I had my HSG this afternoon. J came with me for moral support, but wasn't allowed in the room. I'm not sure why, as the exam room was the size of a small restaurant. I was told that the procedure would be "a little uncomfortable" and that I might have "a bit of cramping afterwards." Okay, a few things about that. It was VERY painful. Kind of like cramps that are 10x worse than any I've ever experienced mixed with a knife slicing up my insides. I cried through the entire procedure. Not big, snotty tears, but a solid stream of tears and concentrated deep breathing. I'm not usually a wimp, either. My level of pain tolerance is usually average if not above. So, either I was misinformed about the level of discomfort that comes along with this procedure or my doctor was less than gentle. To her credit, she seemed to get it over with as quickly as possible. I told J afterwards that after that lovely experience, we had
better get pregnant eventually!
That's enough of that. $1,300 and 5-10 minutes of sharp-as-knives pain later, the doctor told me that everything looks completely normal! I'm sure my RE will want to look over the results in more detail, but that's great news to hear. So, I assume that if timing works out in our favor, we will go ahead with another Follistim cycle next month. This will be our 4th cycle with Follistim (injections), but only our 2nd Follistim-only cycle (no Femara).
Question for all of you IF'ers out there -- how does the pain/discomfort of a HSG compare to that of IVF?
*congrats* on getting it over with. mine was very painful as well and i SCREAMED. literally SCREAMED at the top of my lungs, and i was surprised that dh didn't hear me from the waiting room. i didn't want to scare you by telling you this before the exam, so let's just say *yaay* for it being over and that all is good on your insides~!!
ReplyDeletehi again - saw your note on my blog! i think the hsg exam only hurts for some, not all. 2 of my friends said it was the worst pain ever (1 said more than labor - i don't quite believe her?) and the other 2 said they felt NOTHING.
ReplyDeletefor me, it was painful bc the dr had ZERO bedside manner and made me super nervous bc he was fiddling around my insides and then said "your cervix won't open. i'll have to force it". to which i CLENCHED soooo hard (i couldn't help it and it's not like i wanted to). so that just made it all the more worse. plus, i was crying and screaming and the dr was yelling at me to relax (i too, have high pain tolerance, but this was something else).
so, to end with a HIGH NOTE - the ER and ET are nothing in comparison to the hsg exam, so you're through the worst already. ET was sooo easy and i was nervous bc everyone said that there is pressure when they press down on your very full bladder, but it was NOTHING! and ER, since they put you out, you don't feel anything until you wake up. at which point you're sore. mine was very uncomfy after i woke up bc i had moderate OHSS, but that is NOT the norm and only happened bc i wasn't monitored properly, so you'll be fine!!
My HSG was terrible, too. The radiologist couldn't find my cervix and had to call my OB/GYN to come down and insert the catheter. Of course, that was after she tried about 5 different sizes and styles of speculums (is that the correct plural form?) herself. I'm sorry, I can't answer your IVF questions, but I just wanted to let you know that I totally feel your pain!
ReplyDeleteICLW #141
I'm sorry it was such a horrible experience for you. My first was horrible!! It was so bad I was ready to totally give up TTC afterwards becuase I couldn't imagine how horrible everything else was going to be. The good news is that I got pregnant the month of my HSG so they can be helpful. ALso, I had a second one a few months ago and hardly felt anything this time, so if you do ever have to have another one, don't assume it will be bad.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the pain vs IVF...the HSG was MUCH worse! I didn't think the IVF was bad at all...my stomach was a little sore from the shots but the retrieval and transfer weren't bad as long as I took it easy. Definitely don't rule out IVF becuase of the pain from the HSG.
Good Luck with everything!
Beth #140
Hi. I can only have my HSGs at a hospital so I lose a day and have to be knocked out for it. It basically ends up costing a ridiculous amount of money but it is always considered diagnostic.
ReplyDeleteSince I have to do the HSG this way, the discomfort I felt afterwards was about the same as post ER during my IVF cycle.
ICLW
http://daega99-arewethereyet.blogspot.com/
I'm sorry the test was so bad for you. I had mine 6 years ago so I don't really remember it. Except I do remember thinking the same thing about the size of the room and the fact that my husband couldn't be there, haha.
ReplyDeleteGREAT news that they didn't find any problems!!