I had two nurses holding each hand all the man said was let’s get on with it. I was crying my eyes out gritting my teeth I kept saying sorry but it sounds this is what hundreds of women go through it was the worst experience of my life. One lady said she has had three children naturally and this procedure was way worse than natural child birth for her
Ms Lyn Brown
(West Ham) (Lab)
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I am really grateful to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and it is really good to see you.
This is the eighth time I have raised in this House the way women are treated by the NHS when they need a hysteroscopy. I have always had a sympathetic hearing. Throughout the years, I have given voice to an ever-growing group of courageous women, the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy. I am sad to tell the House that the issue has not been resolved. Far from it. Women are still being denied the right to provide informed consent and having their pain ignored while a procedure is performed, and some suffer lasting trauma as a result of a hysteroscopy.
For those who do not know, a hysteroscopy involves a camera probe being inserted into the womb, past the cervix. Sometimes, a sample will be cut away from the woman’s womb for examination—it will be cut away from her womb. A hysteroscopy can be an important tool for diagnosing the causes of common problems, such as unusually heavy periods, unexplained pain or bleeding. It can enable life-saving treatment to begin, or provide invaluable reassurance that a problem being experienced is not caused by cancer.
It is true that for some women, sometimes, a hysteroscopy causes agony and a sense of violation, because hysteroscopies are often carried out in NHS hospitals with little or no anaesthetic. Frequently, women are simply advised to take paracetamol or ibuprofen for the pain.
Jim Shannon
(Strangford) (DUP)
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. It is a delight to see him in his place, too. I will come to the lack of pain relief for women and just how damaging that can be for them, not only in that moment but often for their ongoing healthcare, because it creates fear and a barrier.
Massively improved information leaflets have been produced by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, in collaboration with patients. I am also pleased to note that the NHS website, which I quoted from in the last debate, has now been changed to recognise that some women experience severe pain and a general anaesthetic should be an option. However, many women having a hysteroscopy are still not being given this essential information. They still are not having the risk of severe pain discussed with them properly, and they still are not having the option of a more effective anaesthetic offered freely. In truth, these women cannot give genuinely informed consent, and therefore their rights as patients are being violated.
Telling the story of your trauma is very difficult. The excellent women at the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy are still a relatively small group. Despite that, the campaign has collected 1,500 personal accounts of painful hysteroscopy. Previously in this House, I have told the stories of women who have been held down as they tried to stop the procedure, who have collapsed from shock, bleeding in hospital car parks afterwards, and who have been criticised by doctors for their supposedly low pain thresholds because apparently “most women are fine with it”. Today I will raise the voices of three very recent hysteroscopy patients, because I want the Minister to know that this barbarism is still taking place.
Rebecca had a hysteroscopy last year. She was given no information before her appointment, received no warnings about severe pain and was not offered sedation. Fortunately, Rebecca had had a similar painful procedure before, so she asked for pain relief and was offered a local anaesthetic injected into her cervix. That, in itself, was painful, but she hoped beyond hope that it would be worth it, and the doctor reassured her that the procedure had been massively improved. Instead, Rebecca said:
“As the probe was inserted I struggled to believe how severe that pain was. As the biopsies were taken… I could feel my insides being cut away and I had absolutely NOTHING to address the agony of it all! I was trying not to scream, very close to vomiting and fainting. In trying to contain my screams I couldn’t speak—if I had, the screams would have ‘escaped’ and I knew that they would be deafening. The procedure seemed to go on and on. It was barbaric and, as I hadn’t been given any warning, I felt panicked and unsafe.”
After they were “finished” with her, in her words, she says that no one cared that she felt faint, was close to tears and was struggling to walk. Rebecca tells me she felt conned, and not treated as a human being but
“an object to cut bits out of”.
Hi . I was a bit confused at first when I read your post as you're describing your procedure and then included an excerpt from a parliamentary debate - am I correct?
I'm so very sorry to hear that the surgeon/nurse didn't halt the procedure when you were obviously in so much pain - that's dreadful and uncaring. I've not had children but have read before that people have said the biopsies were painful or they didn't even feel them. People's pain thresholds must vary to a huge degree.
My nurse couldn't even get in the virginal speculum easily so she said immediately no way could they get the camera in for the hysteroscopy so no point in trying a local anaesthetic so was referred to have the procedure done by GA, actually done by epidural. I was initially fed up, yet another delay but glad it was done that way.
Having re-read the parliamentary excerpt, I can't fathom out why, in these modern times, anyone could permit someone to suffer so much. If gas and air helps ladies giving birth, why can't they at least offer that.
I hope you're feeling a little more comfortable today, perhaps you should comment to your GP about your treatment.
Sending you cotton wool hugs, Barb xx 
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Oh my love that's sounds awful, I really feel for you. I was called in via telephone to come for my Hysteroscopy and I was just told take Ibuprofen an hour before the appointment. The ibuprofen was for the biopsies, obviously snipping bits away from you would be painful but the camera would be very slimline and should not present too much of a problem. Anyway, they couldn't past my stenosed cervix!
I'd still mention it to your GP, then they might take it up with the hospital.
Big hugs, Barb xx
Macmillan Support Line - 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week between 8am-8pm
"Never lose hope. Storms make people stronger and never last forever” - Roy T Bennett
Hi. My stenosed cervix came to my rescue. When I went for my initial hysteroscopy the nurse had trouble getting the virginal speculum in so she didn't try any further and referred me for a procedure under GA and apologised to have to that. In the end I had an epidural and was so thankful I did.
Bx
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"Never lose hope. Storms make people stronger and never last forever” - Roy T Bennett
