Wednesday 20 February 2013

HYSTEROSALPINGOGRAM OR HSG

After meeting with the fertility specialist I had test one of many. It was the hysterosalpingogram or HSG. basically this is an x-ray to see if there are any blockages in the Fallopian tubes. It was barbaric all I could think about through the exam was this is how women centuries ago must have felt, absolutely humiliated and in excruciating pain. The doctor preforming the test was lovely. This is the first time I've seen a male for 'women's' issues, I usually try and find a female for down there appointments, but had no choice this time as it's such a specialized test and not many radiologist centers do it. He was as gentle as could be and reassured me at every step and comforted me in the worst parts. I had a nurse in there just to hold my hand and bring me tissues, which was lovely. The test took a lot longer on me than it usually does, mainly because I am 'small' not having had a natural birth, and the procedure had to be preformed twice because of this. So to be very brief and not too in depth with the gory details, they need to peel back the cervix and insert a tube and blow up a balloon and inject a contrast dye that shows up on the x-ray, and if there is a blockage the dye will not flow. The only problem with this test is that the tubes can spasm and show a blockage when there isn't any.

The best part of the appointment is when I heard there is flow in the left and now in the right! So relieved to not have blocked Fallopian tubes, but still waiting for some answers!

Apart from the pain from the procedure (which they used to sedate women for but don't anymore for some stupid reason [I bet a man made that decision]) was the after effects. They warned me of period pain which I can totally handle but the contrast dye causes inflammation and an hour after the procedure it felt like my insides were about to explore while someone was punching my stomach and I was crying in pain! This lasted all night and the next day it felt like I was lying in a gutter while someone was kicking my stomach and it was a few days later kind of bruised. 

But yay for good results and now to do some more not so invasive test to see what is causing us to not fall pregnant....Here's to more jabs 

4 comments:

  1. Can I just say thank you for sharing this. It must be so hard to go through such pains and there are so many others out there going through this that need to hear they're not alone. from the bottom of my heart, as a mother and as a woman I wish you the best of luck. I'll be following your journey and rooting for you at every step! x

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    1. Thank-you for your support! It's been one of the hardest journey's of my life, and through it I have met so many women who are going/have gone through the same thing, which is so surprising as no one want's to talk about it (including me sometimes!) xx

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  2. Not fun! Hope the other tests give you some answers! X

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