Once they take out the machine it subsides a little. After I got home, I took the narcotic they gave me along with what I had taken earlier to soften my cervix... I got sooooooooooo sick, I threw up all day and I cramped all day. I really dont have hardly any bleeding coming out or the watery discharge yet but I am anticipating it. You do get a flush feeling right after wards and I think for me it had to do with the amount of pain I was under. I took off today and tomorrow and hopefully I will be ready to go to work in a few days. :-) Ladies Good Luck!

If I were to do it all again, I would of gone under anesthesia!

i just had the novasure done on nov 18th i have had no complications my dr gave me percocets and ibupropen 800 i was out running errands the next day the evening after i got home i waqs tired from bein sedated but other than that i was fine

Hi, I had the Novasure procedure done on Sept. 29, 2009. I was having 7-10 day heavy periods so my Dr. recommended it. After the procedure I had light bleeding and discharge for about 4 weeks, and cramped for about three days. I got my regular period almost a week later. I am now on my second cycle since the procedure and haven't seen any changes. My period still flows heavily as if nothing happened. My question is how long should It take to see any results, or is this a sign that the procedure didn't work?

Hi, I just turned 43 years old and like everyone else who got this procedure done had horrible periods, my whole life. I was getting anemic every month and really just couldn't handle it anymore. When it was clear that I was not going to get pregnant with my husband I decided to get this procedure done and my husband is getting a vasectomy.

The procedure was simple enough, an hour in surgery under general anesthesia for me. I had only slight cramping after waking and really haven't had any cramping to speak of since the operation. The nurse put ibuprofen in my IV, but I never had the need to take it afterwards. I have had a pretty constant flow of pinkish/brownish liquid. It's light enough to have a small pad in during the day that I change about three times a day, and at night an overnight pad is ample. The liquid has a nasty smell to it.

Besides that I have had some mild cramping upon waking in the morning followed by huge bowel movements, it seems to have triggered something... but it is mostly healthy and the cramps go away right afterwards. I was on the forum to see how long people had this discharge, it has been 5 days for me now and it is still coming out fairly regularly.

I should also warn, which my doctor did not... that you can't have sex for 4 weeks after the procedure. I wish I had known that. Besides that, at least at 5 days after the procedure, it was a very easy and painless process for me... hope it works in the long run!

I'm a 40 year old woman with 4 children. All three girls were vaginal birth and the last one - a boy was C-section, then I had a tubal ligation. He's 5 now. Just last year I started having these massive migranes with my period. The period was very heavy with major clots lasting a full 7 to 8 days one month, then very light lasting only 3 days the next. I was taking no medications, and have never had issues in the past. I went to my doctor to ask about getting an ablation procedure and he did a vaginal ultra-sound to look and see if I had any fibroid cists. He then told me that he saw shades of dark circles - To him - looked like I had Andomyosis, where the lining of the uterus grows into the muscle wall. So - he suggested I get a hysterectomy.
After careful consideration - I decided to get a second opinion. (GIRLS! GET A SECOND OPINION ALWAYS). When it comes to major surgery, it's always good to double check. So - I had my files and ultrasound pictures sent over to a well know OBGYN who does the Novasure procedure and made an appointment. I was shocked to hear that it was impossible to diagnose someone with Andomyosis by just doing an ultrasound. The only way to diagnose that is by having a hysterectomy, taking a biopsy of the uterus and getting the lab results back. It was obvious to me that my doctor wanted to put me under the knife to benefit his pocket book.
Long story short, I decided to get the Novasure Ablation procedure. Dr. Simon does this prodedure in house without sedation. Only a local anesthetic is used. There is no unnecessary DNC or biopsy done before hand. These are all things I was told your doctor does for more $$$$$. Day of the procedure - I had a nice lunch a couple hours before. They gave me a sedative to calm my nerves. I changed into a hospital gown. The doctor gave me a local anesthetic which didn't seem to do much. I felt my mouth tingle and numb, but I wasn't really numb down there. So - come to find out, the reason I had been having problems with my periods was because there was scar tissue that had closed my cervix. Scar tissue doesn't get numb. So I had the choice to endure the pain of dialation and the procedure or stop and try again another time. I chose to endure the pain. It was more painful than giving child birth. I would suggest to anyone who goes to a doctor that does this procedure without getting put under - don't do it unless you get put under!!!! I was absolutely traumatized by the pain. It was unbearable. As soon as it's done, the pain stops and it's severe soreness, then the next day - no pain at all. just a little sore. I definately had to take a day off to rest after this procedure - but it's been a week and 3 days now after the procedure and I'm feeling great! I was back to regular activity 3 days after the procedure. I work out 5 days a week and everything was ok. I am still having discharge though... light watery blood. won't seem to go away, but I'm hopefull that it will go away soon. I hope this is helpful for you. All in all - I would suggest getting this prodedure done as long as you get sedated..... Good LUCK!!!!

Hi,

I had Novasure and Essure done two days ago in the hospital. I am 39 w/no medical problems except for being considerably overweight and more importantly nothing wrong with my uterus, no fibroids, no polyps (this seems to make a difference), just very heavy bleeding & cramping w/anemia. A month before the surgery I had to have a hysteroscopy & endometrial biopsy in the doc office. Morning of surgery (1:00 PM) no eating or drinking after midnight so I had a small meal at 11:00 PM so I wouldn't be starving. I also took a Pepcid the morning of the surgery b/c I tend to get nauseous when my stomach is empty. Went to the hospital at 11:00 AM, had some nursing & anesthesia consults, had blood taken & peed in a cup for a pregnancy test. IV started, was administered IV sedation, torridol (sp?) which is like Motrin for cramping and something for nausea, and off to the OR I went. In the room were the doc, a nurse anesthetist & a student. The nurse gave me oxygen through a nasal cannula and the three of us ladies chatted it up for the entire 1 1/2 hours I was in there. I remember just about everything but felt nothing. First the doc did another hysteroscope & then a D&C and then the Novasure, and last I got to watch the Essure coils being placed on the tv monitor. Success! Went to the recovery room for an hour and stared at all the people moaning & groaning. Then I went to step down recovery, had some crackers & ginger ale & went home. I laid around the rest of the day & yesterday just for the sake of being lazy, not because I had any pain or discomfort, which I didn't. I took one Motrin 800 the evening after the surgery for some mild cramping, much more mild than my normal periods. I had a very little bit of bleeding and today am just wearing a pantiliner. Hope this helps!

