HSG

Well, it was...interesting. Definitely would not describe it as fun.

In the morning I was so nervous/terrified, it was all I could do not to get sick before we left. I was a big girl though, and did not lose my breakfast (which was Doxycyc. and some crackers).

When we got to the hospital, I was super nervous and even more nervous when they said that DH had to stay in the waiting room. There were two nurses when I got into the radiology room. They were both super nice and supportive. I had my own private restroom to change and get ready in. When I came out, the blonde nurse went through the whole procedure with me. I asked her about pain, and she was honest. She said it was something like menstrual cramps but worse.

Both nurses helped me onto the raised table and we took a practice picture. That was kind of cool because I could see my pelvis and spine (I've got this thing about internal pictures...I think it's kind of neat). Then the doctor came out. One nurse assisted him while the other talked to me and held my hand.

They inserted the speculum and cleaned me. Then he inserted the catheter. He said I was having a small cramp (I guess he could see my cervix cramping?) but I really only felt pressure. It was kind of weird. It didn't hurt, but I could definitely tell something was in there.

Then he started to inject the dye. At first I could feel the dye but didn't have any cramps. However, as he started to add more dye I did start to cramp. Then the cramps got stronger and closer together as even more dye was added. They moved the x-ray over and started taking pictures. I grabbed the sides of the table and said "Oww" a lot. It started getting really bad at the end. I had a huge, long cramp that made me nauseous. Just when I thought I just couldn't do it and was about to cry, he stopped injecting the dye. We took one last picture (I had to wiggle my hips a little before this one to get the dye to fall through one tube) and then removed the catheter (which I didn't feel at all).

The nurses told me just to lie there for a few minutes and let the pain/pressure subside. The doctor told me everything looked great. As I was resting, the nurse and I discussed my x-ray that they had left on the screen for me to look at.



In summary: It was bad, but not in the horrible way I had thought it would be. I would definitely recommend that everyone who has one makes sure they urinate first, because I don't think bladder control would be working with all the cramps I had. Take painkillers before. They won't necessarily help with the cramping during the procedure, but will definitely lessen the discomfort afterwards.

It's been about five hours since mine and what I feel now is this burning sensation in my very unhappy tubes. It's not debilitating, just uncomfortable, and a little weird.