Severe menstrual cramps after endometrial ablation

I am 42 and had Nova Sure Procedure 7 years ago. I had much lighter periods and less cramping for a long time. However recently I have had fluid in my uterus with unbelievable pain and cramps worse than CHILDBIRTH! Blood running down both of my legs hours later. The suffering lasted for 2 days with little relief even from narcotics! I would not recommend this procedure to anyone. I do not do well with surgeries due to vomiting after words and allergic to  almost everything! Given all that I still will probably end up facing partial hysterectomy . Looking at devinci robot surgery since I have had two c-sections and vaginal is not an option. 

I had an ablation about 5 weeks ago. I have had severe cramps and bleeding ever since. I fired my surgical obgyn (for being rude and insulting as well as not performing the type of ablation we had discussed)

My new obgyn is wonderful, but she prescribed me progesterone, which did nothing for the bleeding. I took one of my mom's estrogen and it slowed to spotting within hours. Finally. But the cramps are unbearable.

I go see in her a day or two, wating for their office to open to be sure which day, and at that time, I am requesting a hysterectomy. Enough! I can't go thru this anymore. I'm 40 years old. Had a tubal at 20 after 3 kids right in a row, and I've bled nearly to death every month since I was a teenager. I am done! I'd rather take estrogen than go thru this any longer. 

I feel for you ladies. I really didn't want a hysterectomy. But I just can't take anymore female problems.

Your posts I'm reading are very helpful. I am new to all of this,I am two weeks post ablation. I happened upon this site after asking the question......Do you still have PMS after endometrial ablation. Like I said..two weeks post op,its now time for my period and instead just having all of the awful cramping,minus the bleeding. Had the ablation done due to heavy bleeding and anemia. I, like many others only want to think about hysterectomy as a LAST resort. Sending a prayer to all of you.

I am 50 years old and had a Nova Sure Ablation at 48 with perfect results.. No pain and no bleeding at all until this morning.. This morning I woke up with cramps, bad cramps, and they have progressively gotten worse through out the day.. Now tonight I feel like banging my head against the wall until I knock myself out and this has only been 1 day.. All I know is I can not live like this so when my Doctor suggests a hysterectomy, I'm going for it, ASAP...

I am 35 years old and after struggling with issues of infertility and severe bleeding, clotting, and menstrual cramps to the point of passing out, I was denied a partial hysterectomy opted for the ablation with a tubal ligation. The pain post surgery was horrible but after a month was tolerable. I had my ablation in May 2012 and have had nothing but problems since that time. I am in pain the majority of the time, am no longer able to have intercourse as the pain is so excruciating I cannot handle it, and after 8 months started having my cycle again....first light spotting but now it's increasing. I was told they found polyps when doing my ablation and now I have another polyp. They want me to try meds for 3 months and see what happens, but have never tried to determine why the painful intercourse or give me anything to manage my pain.....Today I am in so much pain I can barely walk....at what point do these doctors think enough is enough? I am no super woman and I cannot handle this pain!

I had a radio frequency uterine ablation in December 2012, due to heavy bleeding and awful cramps. I am 52 years old. At first things were fine, but two months later, in early February 2013, around the time I would have had my period, I began to get bad cramps again, but with no bleeding. After a couple of days the pain subsided, but never fully went away. About four weeks after that the pain returned, and this time did not abate. It was awful! I was basically living on a constant dose of 800 mgs of Ibuprofen. A lot of the time I had terrible pains on my left side as well, which radiated down my legs. THANK GOD I found this site, and discovered I was not alone. I made an appointment with my gyn and, thank goodness, he was familiar with Post Ablation Syndrome. Although he'd never seen it, one of his colleagues had. He ascertained that my cervix was blocked and my uterus swollen. At first he recommended treatment with Lupron, but after reading about its side effects, I opted for a hysterectomy. My gyn decided to do the surgery along with the colleague who'd seen Post Ablation Syndrome before. At my pre-op visit with this colleague, she said that although I was continuing to bleed, the scar tissue from the ablation was keeping the blood inside my uterus. She likened the situation to painful blood blisters inside my uterus. She also said that this condition is more common with women who'd had tubal ligations, like me.

Well, I had the surgery a week later, on April 3. They did a laparascopic supracervical hysterectomy; they removed my uterus and fallopian tubes, but left in my cervix and ovaries. The doctors said my uterus was full of old blood and was the size of a twelve-to-sixteen-week pregnancy! My fallopian tube stumps were distended as well. I think the reason I had such awful pain on my left side, and occasionally on my right, was because of swollen fallopian tubes. The surgery went well and my recovery was smooth; the post-op pain was never as bad as the pain I'd suffered before.