I am 44 years old, single, never had children but have suffered from menorrhagia for years. About 10 years ago, my OB-GYN put me on the pill to regulate my menstrual flow and it worked for a few years. My flow was not heavy and I was very pleased. As I got older, my flow got heavier and I was changing my Super tampons every 45 minutes to an hour. Mind you, I was still taking the pill at this point. This heavy flow would last for half a day then it would go back to normal.

Three days ago, my flow started getting very heavy (mid-cycle through my pack of pills!) and I had a lot of clots. Some were as wide as my fist. I almost freaked out. I called the doctor the following morning and I was asked to come in immediately. I was given literature for a procedure called Novasure Endometrial Ablation and even at the doctor's office, I was already half sold. She told me that if I feel faint at anytime that evening or feel clammy or see stars, I should be taken to the Emergency Room pronto. Well, that happened the next morning. My flow was not getting lighter at all and I almost fainted while walking the dog. I called my brother so he can take me to the ER. I was hooked up to an IV immediately. I was attended to within 5 minutes from walking into the ER. They took blood for the lab work and found that my hemoglobin dropped to a dangerous 8 from a normal 13. The ER doctor recommended that I get a blood transfusion because I had lost so much blood by this time and my blood count was very low. We are only talking two days here. I was given 2 pints of blood and was scheduled for the Novasure procedure that evening. I was also given Potassium via IV because that was low too. During the vaginal ultrasound, the doctor found a fibroid inside my uterus. She said that she was going to cauterize the fibroid right before the Novasure.

I did not need General Anesthesia. I was only under heavy sedation and I did not feel a thing. A D&C was performed because even when in the Operating Room, I was bleeding and clotting profusely.

I awoke to an immediate feeling of relief. Nothing was gushing, it all went well and I only needed one pill of Vicodin before bedtime because I was cramping when the local anesthesia wore off. It allowed me to sleep well. I woke up to no pain at all. My head felt heavy from the after-effects of anesthesia but it wore off a few hours later. I am wearing a pad due to the light discharge, which I was told to expect.

I slept through the night and did not have to wake up every hour to change tampons and fear that I stained my bed sheets.

It is an outpatient procedure. I just had the procedure done yesterday and I am very hopeful that I will regain my energy and actually live a life not worrying where the nearest restroom is so I can change my tampon.

At 44, I was not planning to have any children so this works for me. Everyone should get a second opinion but for an emergency case like mine, I know I made the right choice by going the Novasure way.

Hello,

I am a nurse withe a quadriplegic patient (and friend) who wants to have this procedure done. I have many questions I would like to ask you. My name is Debbie. . I am anxious to know how you are making out since the procedure and also where you had it done. Thank-you so much for posting this.





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So sad to see the medical business correcting yet another symptom, without addressing the cause. I had the same problem as all the women who wrote in. Bleeding sometimes 2 weeks out of the month. Of course, gyno wanted to do lots of stuff, but I wanted to know what was causing the problem. Went to my chiropractor. He assessed the problem as a subluxated disc and within one month and after 2 or 3 adjustments, my problem was solved. After that my periods stopped completely and I was dizzy and emotional. I suspected another cause was in place. Went back to the same gyno, described the symptoms and asked what tests she would recommend. I was 40 years old at the time. We decided to test for menopause and it turned out all the women in my family start menopause at 40. Took lots of herbal medications for a year for the menopause symptoms and had no further problems after a year of painless, non-invasive treatment with herbs and my chiropractor. It is not the lack of knowledge that will harm you, it is the lack of questioning.

I had uterine ablation about 3 years ago. It was the best thing I ever did, aside from having my kids. My periods had been extremely heavy, lasted about 8 days and came every three weeks complete with headaches and cramping. I was 48 years old at the time and, of course, all finished having children. It is possible to get pregnant after uterine ablation, but not safe to bring a child to term, so don't consider it if you still want children.

There is bleeding for several weeks afterwards. It's like a long period that gradually eases off. After that initial period my periods have been very light and extremely regular, once a month for about 2 1/2 days. I rarely need more than one pad a day. But I've saved the best part until last. Two side effects are that I lost about 13 pounds over the first 5 months without trying at all and my libido returned. I had gradually become less interested in sex starting in my early 40s, I know it's normal, but still kinda sad. Well, that all changed after ablation. I don't know the reason, or if anyone else has this reaction. I could imagine that the excessive endometrial tissue and fibroids that I had were possibly binding up a lot of my hormones and affecting the overall level in my bloodstream. I don't know, but it was real nice to be enjoying sex again at my age. I know that I looked and felt generally younger too. After three years now, my sex drive has calmed down some, but I'm still interested and don't need lubrication. And sadly the weight is just now starting to reappear, but still not all of it.

In my opinion the risks associated with a conservative uterine ablation by an experienced physician far outweigh those involved with a hysterectomy and you get to keep your body parts. The role of the ovaries late in life may be greater than we can yet understand.