Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome – How to Relieve the Pain
Among the methods of stopping conception available to women is the method of having their tubes tied. Along with the normal surgical risks a woman undergoing this procedure has to be aware of, there is the addition of Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome. Looking around the Internet will provide you with story after story of the painful and embarrassing experiences of the women who suffer it.
A long list of thirty-five possible symptoms can be found when looking into the symptoms of Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome, or ptls for short, on different websites. However, when you read the personal stories of the women suffering from this after effect, you will most often read of longer bouts of and stronger PMS symptoms, bad mood swings, and very altered periods usually with severe bleeding so bad they cannot even leave home. Also suffered are migraines, no sex drive, weight gain and severe cramping.
These symptoms are bad enough for the women and their families suffering through them. But this is not all they face. In trying to find out what is wrong with them, they endure many tests from doctors leading to various different diagnoses even for the same woman from the different specialist she may visit. When none of their “fixes” bring any relief, the women have to face being told either to learn to live with it or be prescribed antidepressants as the symptoms are all in their heads. We even have one doctor calling ptls a “medical myth” on MedicineNet so, of course, these women are not actually suffering from anything “real”.
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.
One doctor is quoted as saying that women should be removed from birth control pills well in advance of the tubal ligation surgery in order to allow their bodies to return to norm. The thinking is that this would let the ladies know what their condition, related to PMS and menses, prior to having the surgery. Who knows what the answer is for the “age related” problems? Learn to live with it? But these don’t address the ladies who have the tubal done at the birth of the last child they wanted. And the age related cause does not address the young women in their 20′s or, in my opinion, the ones in their early 30′s who are having problems with ptls either.
One thing that could be done is a preventive measure, namely more information within the surgical consent form and better counseling prior to the surgery. Many women complained they had no idea and were never told of the possible outcome of ptls after the surgery. The FDA website itself only gives infection, ectopic pregnancy, hemorrhage and problems related to using general anesthesia as possible “rare” complications. With the exception of the ectopic pregnancy, these are the normal “rare” complications for any surgery using general anesthesia. It probably wouldn’t stop most women but would give them reason to do some research into the subject and make an informed decision.
Even if a better consent form and counseling were available, it still won’t help those who have had the surgery and are now suffering the effects of post tubal ligation syndrome. You could try the options talked about above like birth control pills or a hysterectomy. Or you could try a tubal ligation reversal surgery. In a study conducted by Dr. Berger of Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center on the women who have come to him and complained of having the symptoms of ptls, 90% saw a reduction in their symptoms. You can read the stories yourself at http://forums.tubal-reversal.net/ where the ladies are happy to help as well as nurses who provide information.
The women on the message board at Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center and in stories you will find there will tell you how they have felt better and had a return to their old lives by having a tubal reversal surgery. No more suffering from post tubal ligation syndrome at best for the vast majority of the ones who have suffered from it. Perhaps, given the particular circumstances of any woman of course, a tubal ligation reversal is the best answer for someone suffering from ptls. Talk to your doctor, or better yet, discuss this with Dr. Berger’s staff.