Now I am pain-free! I am posting my experience here because I want you all to know that there IS such a thing as Post Ablation Syndrome, and that it HURTS LIKE HELL!!! And, most importantly, that it can be treated! Good luck to all of you who are struggling with this. DEMAND treatment! My thoughts are with you!

I had my tubes tied almost 10 years ago. Then had Nova Sure ablation procedure about 7 years ago. Last year, I ended up in the ER and they thought I had appendicitis. When they found I did not have appendicitis, the docs started treating me like a disease and told me some women just have “bad cramps.” I explained that I have no menstrual cycle and they could not wrap their brains around the idea that I had an ablation! I followed up with the worst ob/gyn in the country, who made fun of me during my appointment and told me to go home and take aspirin. The pain got progressively worse over the next few weeks (worse than labor with no anesthesia, worse than shingles, worse than ANYTHING I’ve ever experienced). I could not function. However, I could research and fortunately found information on a blog like this one and learned about post-endometrial ablation syndrome. Found a new doc who immediately knew what was going on and explained that hysterectomy was the only real solution (despite the fact that she is not a big advocate of hysterectomies). They got me in within a few weeks. It was the BEST decision I’ve ever made for my health. During surgery, they learned I have always had endometriosis, which explains a lot of my health issues over the past 15 years. I am exactly one year out from my surgery and couldn’t be more pleased with the results. I strongly urge you to find competent doctors who care enough to keep up on their training and their research. Then make it happen and move on with life. I am pain free and happier than I’ve been in years. Good luck!

I had the Nova Sure ablation done several years ago, and then like everyone else here I stated getting awful super bad cramps with no blood. My doctor and I came up with the idea that the ablation scarred up my uterus and is trapping the blood from coming out and that's what is causing the pain. She put me on the Depo birth control shot to stop my periods. It worked and I am pain free mostly, i get a little achy sometimes, but its like nothing. I would like to get off of the shot because it's caused me great weight gain and lost my sex drive completely. She has done one procedure so far. She had me go in and they tried to stick a tube into my uterus and try to fill it with saline thinking it would help open up my uterus and the scar tissue that was sticking together would come apart. But they couldn't even get the tube past my cervix. And it was extremely uncomfortable, I was awake for the whole thing, no drugs givin. She said she talked around to other doctors and found someone else with the same problem. So she wants to do what worked for them. She wants to do a hysteroscopy and go in there and separate my scar tissue to open my uterus back up to allow blood flow which should in theory stop the pain. I really wish she would just do the partial hysterectomy and get it all over with but she said she will only do that if the hysteroscopy and separation doesn't work. I don't have insurance and this stuff is getting pretty pricey. I wish she would just do what I wanted and get it over with so I can stop spending money on this c**p. 

All I have to say is that i so regret this surgery.  I was so desperate to get rid of my heavy periods not knowing that i was going to endure something so much worse.  my cramps now are ten times worse than before the ablation.  its a constant labor pain without the baby.  fortunately, for me i have just started to experience this pain for only the first three days of my cycle.  But after reading everyone's experience and consideration on having a partial hysto, i too am leaning towards it.  Unfortunately, for me i will have to suffer a bit longer being that i am about to start a new job and don't want to be out of work this early in the game. :(  anyway, good luck to all you woman out there i hope there is a better solution to our painful misery.  

 

