Dear Jami,
My name is Lisa I am 34yrs old and had a hysterectomy over a year ago because my doctor told me the same thing my pain got so bad I could no longer stand so I went to the hospital and they did an emergency hysterectomy on me like your self I felt I had no other choice and believe the doctor that it would stop the pain.
I won't go into great detail but after surgery I felt worse and the pain returned within weeks when I would go back to the office he kept telling me to give it some time so I did after another six months of pain and no let up he did another surgery to remove my endometrosis and adhesions I did better after that surgery but my pain never totally left.
I spent another six months in pain and my doctor blamed it on everything from my bladder to my colon and they all just told me I should go off pain meds and learn to deal with my pain. I am a very strong person and I knew this pain was not a pain I could endure for much longer I have 3 children and was spending 90% of my time in bed which for me is very unusual I am the type of person that is able to go home after having a c-section on the very next day and start caring for my family so I knew this pain wasn't going away.
At that point I stopped asking for help and stumbled across this web site one night when I couldn't sleep from pain. I found Dr. Redan's name and emailed him he called me the very next I made an office visit with him I knew from the very first visit he could help me because when I told him where my pain was he pinpointed it and explained where it was and what pain it was causing he did surgery on me 3 weeks ago and from the time I woke up after surgery I could tell he had removed the pain what I found out is that a hysterectomy doesn't stop the pain (doctors are thought that it will) You need to find a good general surgeon and get to the bottom of the problem.
I would beg you to consider to have a consultation with a specialist before you remove your female organs like I did and the pain remains. What they don't tell you is if you go thru a hysterectomy and they remove your ovaries your body goes into shock and you start experiencing menopause symptoms like hot flashes and mood swings so you are given hormones to regulate your body but if the hormone levels are not checked and you run any risk of cancer the hormone therapy may cause cancer don't you think they should tell us these things!!!
I'm am sorry if this sounds depressing I felt I should share my story so you can make the best possible choice before surgery.
Mine has been a long journey and if I can help someone else avoid the mistakes I made it will all be worth it I can't promise you that it's going to be easy for you but I can tell you that having a Hysterectomy is the biggest mistake I ever made. I have had adhesions since I was 20 and I spent a good 8 years with no pain and the reason I trusted my obgyn was he had operated on me those 8yrs ago and after 3 unsuccessful laps with other doctors he was able to stop the pain so I had every right to believe he knew what he was talking about it wasn't until surgery with Dr. Redan that I found out I could of avoided the hysterectomy and removal of both my ovaries if I would of only went to him first.
I only hope that my experience will give you a little knowledge you can use. I am sorry for you're pain and wish you the best of luck. So much for keeping it short. Lisa C