Conference turris::womannotes-v3

    
    It was a while ago now (10 years?) but I'll answer as many as I can.
    
    > 1.  When exactly do you go off the pill?  Before, same day, or
    >     after surgery?
     
    If not getting pregnant is your aim, I'd ask the doctor.  I think 
    you can probably stop the day of surgery.
    
    >  2.  After surgery, did your period go back to the way it used 
    >      to be before the pill?  In other words, if you were irregular
    >      or had longer periods before going on the pill, and the pill 
    >      made you regular and have shorter periods, did your periods 
    >      go back to being irregular/longer?  
    
    When I was a teen I had 5-7 day periods with cramping.  When I was 
    on the pill, I had a 3 day period, no symptoms.  Now that I'm not on
    the pill, I have about a 4 day period with sometimes severe cramping
    that lasts for the first 24 hours.
    
    >  3.  How long does it take for the gas (I think it's carbon
    >      dioxide?) to get out of your system?  How long does the 
    >      swelling/bloating last?
    
    It took me about 4 days, I think.  I wore overalls.  How you feel
    afterwards will depend on what the Dr. does inside you.  I was 
    warned that I might feel more discomfort than originally predicted
    because the Dr. found a cyst and took care of it while he was in
    the area; taking care of the cyst required more stretching, probing,
    etc. than just tieing the tubes.
    
    >  4.  How soon can I get back into my exercise routine 100%
    >      (weightlifting, step aerobics)?
    
    Probably as soon as you feel able.  You can probably resume the 
    aerobics before the weightlifting.  For me, it would've been two 
    weeks for aerobics.  Don't know about weightlifting.

    >  5.  Did your moods change at all after going off the pill?
    >      I've always been real sentimental (even cry at certain
    >      commercials!), but never thought the extra hormones could
    >      have anything to do with it.  Someone I know has been off
    >      for about 5 months and says that she has noticed a big
    >      difference with her moods.
    
    Definitely!  I never realised how "down" the pill made me till I 
    went off it.
    
    >  6.  Did you gain/lose weight after going off the pill?
     
    I didn't gain weight on the pill, so going off it had no effect.

My experiences were/are:
    
    1.  When exactly do you go off the pill?  Before, same day, or
        after surgery?

If in a marriage or other relationship during which regular sexual
activity is likely to occur, the doctor recommended that I keep on
the pill for 3 months...just for "insurance".  As I was unattached,
I stopped taking the pill prior to surgery and "behaved" myself
for 3 months.  It probably wasn't necessary to wait that long, but
1 full menstrual cycle after the surgery WOULD be necessary.
    
    2.  After surgery, did your period go back to the way it used 
        to be before the pill?  In other words, if you were irregular 
        or had longer periods before going on the pill, and the pill 
        made you regular and have shorter periods, did your periods 
        go back to being irregular/longer?  

This is a tough one.  When I was taking pills, we were getting the
HEAVY DUTY ESTROGEN jobs that they used 20+ years ago.  My periods
and my body NEVER went back to "pre-pill" condition and it never
will.  For instance, I have a weird reaction to the sun - I turn
scarlet red and experience a burning sensation like I am on fire,
but the scarlet color fades in approx. 12 hours and I have no tan
nor do I peel....needless to say, I don't stay out long enough to
really get burned as I know what the response will be.  This is a
side effect from the old pills I was taking.  If you have been on
the newer pills, your body will probably recover most of the
pre-pill symptoms with the exception of irregularity - I understand
that the menstrual cycle is more regular, although it might be longer
between periods.  I also have reports from friends that cramps are
much better after surgery.
    
    3.  How long does it take for the gas (I think it's carbon
        dioxide?) to get out of your system?  How long does the 
        swelling/bloating last?

I was bloated for approx. 2 days and then it didn't seem to be
noticable for me.  Others have said it takes longer.
    
    4.  How soon can I get back into my exercise routine 100%
        (weightlifting, step aerobics)?

I was back at work one day after surgery.  I went dancing (rock
and roll) three days later.  I was told to do whatever I FELT
up to doing.  In all honesty, the anesthesia had a much greater
effect on me than the surgery.  It took about a week for me to
feel really OK, but it wasn't my belly button that was the problem,
it was a groggy feeling in my head.  My stomach felt fine and I
was rippin around as usual within 7 days after surgery.
    
    5.  Did your moods change at all after going off the pill?
        I've always been real sentimental (even cry at certain
        commercials!), but never thought the extra hormones could
        have anything to do with it.  Someone I know has been off
        for about 5 months and says that she has noticed a big
        difference with her moods.

