Leep Procedure Side Effects

I had my LEEP done on October 13, 2010. It was done at a hospital, not a doctor's office. Everything went fine at the hospital. I had some discomfort after I woke from the surgery, but not too bad. For about a month I had a discharge and some cramping. I went to my OB for my one month check last week. Everything is healing great. They had to take about half of my cervix off during the procedure. I'm hoping when I have my next pap that it comes out fine. I have to say I am so glad that I had this done in the hospital after all I read about it. I think it made it a much better experience than having to go through it awake in the dr.'s office. My dr. was very kind and understanding about everything and she made it easier to go through. I say forget the dr.'s office and go to the hospital. You'll be glad that you did it that way and no bad memories. Also, they called me the day after right away to say the biopsy was sent to the lab and had abnormal cells, but no cancer. That was a huge relief in itself.

I had my LEEP done Nov. 19th. I walked into the hospital @ 9am and walked back out @9:45am. Minimal discomfort during the LEEP itself. The most uncomfortable part for me was the heart racing with the andrenaline, and the stirups were digging into my feet. I have a Mirena IUD and he had to cut the string (my husband was not sad at that little tidbit) but he was able to keep the IUD even during the procedure. Took the following day off work. So far I have had all usual discharge, brown, black, red and yellowish. I find sometimes I have a slight "acidic" odor that I do not appreciate, but that has been the length, so far, of my journey with the LEEP. I'm 27 with 2 children and am not planning to have more, however, my OBGYN assured me that the LEEP had a very low complication rate, and as long as I followed instructions and watched for unusual symptoms (and contacted my doctor/the hospital if they do immediatly) I should be perfectly fine, and have more children should I choose to. I feel that I made the right choice in choosing to have the LEEP done. I did not want the stress of worrying if my precancerous cells would turn cancerous. I would rather have a small procedure than have to deal with THE BIG C.

OK. I just had a LEEP done dec 2nd of this year. I have been dealing with mild to sever dysplasia on and off for five years now. I had a procedure done when I was 18, (I dont remember the name of it) where they froze my cervix with some sort of machine and scraped the abnormal cells out. It cleared my paps for two years. In that time I got pregnant and had my son. When I went back to my midwife after I delivered for a pap everything came back fine. I didnt go to see my obgyn for 2 years after that. When I got insurance again and was able to go I was told I had mild dysplasia and that they wanted me to come back in 6 months to be checked again. In that 6 month period of time the dysplasia progressed into stage 3 which is high grade (high risk of turning into cancer). My obgyn recommended the LEEP and I fgured I had already been through multiple biopsy, colposcopys, and even a related procedure, so it should have been fine.
When I went in for my LEEP I was VERY nervous. The procedure itself took no more than 20 mins (after they finally got everything all set up), but I wont lie o all you brave women it was definetly uncomforitable! The numbing solution helped me a lot, but injecting it was quite uncomforitable! I cried the whole time. Not because of only the pain, but the overwhelming uncomforitable situation I was in. I had some mild cramping and slight bleeding after. Then I, as almost everyone else, was having coffee ground like things coming out of me. Kinda freaked me out a bit, but I had been warned that it would happen and that its normal. Now its almost 2 weeks to the day later, and Im still having a foul smelling brown discharge and have just noticed a burning sensation when I pee. Hope it isnt infected!
Just wanted to share my experience. It wasnt great but it wasnt horrible or untolerable either. If it means Ill be around to watch my little boy graduate school and get married Ill deal with the pain and discomfort for twenty minutes!

I am a 31 year old mother of one little girl who is 2 years old..i have had abnormal paps since i was 22 years old..i have had lots of biopsy's which do hurt for a second im not gonna lie..but after there over i dont have any pain..i just had my second leep procedure on 12/13/2010 and its not as bad as alot of women are saying on here.i was offered to be under anasthesia and the procedure is out patient so i was home with in a couple of hours..every womans body is different and the worst effect i have had is just a few cramps. my first leep i had no after effects and with this one i have been having light cramps..but my advice is not to listen to what alot of these women are saying on this website.I dont handle pain well at all and i have been through this procedure twice now..I had my daughter when i was 29 after i had a leep so children are not out of teh question. i had a normal healthy pregnancy.if your gonna take advice from anyone it should be your doctor and if you dont like his get a second oppinion.but these answer and question websites of random people are not something i would take to heart. the leep is not a major surgery and it is done everyday on women.so anyone who fears not being able to bear children im proof that you can..i know its a scary anytime you have a surgery it is weither it be getiting your wisdom teeth out or this.so just take one day at a time and deffinatley dont avoid the procedure you need to be healthy yourself before you can bring a baby into the world to take care of.i hope this is a little more positive and helps out.good luck ladies and everything will be fine :-)

Hello,

Just wanted to post a positive experience since everything I read before having the procedure done was negative and scared me to death!!!! I had the leep done three days ago and everything went very smoothly. I was put under full anesthesia and had the procedure done in the hospital. After I woke up I felt fine - like nothing had happened. By the time I walked out of hospital 2 hours later I was feeling normal. Was able to go out to dinner that night and had no discomfort. I have not been bleeding a lot at all just started to have some blood clots today that are giving me VERY mild cramps. So far so good and if you are choosing to have the leep procedure done do not be nervous - just make sure you have a great doctor and you should be fine!

