by Don Rainwater

Created on: April 28, 2008   Last Updated: April 29, 2008

Before your hysterectomy you're doctor will ask questions about your medical history and he'll give you a pelvic exam and blood tests. Patients over forty get an Eck or ECG administered and if that patient is suffering from diabetes or high blood pressure. The doctor who will perform the hysterectomy will meet with you and explain about the operation, and risks. He may give you written instructions concerning preparation for the operation. The anesthesiologist will meet with you and discuss the types of anesthesia available.

After considering your medical history and the exam your doctor might recommend further tests such as a pregnancy test if you're not post-menopausal, urinalysis in case you have a urinary tract infection, a chest x-ray to make sure you're able to receive anesthesia, blood typing should you need a blood transfusion, and blood clotting studies if you have a tendency to bleed easily.

These are things you can do to prepare for your hysterectomy at home.
Several changes of sheets in bedroom
Heating pads
Entertainment: books, music, TV
Gowns
Postoperative instructions

After your hysterectomy you may experience irritability, anxiety, depression, and other symptoms of menopause. Conversely, some times women suffer anxiety, depression before the operation and feel relief from these emotions afterwards. And some women worry about losing their feminine qualities and more rapid aging. Sometimes women feel grief over the removal of the uterus and are relieved that they can't get pregnant. Most women have an improvement in their sexual relations i.e.; pleasure, problems are solved and new problems in this regard rarely occur. But beforehand some women fear a hysterectomy could cause these issues.

Women that experience menopausal symptoms can get hormone replacement therapy. The increased risk of osteoporosis can be helped with medication. There is a newer form of hysterectomy called laparoscopic hysterectomy and it involves the doctor looking a uterus, tubes, and ovaries through a camera. A small incision is made to remove the uterus. The hospital stay and recovery time at home is much shorter than with an abdominal hysterectomy.

Fibroids are hard to remove with vaginal hysterectomy, but laparoscopic hysterectomy lets the surgeon disconnect the blood vessels, afterwards the uterus can be removed via the vagina and the blood loss is considerably lessened. Small uterine fibroids can be treated with medication, but medium to large fibroids need surgery to totally rid your uterus of them.

Women who have surgery for early cervical cancer have to have a hysterectomy. A few women have a choice and can have a radical trachelectomy. This procedure removes the entire cancer, but leaves the cervical opening. A hysterectomy isn't your choice of treatment if you still want to have children. You have some options.

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