I'm sure there are other ways because some people can't have an hysteroscopy whilst awake ,I'm sure there's some sort of scan you can have, other than that its to have hysteroscopy under General anathsetic ,I'm not going to try and persuade you because I would never put yself through that again whilst awake, but I would certainly ask about the scan but I don't know much more about it .

Thank you. 

I am sorry to hear about your experience. X

I have had a transabdominal scan that's how they know I have thickening and fibroid. I refused the transvaginal scan, nope that's not happening either!! 

I think I'll just crawl away quietly. 

X

The day I had the hysteroscopy I thought I was just going to have a chat for my first appointment insteadI had a internal ultrasound which was a shock but not too bad ,then taken to another room I thought to chat about what they'd found I never thought they'd be doing a hysteroscopy as well but I was persuaded with the promise of we will stop at any time if it gets too much ,I asked for the smallest speculum which is what they always used for my smears ,they couldn't find one so used other wow so painful if it wasn't for the nurses telling me to breathe I think I'd have stopped lol my hubby wondered where I was I was gone for quite some time but they removed a polyp and biopsies and found I had diverticulitis but nothing nasty so I counted my blessings as I repeated never again to my hubby on the way out lol 

Hello Kipsrunsaway and thanks for posting, 

I am sorry to learn that you have lost faith in the medical profession and can understand that this makes it more challenging to get health problems sorted out.  

A hysteroscopy is used to examine the inside of the womb to diagnose conditions and sometimes treat them as well. Other tests might not be as suitable. But there is never any harm in asking about the alternatives so I suggest you bring this up (as I expect you intended to) when you speak to the gynaecologist tomorrow afternoon. Ask them to go over the pros and cons of the available tests and also of not having them. Hysteroscopies can be performed under general aesthetic so ask about this as well if you are prepared to consider it.

Scans can pick up structural abnormalities for example thickening of the womb lining but I think tissue biopsies which can be examined in the laboratory are often needed to determine what is going on. Biopsies can be taken during a hysteroscopy and also with a procedure called a pipelle biopsy which uses a thin tube and suction to get a sample, both are usually offered as an outpatient.  

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has a patient information leaflet about having a hysteroscopy. You can read it here  - take a look at what it say about alternatives.

No one can make you have a test you don't want to have, but try and keep as open a mind as you can and have a good chat about the options with the gynaecologist.

Health problems can seem overwhelming, if you feel you aren't coping and are despairing of a solution please do talk to your GP, or NHS 111 or reach out to a local mental health service  or a charity like MIND.   I hope that your consultation tomorrow leaves you in a better place. 

Feel free to give us a call if you want to talk anything over. The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and we are around from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

Best wishes, 

Julia

Thank you Julia. 

I refused the hysteroscopy at the appointment. She's calling me tomorrow to ask if somehow i have miraculously changed my mind. I have read the information from the RCOG before and it offers up little reassurance regarding the excruciating pain and humiliation it seems I would suffer. Nor does it offer any alternative of diagnosing endometrial cancer. 

It would seem I am searching for an alternative that either isn't there or is not available due to funding. Afterall,  hysteroscopies are performed in outpatient settings without any form of pain relief to save money and because hospitals are offered financial rewards in not performing it under GA. I would not even consider it under a GA. 

I was just looking for an alternative other than having what the medical profession declare to be a 'minimally invasive procedure' I beg to differ and that I might experience 'mild cramping ', which judging by excruciatingly painful past smear tests is an outrageous lie.

My consultant says there isn't an alternative but I am sure there must be. 

Oh well. 

Thanks anyway. 

When I went for this procedure I found the pain unbearable so they stopped immediately and said they would get someone else in to try. I refused. I was then rebooked to have it under GA, they found and removed a polyp. I had no pain or cramping. 

Thank you x

I am really sorry to hear that you had to experience pain and then have it done again. I just want to have something that's just not so bloody degrading and embarrassing. I don't trust them to do it with dignity whilst under GA of which lying on a table with your legs wide open for the whole bloody world to view isn't. They promised to not leave me lying exposed during my sections yet they did.

Clearly there's no alternative, so I'll just leave it. 

Hi Kiprunsaway

Totally hear you. I too am in the midst of investigtions similar to yourself. When I went for my TVU, there were four staff in the room! Have had them before with little issue and one sonographer but having so many people watching was an absolute assault on my dignity. As if it isn't humiliating enough to be laying like that with one person, having an audience sent me into a spin. Unbelievable. It was actually pretty traumatic.  I then was told I would have to have a hysteroscopy there and then and I refused on the grounds that I had done my research and understand how painful it can be especially for nulliparous women and post menopause - both of which apply to me. This information was not offered by them beofre or at the appointment. They then offered a gerneral anasthetic to which I have reluctnatly agreed but only because I am  scared that there's something wrong with me and the alternative is living in fear. To see that they have put 'anxious' about four times on the results paperwork for the TVU I got through is an absolute insult. I am not anxious, I just don't want to go through something that is commonly known to be very painful and as you say, what is testamount to a barbaric procedure. 

I feel the same as you about smear tests too - there is an alternative to them, a test yourself HPV kit, which they rolled out in London. I don't live in London so don't have that privelege! I believe that the dignity of women is brushed under the carpet with this stuff - same with trying to get information about the menopause ( GP refused to accept I was menopausal at 45 which led to another battlle). I f I hadn;t have had the nouse to read up before I went for the TVU appointment I wouldnt have known that hystersopcy could be so bad and would have probably gone ahead with it. 

I have been booked in for this procedure under GA next week which I am also dreading. If 4 people can be in the room watching you legs akimbo as you have a TVU god knows how many there will be under GA. I won't know of course.  If you hear of any alternatives in the meantime, a steer on that would be good. 

Thanks and best wishes xx

I had a hysteroscopy yesterday and it was barbaric and horrific and I will never go back to that Gyno dept. Utterly barbaric. I was balling my eyes crying and crying out in pain and they could have stopped and didn’t. They removed a polyp without any pain relief when they don’t have to do that. Used loca to dilate cervix which is unnatural and I am still in agony today despite OTC codeine ibuprofen ever since. I’m disgusted and do not recommend it. It is 2024. Use AI to review past data of bloods, fluids, scans and symptoms to find correlations for when there is the less than 5%(!!!) chance of cancer. Never again and I am writing to NHS, MP and whoever I can to influence that this disgusting barbaric practice is ended. 

I am cancelling a planned colonoscopy and will spend the little money I currently have on natural health care which looks at ROOT cause, and chinese medicine which rebalances the hormones which cause polyps etc. I’m just so disgusted at the daft, nonsensical barbarism in 2024. So much for being a “developed” country. The UK is Not by treating its women this way. Functional medicine science is far ahead of this the past 20 years learning from traditional women’s medicine but “modern” medicine seems stuck in 1865 torture chambers.