I had two colposcopies and a LEEP 2003 and 2009. The pain was excruciating. Ever since then I have zero sex drive and vaginal desensitivity. My sex life is ruined and I might as well sew it up and not use it any more. I do kegel exercises daily for the benefit of my husband. I know it is a necessary procedure and I DO NOT recommend my decision to anyone but I will NEVER have it again I will wait till it gets bad enough to have a total hysterectomy and hope I don’t have to do chemo.

I just got the leep procedure done two days ago and feel great! I have to admit that when the procedure was being done i was in a lot of pain, (basically feeling like the worst cramps i've ever had) but it was over within 5 mins. I have had clear discharge with the exception of some spotting the day of the procedure.

My doctor told me to take it easy with no heavy lifting for a few days, and no sex or baths for two weeks.  I feel great and will get my first check up in two weeks to make sure everything is healing properly.

My husbans and I just got married last year and were planning to start a family before I found out i had the HPV virus which caused me to have abnormal cells. I talked to my doctor about this issue and she said we can start trying as soon as I heal. She said to give it two months. I was happy to hear this because I assumed she was going to tell me to wait 4 months until they do the next pap test.

My suggestion to all of you is to make sure you are very comfortable with your doctor, ask a lot of questions, and not to worry as i once did. Talking to my doctor about this made me feel so much better - i was scared when i first found out, before i even knew that this was common for a lot of women to be diagnosed with. She promised me that i will still be able to get pregnant! I know that this promise can be broken, whether it's me or due to my husband, but i know my doctor will do everything she can to help us!

FYI A lot of my friends and family also haven been comforting me  - they have told me a lot of stories about women they know who have gone through this procedure and have still had children afterwards!

I just had my LEEP done (06/09/2011) From most of the comments on here it sounds like your doctors didn't sit down with you previous to the procedure. I was sat down and told about all the possible discharges, smells, cramps, bleeding, and for how long. Not only I was given a broucher on the whole procedure. Which was quite helpful. I was also told the only abnormal thing that could happen would be excessive bleeding, meaning your changing your pad more then once an hour for a couple of hours.

If I were any of you ladies before going and getting this procedure done, you should talk about everything that will happen, can happen, and as many questions as possible. Remeber this is YOUR body. Do the research.

Ps. No sex for 4 weeks sucks!   

Guest wrote:

I would get it done for the safety of yourself. It WAS NOT painless for me, as the doctors will tell you, but it is out-patient surgery, you can walk out right after. I don't have children, I want children and hope to have them down the road, but my life means more than that...I'm not simply here to reproduce offspring!!! They give you a needle to freeze the cervice, they say the cervix has very few nerve endings, so you don't really feel it, I beg to differe, but it's over quickly. It's kind of like being at the dentists, when they freeze your mouth! I didn't smell much of anything (well, not when they were burning the area), but the other guest is right, the discharge is nasty and you have all sorts of nasty things to look forward to after the procedure, but it only gets better from there.

Did your doctor tell you what 'grade' the lesion is? Did he/she specify whether it's 'high grade squamous cell' or low? If it's low, they shouldn't be performing the leep, they should only EVER perform it if you are high risk (aka 'high grade squamous cell'). The low grade is known for it's disappearing act. Smoking also can make it worse. That's what I've been told by two separate specialists.

But just put the horror stories aside and do it....it's for your health, safety, life... :D

I am 24 years old with 2 babies, I was diagnosed with severe dysplashia, I had the copo done 4 weeks ago to this date and 4 days ago I had the leep procedure, It was very quick & I had no pain. When they first applied the numbing agent I was nauseous and thought i was having anxiety which is all normal and goes away in less than a minute, I have the merina implant so Ive been bleeding for about 4 months, which is nothing new to me, I have noticed a thinner yellow discharge these past 4 days and the day of the procedure i had some clots minor in comparison to the risks of cervical cancer, the procedure littarlly took 3-5 mins, & i dont regret doing the procedure. I would do it again if need be, There are risks in everything that you do in life. I went to my local health department, & my doctor says she has to do atleast 3-5 a day. Its normal, I was nervous but I made sure not to go on the internet before my procedure because people tend to blow things out of proportion. It was quick easy & painless, and If I want to have more children I will have no problem doing so. & sex drive, please you loose that after having kids anyways. haha plus who has the time, youre always tired. unless your single or 17-21. hope this post eases someones concerns.