In my case, I simply stabilized over a period of 6 months or so...no
immediate, "SHAZAM!!! I'M FREE!!!!" reactions, but I did get a better
(IMO) outlook on the ongoing, almost broken off, but not quite, love
affair I had been conducting.  One month after stopping the pill, I calmly
told him I wasn't hunting his bones and he could relax - and get on
with his life with someone else.  Who knows, maybe I was just tired
of the strain, or maybe I really did get less emotional when I stopped
eating heaps of estrogen each month.
    
    6.  Did you gain/lose weight after going off the pill?

No, I gained weight much later - after I turned over the magic 30
year marker - and, never having had a weight problem before, I let it
get way far out of hand before paying real attention to it...but it
wasn't the pill/no pill that did it.
    
			D [just D]

    I'm confused.  You didn't say what type of surgery you were having
    using laproscopy.  Are you having a tubal ligation (aka tubes tied)?
    I had a tubal ligation using laproscopy.  
    
    The worst was the gas bubbles that lodged in my shoulder.  Very
    painful lying down or getting up.  The irony of the whole thing
    was I had surgery in October, menopause started in January.  I
    should have waited.
    
    Had some pain after surgery and as I have a very low pain
    pain threshhold, my doctor prescribed some pain medication for me.
    I was fine after a week.
    
    L
    

    Re:  .3
    
    Yes, I'm considering having the tubal ligation (tubes are
    cauterized).
    
    Regarding the gas pains, my nurse friend said that it can be
    painful, you might feel as though you were having a heart attack.
    On the other hand, another friend said that she had no gas pains
    whatsoever.  I guess each person is different.  I'm not afraid of
    putting up with any pain, as long as it doesn't last a month!  :^)
    
    Kathy Gallup, are you out there?  I think you're probably the most
    recent one to have this done, and I'm wondering how you're doing!
    Please reply if you have a chance ...
    
    Thanks,
    -Bibi
    

    
    As for how I felt after the surgery, well I don't know what part of it
    was due to the residial gas or all the moving around of the muscles,
    etc.  I can't say I actually had pain, after the first day.  On the
    second day, I was just extremely tender, and since I was still loopy
    from the anesthesia (general) I slept most of that day anyway.  on
    subsequent days, the incision was tender so I didn't wear anthing that
    had a waist band, and I had the uncomfortable sensation that all my 
    "parts" were loose inside (possibly bruised), not securely anchored, 
    and moving around when I did.  This lessened daily and I'd say that 
    after a week, I felt more or less "normal".
    
    CQ

    The following is from a reader who prefers to remain anonymous.
    
    						Ann B.
    						co-moderator
    ======================================================================
    
    I guess I was one of the fortunate ones.  Mine was done through
    outpatient surgery and aside from some heavy duty cramping, (which,
    sadly, I'm used to!), there was no pain.  No gas, no bloating, nothing.
    Some Tylenol 3, (with Codeine), made a bit of a dent in the cramping
    but mostly I just slept for a day and that was that.

    I'd had horrible, 7-8 day heavy periods with severe cramping ever since
    I was 12.  At 17 I went on the pill and hallelujah, there was relief!
    A measly 3-5 days with cramps the first day only.  That was heaven!
    I was on the pill for about 15 years and since the surgery, which I had
    about 10 years ago, my periods have been slowly reverting back to the 
    pre-pill days of heavy and painful bleeding.  Ugh.

    I gained weight when I went on the pill and lost it when I went off but 
    as for moods, they've never been a problem.  I'm strange I guess.  I 
    never get PMS or anything, I get cuddly, warm and content.  Even though 
    I know pain is on the horizon, it just feels good to me to feel female
    and healthy and so I love it -- as long as I'm close to the Tylenol
    bottle!  

    I was already off the pill when I had my surgery so I can't say much
    about "timing" but it would seem to me that since a released egg is
    only viable for a couple of days to a week, one should be "safe" as soon 
    as one feels healed enough to want to play.

    One important thing I did learn and I'd like to pass on is that they
    say one should consider this permanent, but there are steps the
    surgeon can easily take to make reversal simple and effective.  Talk to
    your doctor about it!  The fallopian tube is wide at the distal end,
    (near the ovary), and narrow at the proximal end, (near the uterus). 
    The more distal the rings are placed, the better your chances for easy
    reversal and conception!  The average chances in a healthy woman, with
    the surgeon taking little note of where the rings are placed, are roughly 
    85%.  Not bad!  If the surgeon is willing, s/he can up your chances to
    virtually 100%.  This is if the method used is application of rings and
    *not* cut and cautery, (cut and burn), like in the "old" days.  Be wary
    of cut and cautery.  Bowel burns are common and nasty.  Get the rings.
    And since you don't *need* general anesthesia for this procedure,
    (although you certainly would for reversal!), the "risk" for doing this
    for only x number of years of infertility is minimal and therefore such 
    an approach to fertility control is not all that unreasonable.

