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If you deal with heavy periods, medically known as menorrhagia, you know how much they can take over your life. Soaking through pads or tampons every hour, experiencing debilitatingly painful cramps, and bleeding for a week or more can take an incredible toll on your body.
Thankfully, there are several available treatment options that can address heavy periods and relieve the severity of your symptoms. However, if these typical treatments aren’t effective, endometrial ablation is a viable option.
At the Center for Women’s Health in Sugar Land and Richmond, Texas, our team understands how frustrating it can be to deal with heavy periods month after month. So, we offer endometrial ablation as a way to get you some much-needed relief.
In this month’s blog, we discuss how endometrial ablation works and what you can expect from your periods after undergoing this treatment.
Understanding endometrial ablation
Each month, your uterine lining (endometrium) thickens and then sheds during your period. But if you have heavy periods, that bleeding is much more severe than it should be.
When you have heavy periods, other treatment methods are suggested first, typically medications such as hormone replacements or birth control. However, if these don’t do anything to reduce the severity of your symptoms, endometrial ablation can be next.
During endometrial ablation, we destroy and eliminate the endometrium by using either heat or laser energy. As a result, your periods should be significantly lighter and may even stop altogether.
What happens during endometrial ablation?
Endometrial ablation doesn’t use any incisions, but it’s still a surgical procedure that requires you to go under general anesthesia. This ensures that you won’t experience any pain while we remove layers of uterine tissue.
Our team uses a few different methods for endometrial ablation. Before you undergo this procedure, we talk through which option is the best fit for you.
With NovaSure®, a wand is inserted through your vagina and it uses radiofrequency energy to destroy and then permanently eliminate your endometrium. Thermachoice® uses a heated and fluid-filled silicone balloon placed in your uterus through your vagina to destroy uterine tissue. Eventually, the endometrium sheds, similar to a period.
What to expect after getting an endometrial ablation
Since endometrial ablation doesn’t need surgical incisions, recovery should be fairly manageable. You may have some cramping and bleeding for a few days, but those things should resolve quickly.
It’s important to note that it may take several months until you realize the full effects of endometrial ablation. But after those few months, you should notice a significant reduction in menstrual bleeding. If you don’t, make sure to talk to our team about what some next steps could be.
To learn if endometrial ablation could be right for you, schedule a consultation with our team by calling your nearest office location or using our online booking feature today.