Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome - How to Relieve the Pain
Tubal ligation has been used by millions of women in the U.S. alone as a means of preventing more conceptions. One possible after affect is called Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome which causes the women who suffer it some quite horrible experiences. These experiences can be read on the web by just doing a search on the subject.
For those women who suffer from Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome, also called PTLS, there is a long list of possible symptoms they can have. Upon researching this topic, one can find a popular list (seen on several websites) of 35 possible symptoms. Within the personal stories, most women seem to suffer from terrible mood swings, longer and/or heavier bleeding during periods, weight gain or inability to lose weight, awful PMS, problems sleeping, low to no sex drive, migraines and very severe, even crippling, abdominal pain. Cramps is too wimpy a word for what these women report.
Perhaps what is even worse for these women are the responses from their doctors and surgeons when these symptoms are brought to light. They range from a “there’s nothing wrong and so you’ll have to learn to live with it” attitude to outright telling these women it’s all in their heads and they need professional counseling. One doctor has been quoted as saying that PTLS is a “medical myth” on medicinenet.com.
The other treatment options these women suffering ptls will most often hear appears to be going on birth control pills or to have a hysterectomy. Some doctors think that the reason for the problems is that after the tubal ligation the women are no longer taking birth control pills or that they have just gotten older. So the best way to fix it is put them back onto birth control pills or just get a hysterectomy.
This is why our quoted medical myth doctor suggests that women about to undergo a tubal ligation surgery should go off birth control pills several months before the procedure. I’m guessing that the supposed age-related factors are something you just have to live with. However, I’m not sure these suggestions will do much to help those women who were pregnant and had their tubes tied upon having their child. Obviously no birth control pills were being used prior to the surgery. Nor do the “age related factors” seem to have any application to those women still in their 20’s and experiencing these problems.
Another way to help with these effects and syndromes would be a better notification of potential complications before the surgery. Even the government’s FDA website only lists the following as possible “rare” complications from the surgery: infection, ectopic pregnancy, hemorrhage and problems related to the use of general anesthesia. No mention of the effects that so many women suffer from PTLS. Maybe a more informative consent form would stop some women from going through with the surgery. At least they would be better informed with a consent form that included PTLS which is what the “Coalition for Post-Tubal Women” is trying to accomplish.
While better information prior to the surgery would be good, it doesn’t help those who have already done it. For these women, there are the actions mentioned above which can be done such as going onto birth control pills, having a hysterectomy or just learning to live with it no matter how much it may impair their lives. One more option that some women don’t even know is available is to have a tubal ligation reversal surgery done. In the stories shared by women on the Internet, this latter surgery has brought much relief.
A further review of the site for Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal reveals a forum where many threads can be found addressing the issues of PTLS. It seems women ask if tubal reversal is the best way to take care of the symptoms. In every case I read, other women answer in the affirmative describing how much improved their lives are in all respects, including the possibility of having another child. Even those who have not become pregnant are rejoicing just because of the relief they are getting from post tubal ligation syndrome, myth or not.
Filed under: Disease & Illness