hsg, check!

hello uterus and tubes, nice to meet you!

today was my hsg and there was good news, the doctor said my tubes are open and my uterus looks normal. :) yay, uterus and tubes! the above is a photo i snapped with my phone, thats why it is all stripey because of the screen refreshing.

my experience was pretty good... it was definitely worse than a pap smear, but definitely better than going to the dentist for a filling. i was nervous and a bit frightened about the pain based on what i had read on the internet beforehand. about a hour before the procedure i took 3 advils (200 mg ea) and then 15 minutes before i took another 1 advil (again 200 mgs).

i got to the office and waited about 5 minutes and then got brought back to a room that was dedicated just for the hsg equipment. here's what it sort of looked like, except it had big comfy stirrups, not the plain metal ones you see at your gyn.

So first he put the speculum in and that was fine, just cold. he put some iodine on my cervix. then the catheter went in my cervix, which hurt a little, mostly when you get a pap smear with those tiny achy pinching cramps. After the catheter was in, he removed the speculum, so i felt a bit more comfortable.

Then he let me know that he was starting the dye, and it started going in (i could watch the images on the screen while the procedure was happening) and then ouch! it hurt like waves of cramps, not really like what menstrual cramps feel like for me, but kind of like a few pulses of strong pain and i had to do a couple big breaths to relax. and then just as soon as it started it was over and the pain went away from that strong pain to almost nothing. i watched the dye spill out of my tubes on the screen and then the pain was gone. so for me it went very quickly, the pain lasted for only what felt like less than a minute, maybe 30 seconds?

I guess he must have taken out the catheter quickly and i don't remember feeling that happen at all. I may have been distracted by the pain receding. ;) he then went over the results with me and then left me to get dressed.

i think the whole procedure took less than 15 minutes from beginning to end, including the time it took me to get changed at the beginning and afterwards. i haven't been feeling too many cramps afterwards, but i was definitely ok going back to work right afterwards. and i definitely needed a pad, because of all  that sticky clear dye coming back out.