I rarely ever, actually this is my first time to share a personally story. With it being March, which is a very personally month for me. My first child, my son was born. My oldest sister and her beautiful daughter both have birthdays in March and I also met my husband – our St. Patty’s Day romance. Will have to share another time! 😉
So I am taking this moment to share something personal with you and how a five minute procedure changed my life! My endometrial ablation story.
I started my period when I was 12 years old. I was in sixth grade and I remember the morning vividly. We were about to leave for school and I yelled out to my Mom “I think I just started my period” and in that moment my life was forever changed.
Right from the beginning I suffered every month. To the point it was debilitating some days. Luckily my very gracious Mother understood and would let me skip school if need be. Needless to say it effected my life in every way.
Once I got older I did get on the birth control pill. Which did help tremendously. It helped shorten the time and did help with the symptoms and pain. However I still really struggled.
Now fast forward many years and two kids later. I finally talked to my doctor and asked if there were any other options than birth control. We are done having children and there is no reason to be on the pill other than to help me make it through each month without dying! Plus I did not want to extra hormones in my body.
My doctor asked if I had ever heard of an ablation. I was like abla-who?! Clearly I had not. She then told me a bit about it and handed me a brochure. The second I got home I was reading and researching.
The procedure is called an Endometrial Ablation (only referencing this facility because that’s where I had it done). It is a procedure that surgically destroys (ablates) the lining of your uterus (endometrium). The goal of endometrial ablation is to reduce menstrual flow. In some women, menstrual flow may stop completely. No incisions are needed for endometrial ablation.
The actual procedure takes about 5 minutes. You are in and out within a few hours time. You are given a local anesthesia, mild pain killer, anti-nausea and something to relax your uterus. I do not remember the name of the drug.
All I remember is waking up, feeling fine and very chatty (naturally but coming off some anesthesia even worse)! I did have some pain later that afternoon and my stomach was very swollen. I rested and slept all that day while taking a mild pain killer. I did not have much spotting and really only the first day.
I woke the next day completely fine. I even walked on the treadmill! It was my anniversary weekend so I got dressed up and went out to dinner and had zero complications.
It has been about 10 months since I had the procedure. My period has never returned. I do on occasion have “PMS” symptoms. I may get really tired randomly or have breast tenderness for a day but that’s about it. I CANNOT tell you how this changed my life. I still think it’s too good to be true! After having horrific periods and pain for 27 years this procedure is like a miracle for me.
I strongly urge you to talk to your doctor if you are someone who is done having kids and suffer from either heavy or painful periods this might be the answer. The ablation is meant to treat heavy periods BUT in my case it also eliminated the pain. Not all cases are typical.
If you have any questions please contact me directly. Please let me know if I can help in any way!
If you missed my daughter’s fun big girl room reveal see it here!
XOXO, Ivy