    One other little anecdote about my surgery.  A couple of weeks after
    mine, I noticed that the teaching hospital where I'd had mine done had 
    "gyn" rounds every Thursday morning up on the 4th floor.  That's where and
    when I was - Thursday morning on the 4th floor.  In college I'd dated a
    guy briefly who had gone on to that med school.  They never told me
    beforehand, (and I think they should have!), but I guess I was one of 
    the "show and tells" that day and he was by then a third year med student 
    and would have been there.  I think they should have paid ME!  :>

    Anon is quite right.  I have a friend who has just had her tubes
    reconnected after 15 years.  She had the slash and burn method used on
    her initially, but fortunately the tubes were cut high up near the
    "catcher's mit" (wide opening of the fallopian tupe near the ovary)  
    
    The Dr is giving her a 75% chance of a successful pregnancy.  However
    the surgery should be considered permanent IMHO.  The scars from her
    original LAP were less than an inch across, the reconnection scar looks
    just like a ceasarian scar, she spent 5 days in the hospital and 6
    weeks of "don't lift anything heavier than a coffee cup" orders
    recuperating at home.  Since the best chances for conception after this
    surgery are in the first six months, she will have a semi healed
    abdominal scar going into a pregnancy *if* she catches and if the
    pregnancy isn't ectopic.  
    
    Meg, who thinks she will live with her cervical cap for a few more
    years.  
    
     

    Re:  .6
    
    Regarding reversal of this procedure, thanks for the info, but this
    would DEFINITELY be permanent!  My husband and I don't want any kids
    of our own, but give us LOTS OF NIECES AND NEPHEWS!
    
    As far as using clips instead of "cut and burn", I'm a little leery
    about those clips coming undone.  I'll have to ask my doctor about
    the risks of burns (OUCH!) also.
    
    And THANK YOU for letting me know about your "show and tell" episode,
    I certainly wouldn't want that to happen!

    RE: .0
    
    >    1.  When exactly do you go off the pill?  Before, same day, or
    >    after surgery?
    
    Before.  Actually about 6 months before.  I was using other forms of BC
    during that time.  They suggest that you use some form of BC until your
    first period after surgery because there might be an egg in the tubes
    at that time.
    
    >2.  After surgery, did your period go back to the way it used 
    >    to be before the pill? 
    
    I was VERY regular while on the Pill.  Before the Pill I was very
    erratic.  Now I'm somewhere inbetween.  My cycle ranges from 4 weeks to
    6 weeks at a time.  The surgery  itself didn't have an appreciable
    inpact on my cycle at all.
    
    >3.  How long does it take for the gas (I think it's carbon
    >    dioxide?) to get out of your system?  How long does the 
    >    swelling/bloating last?
    
    It took three days for the gas to totally leave my system.  Lying down
    is probably the most comfortable position.  I think the
    swelling/bloating feeling comes from the fact that the abdomin muscles
    become completely relaxed during the surgery and they WILL NOT tighten
    up again.  If you feel like your stomach is distended, it's probably
    because the muscles are completely relaxed.  When you heal and get back
    into an exercise program, a few extra ab crunches and that will all
    clear up.
    
    >    4.  How soon can I get back into my exercise routine 100%
    >        (weightlifting, step aerobics)?
    
    I was working out at full capacity at the end of two weeks.  The only
    thing that I DIDN'T do until 4 weeks after were ab crunches.  I didn't
    want to directly stress the abs, but indirect workouts of the abs felt
    comfortable.  I think it was a psychological thing for me.
    
    >    5.  Did your moods change at all after going off the pill?
    
    I recognized a huge difference in mood.  My mood is much more stable
    now that before.
        
    >    6.  Did you gain/lose weight after going off the pill?
    
    Lost weight.  I think it had a lot to do with my emotions/mood at the
    time.  I felt better emotionally, so I spent more time eating right and
    exercising.
    
    I just had mine 2 months ago, write me if you want more info.
    
    
    
    kathy
    
    

    
    
    
    
    Just as an aside, I would opt for the Clips (clips placed around the
    tube) instead of the cauterizing of the tubes.
    
    
    That's what I have.  
    
    
    I'm in a rush, I'll post more later if I can.
    
    kath

    I have a question?  Do you think it depends on the persons size.  I am
    on the heavy side and just last wednesday (the 18th) had my tubes tied. 
    I had no bloating feeling.  No gas pains.  I felt great except for
    getting tired easy.
    
    
    Bev T