I have always had heavy periods since age 14. As i got older i started getting the symptoms (bloating, cramps, fatigue) I had a tubal done at 23 after my 2nd son. My periods after having the tubal were even heavier, soaking through clothes, ruining my mattress, clotting, & having a cycle for 7-10 days, missing school/work at least 1x month. I also knew when I was ovulating bc my right ovary would swell about 2 weeks before my period & I would experience menstrual like symptoms. I had the thermal ablation Nov. 2010 at 27 years old. I too was desperate for relief. My obgyn told me I was the youngest patient of his to have this done. I still had my period like clockwork every month post ablation but they were light enough to just wear liners. I did notice though, that the blood looked off. Very dark almost black & sometimes stringy, rather than clotting. I am now almost 31 & for the past year & 1/2 I've suffered horrible menstrual symptoms. I still bleed every month the same dark color & it is more often now stringy. It's slightly heavier than post ablation but nowhere near as heavy as pre ablation. A couple days before my cycle I get bloated, my face breaks out, I perspire more than I should, I'm emotional & moody all at the same time, almost comparable to bipolar disorder, my back throbs making it uncomfortable to sit, stand, lay down, no matter what I do I don't get any relief in my back. My hips hurt... Like they're expanding which cause some tention in my upper legs. The cramps are so severe that I'm either sitting on the toilet or have my face over the bowl vomiting & my right breast only is so sore & tender, but only on the side nearest my arm. I feel like it weighs 100 lbs & only wearing my bra very snug helps the soreness. I feel as though my insides are being tugged & twisted & my insides are going to drop out of my vag (even the vag feels off like a kicked in the crotch feeling). These symptoms continue til about day 3 of my cycle. I have missed on average 1 day a month for the past year bc of how severe my cramps get. This is so embarrassing but I'm going to share anyway, I attempted to go to work one morning on day 1 of my cycle, in the car I got a very sharp cramp that caused me to lose control of my bowel & had to turn right around & go home to clean myself up. Im 30 years old....the thought of a hysterectomy at my age is downright petrifying!! I go to my gyno nxt thurs for some testing to try to find out what could be going on. What sucks about this appt is the gyno that I had been seeing since I was 14 retired recently & I'm seeing the new gyno who practiced under him for 2 years & took on his patients. I'm worried he just don't know my history like my orig gyno. My orig gyno & I did the run around w/ different treatments, I don't want the run around again. I want answers & above all I don't want to be an emotional lunatic in pain every month anymore. I feel like I'm way too young to be thinking about a hysterectomy.

I had the NovaSure procedure April 2012 when i had just turned 42, due to heavy periods which the doctors thought was causing my anemia.  I kept telling them that I had had heavy periods since I was 11 and why would they allof a sudden cause anemia?  But because our insurance carrier required me to rule out all things in a lengthy list before really looking at the bad, I went along.  The NovaSure never stopped my periods, only decreased the flow and cramps were intense for each month after for every cycle.  Turns out my anemia was caused by cancer in my small intestine.  Now it has been 8 monthls since chemo has been completed and for the past 7 months my periods have come with major PAIN!!  Not just the normal cramps, but double you over into a fetal position and scream kind of pain.  My periods last for 7 days with a light flow and the first 4 to 5 days are excruitiating.  I had a PETscan on 9/21/13 that showed a possible ruptured ovarian cyst or tear.  So my oncologist sent my report to my gynecologist for a review who requested I get a pelvic untrasound.  This was on 9/30/13. And it all appeared within normal range.  I kept my followup appointment with my gyn doctor and met with her today 10/4/13.  After discussing my symptoms and asking her if i was just dealing with normal premenopausal stuff she said she was sorry to have to tell me that based on what i was going thru/symptoms etc. and after doing another exam, I would have to have a hysterectomy.  So I am having that surgery done in the next 4 to 6 weeks.  Prayers that all goes well!!

I am so thankful to read all of your stories. I was waiting on my Doctors office to call me back with my scheduled ablation. I AM NOT GOING TO HAVE IT DONE. Sounds awful. I think I have suffered this long with long heavy periods, but will take that over what I am reading here. Thank you ALL for sharing your stories and saving me. I hope all of you get help with the pain and suffering it sounds like you are going through. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!

I had the same issue last year and after repeatedly going to the doctor, I was finally told that sometimes during an ablation the opening closes and even though you are actually having a period, nothing comes out. The blood continues building up, causing excruciating pain. A quick five minute procedure in the doctors office and I was pain free.

You just described exactly what I've been experiencing since about 2 years now. I told my physician, who performed the procedure, but she offered some medicine, which I didn't want to just cover up the issue, I had an ultra sound done, results negative, and she didn't mention anything about these pains relating to the thermal ablation. Now I'm seeing and hearing all these recent comments regarding severe abdominal pain. I've also left work 3 times, felt very weak, near fainting and nauseous. I have no bleeding, but unbearable pain.

I had the Nova Sure ablation done about 3 years ago and my periods came once every year around January or February(when I had the procedure done).  I have excruciating pains that make me feel like I am in labor along with bleeding that looks brown leaning on the side of black and smells awful.  I am doing everything in my power to try and let it run its course but after reading some of your blogs I think I need to get a hysterectomy.  The pain is too unbearable even if it is once a year.  I however do have months where there are just the pain and no blood and I really don't want to keep experiencing that.