Problems After Hysterectomy: Abdominal Pain & Cramps

No, When I ask she says she doesn't know why I would be having pain, its sad that they are more concerned with cutting than addressing issues after surgery. Its like she wanted to do the surgery but NO help after..... frustrating. Because I Never had any pain at all before surgery.

My reason for a total hysterectomy is probably different. I had endometriosis. Since the surgery 5 yrs ago I had chronic pelvic pain, and ob/gyns did not know why. I tried 3 of them and they seemed indifferent to me. I tried a GI doctor and he said I was having muscle spasms due to damaged nerves caused by the surgery. I took Advil to keep it in check. Then late 2018 and early 2019 I started having unnatural bleeding and doctors again didn't know. But finally my general doctor (a woman) found it and thought it was an endometrial breakthrough. She called the ob/gyn and told her to cauterize it. I don't know what the ob/gyn did, she used some kind of grey medicine. But it stopped the bleeding and the chronic pelvic pain. I think the chronic pain was the endometriosis in process of breaking through.

Hi Airey,
Can you ask the doctor what grey medicine he give you to stop the bleeding? Perhaps some kind of progesterone?
Regards

I think it was Silver Nitrate, but only 80% sure of that. I know that it is kind of greyish. It was on an applicator stick, and the container looked exactly like what I saw on the computer when I researched. My Dad used a cream form of it once to help heal a wound. The following quote does say that it can be used to cauterize, and since I was not anesthetized, this would be the only way to cauterize an endometrial breakthrough. It did not say that it stopped pain, but it makes since to stop endometriosis, you will stop pain too. "Silver Nitrate is an inorganic chemical with antiseptic activity. Silver nitrate can potentially be used as a cauterizing or sclerosing agent."

Hi, @tinakoprek - just wanted to check in with you to see how things are going with the pain you were experiencing?

I have been on prednisone for 7 days, pain is gone, blood tests did not show inflammation but this has really helped, there must be something that set this off after surgery,

I had a radical hysterectomy (robotic laparascopic) at Mayo on August 6 this year. I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer (endometrioid adenocarinoma, Early Stage Ia). My post-operative visit with my surgeon is scheduled for September 16. While I knew that I would have post-surgical fatigue and I'm following all discharge instructions in which walking is my only form of exercise and not lifting anything heavier than 15 pounds, I was hoping the fatigue would start to wane. I'm still very tired and listening to my body, I do rest for a few hours most afternoons. I'm 67 years old and active although I have osteoarthritis in a hip and that has limited activity for the past year (scheduled for a total hip replacement at Mayo in the future). What are your experiences after hysterectomy? How long did it take for you to get back to your prior level of energy?

Hi @naturegirl5 that must be frustrating to have such fatigue. You may have noticed I moved your post to this existing discussion on problems after hysterectomy so that you can connect with others who have similar experiences. Simply click VIEW & REPLY to see your post.

I'd like to tag fellow Connect members @m1b1r9 @airey2 and @tinakoprek as they may be able to offer you support.

What have your doctors told you about this at this time?

Thank you, Ethan. Hoping I get some replies.

Hi, @naturegirl5 - I also thought that @cherelle @gingerw and @veronicat may have some thoughts on the fatigue you've experienced post-radical hysterectomy.

Also, I wanted to mention a couple of things: 1) Not all surgeries — even hysterectomies — can be compared apples to apples. Sometimes there is a difference in technique, personal health, complications one experiences, etc. So, please offer yourself some grace if your experience doesn't look like the post-op for anyone else (i.e., if your recovery appears to be taking longer). 2) I had a hysterectomy (leaving my ovaries) along with a prolapse (both kinds) repair about 7.5 years ago. So, my surgery would have some similarities to and some differences from yours. But, I thought you'd like to know that the very biggest factor I had to overcome to resume my normal life and feel better was fatigue. I had immense fatigue after my surgery, for quite some time — far longer than I'd expected. I had the surgery the end of January, and it was not till May that I did not have to take a nap every single day to get through it (naps are highly unusual for me). I had to extend the time I had daycare for my preschool age children (I was a stay-at-home mom then) cause I just wasn't ready to take care of two little children all day every day at the end of 6 weeks, which is what we originally targeted for daycare time.