I had Severe Displasia and I had a LEEP done..I had some bleeding after words and brown clumps from the scabs but I had no cramps or pain.  I have no horror stories about the LEEP.  It helped me even if everyone else had some pain well isnt a little pain better then Cancer??  My doctor said really the only risk I have now is that I might not carry a baby full term.  I say if you need to have one done go get it..Not everyone is the same and I had no pain so maybe you wont, maybe you will..Listen to your doctor if you feel uncomfortable with his/her answers ask for a different doctor. Good luck

Everyone reacts differently to things...what they injected was epinepherine and lidocaine....which causes your heart to race like you are going to pass out. It's also given to patients whose hearts stop to "jump start it." I am a nurse and I have also had this procedure. It is uncomfortable and I as well almost passed out. They broke open ammonia salts for me. With that being said your description makes it sound horrific. Do your research before you get any procedure done. But cervical cancer and the treatment that follows that wil be alot worse.

I had a LEEP done on February 2nd of this year and had little to no knowledge of what I was getting into. I hadn't followed up on the abnormal pap from 10 years ago and had forgotten about it. Originally, I had looked into NovaSure to correct the extremely heavy/painful periods and to utilize it for permanent birth control. My "doctor" did a pap prior to moving on with NovaSure and it came back with severe dysplasia....which I've since learned is a nice way of saying STD. So no NovaSure, LEEP first, he said. Umm, ok. I got little to no information from him about this procedure and took to the internet to try to learn more. I was really scared about the procedure itself and was actually surprised how quickly it was over. Yes, it hurt and I was uncomfortable but it was nothing in comparison to the shame and humiliation of having to go through it with my husband holding my hand, knowing that someone I'd had sex with 15 years ago was the cause of all the fun. It was over in, what seemed like, 10 minutes and when I asked the "doc" if I needed anti-biotics or anti-inflammatories he said "nope" and handed me a script for 15 5mg Vicodin. I was "fine" for 4 days.... smelly yellow/greenish brown discharge. However, on day 5 I began to cramp really badly....just slept it off. Day 6 brought severe cramps, not unlike the contractions I felt before my epidural, and bleeding on a new level, soaking through pads in less than an hour. I called the doctors office and was freaking out and really hurting. The first thing out of the nurse's mouth was "He doesn't prescribe "narcotics" for pain." Uh, ok... what do I do?!? She told me that if I was bleeding and hurting as badly as I said was to come in the following day. So the next day I did. As soon as he walked into the room I could tell that something was different in his mannerism than prior visits. I told him I was really hurting and bleeding badly. His response was to let me know that none of his other patients had the kind of problems I was describing... I had to beg him to look to see if I was infected or hemorrhaging. BEG HIM. After a truly humiliating and painful pelvic exam he said I was 3/4 healed up and then he asked if I'd been having sex!! Really?!? I asked what I needed to do. His reply was to find another doctor!! I couldn't believe it. I left hysterically crying and feeling very violated. Having asked the "doctor" what was going on and getting ZERO answers or help I, once again, took to the net. After hunting through the limited information available, I was able to self-diagnose that I, likely, was having my period 3 weeks early and the severity of it was triggered by the procedure. This period lasted 7-8 days, 1 day longer than usual, and then tapered off for 1 night and then started again, almost as badly, for another 9 days. I had no idea that a) the LEEP could trigger an early period and 2) it was possible to have TWO of the heaviest periods I've every had, back to back. Since the end? of the last period I have noticed wicked PMS; bloating, cramping, craving sweets, irritability, skin break outs, etc. For the majority of my 32 years I have suffered with bi-polar disorder and depression. Throughout this entire ordeal I have had horrific mood swings and even thoughts of suicide. I wish I was more informed of what it was that I'd signed up for. I still don't have a doctor (waiting list is about 1-2 months out for this area) and have no idea what the future will hold for me and my brutal periods. The procedure was definitely not fun, but tolerable. The recovery has been awful; frightening, painful, embarrassing, humiliating, and demeaning. I hope my story helps..... I would have loved to know what I was in for!!!!

I am 20 years old. I was diagnosed with hpv three weeks ago, had a colposcopy two days later. two days after my colposcopy my doctor called and diagnosed me with severe cervical dysplasia. I am going in for the leep procedure on monday. I am terrified to say the least.. I am only 20 years old and an faced with possible cervical cancer or infertility. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Thank you to everyone who has posted their stories.

Hi scared,