"My experience of undergoing a hysteroscopy"

I have recently had to undergo a second hysteroscopy and biopsy for prolonged post menopausal bleeding at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. The care received under the two week pathway had been excellent until I had the hysteroscopy this weekend. 

I had a direct comparison I could relate to as had had one last April for the same reason, that one was conducted under a protocol of adequate local anaesthesia - I was  administered a topical surface LA, waited and then injected LA into my cervix. It was painful but manageable, as was the hysteroscopy and biopsies. The support nurse was excellent and kept me distracted throughout.  I was able to leave the outpatient department within 5 minutes of the procedure. 

This weekend was the polar opposite of pain and care management. Remembering that it was painful I had taken stronger oral pain relief half an hour prior to the booked procedure time. Unfortunately there was an IT issue and there was a delay of an hour, everyone seemed rushed by this. I was informed by the dr that he wasn’t going use LA as this was more painful than the procedure itself which would be reminiscent of period cramps.

The whole process was one of the most painful experiences of my life - I previously had stage 4 endometriosis and was accustomed to fainting, vomiting etc due to the pain and would argue this experience was beyond that. A easy score of 9/10! I was tearful and in a lot of pain throughout the procedure including the biopsy and insertion of the mirena coil but found I was apologising to the dr for my pain, the support nurse was quiet other that I could squeeze their hand.

After the procedure I was left to walk to the waiting room where other women were waiting for their appointments.  There was no recovery area - I was in so much pain I was shaking and began to feel nauseated and started to retch in the toilet. No member of staff checked on me, it took a good hour for me to feel stable enough to leave the department. I was tearful, withdrawn and in pain for the rest of the day 

This was a direct opposite experience to my first one whereby I was able to resume normal activities within 20 minutes and shows the difference between the use of local anaesthetic and not !