Is Sterilization Right for Me?
Having kids isn’t in your immediate or long-term future, and you’re exploring whether sterilization is right for you. Here, we present some information about tubal ligation to help with your decision-making.
Am I a Good Candidate for Endometrial Ablation?
Having abnormally heavy periods is a common problem that affects up to one in two girls and women who menstruate. An estimated one in three women who get their periods seek expert care for heavy bleeding at some point.
In some cases, endometrial ablation is the best solution.
If you suffer from heavy menstrual bleeding, our experienced team at Capital Women’s Care wants you to know that there are treatment options that can help. Here, we look at when endometrial ablation may be the proper remedy.
Heavy menstrual bleeding isn’t normal
Abnormally heavy menstruation, also known as menorrhagia, means losing more blood than usual during your period. You may have heavy periods if your menstrual bleeding:
- Saturates your pads or tampons very quickly
- Requires fresh protection frequently (i.e., every hour for several hours)
- Wakes you from your sleep because you need to change your pad or tampon
- Necessitates double protection (i.e., wearing two pads or a tampon and a pad)
- Passes quarter-sized (or larger) blood clots several times a day
- Continues for longer than seven days (one week)
- Makes you avoid or miss work, school, and other usual activities
Women and girls with heavy periods are also more likely to have a low red blood count that causes them to be anemic, causing symptoms like low energy or shortness of breath.
Heavy periods may be common, but they’re not normal — and with a range of available treatment options, you don’t have to live with them.
A short tutorial on endometrial ablation
Endometrial ablation is a highly effective treatment option for heavy menstrual bleeding. Using minimally invasive heating or freezing energy, this non-surgical approach destroys the uterine lining (endometrium) without harming the uterus.
The endometrium is the uterus lining that thickens with blood during your menstrual cycle and then sheds during your period. When it undergoes ablation, you’ll bleed significantly less during menstruation.
The FDA has approved several types of devices for this treatment, including ones that ablate endometrial tissue via:
- Heated gas, saline, or water vapor
- Heating radiofrequency (RF) energy
- Tissue-warming microwave energy
- Tissue-freezing nitrous oxide gas
Each of these devices works in much the same way. After you receive sedative medication and a local anesthetic to minimize discomfort, we insert the thin wand into your vagina and through your cervix, positioning its tip inside your uterus.
Once we switch on the device, its advanced technology makes the tissue ablation process precise and quick. Afterward, you can expect to start having normal to light periods.
Is endometrial ablation right for me?
Endometrial ablation is a good treatment option for many women with menorrhagia, but it isn’t right for everyone who wants to control heavy period bleeding. It may be right for you if:
- The problem isn’t from a hormone condition (i.e., thyroid disease, PCOS)
- Your heavy bleeding isn’t caused by benign growths (i.e., fibroids, polyps)
- Other treatments (i.e., medication, IUD) haven’t reduced your period flow
- You don’t have any known (or suspected) gynecological or pelvic cancers
- Your family is complete; you’re sure you never want to get pregnant again
Because pregnancy after endometrial ablation is extremely dangerous for both mother and baby, you can only have the procedure if you’ve had your tubes tied, your partner has had a vasectomy, or you’re willing to use contraception.
Some circumstances disqualify you from having the procedure. You can’t have endometrial ablation if you:
- Are pregnant or were recently pregnant
- Want (or might want) a future pregnancy
- Have a high risk of endometrial cancer
- Have already had endometrial ablation
- Have a history of C-section deliveries
- Have an active or recent pelvic infection
- Have a uterine or endometrial disorder
Part of confirming that you’re a candidate for endometrial ablation includes taking cell samples from your uterus to check for cancer — it’s much harder to find cancer cells in the endometrium following ablation, and this cancer risk increases following menopause.
You don’t have to live with heavy periods
Heavy menstrual bleeding isn’t something you have to live with—the proper treatment can help ease this monthly disruption and restore a normal quality of life. The first step is to determine the cause of the bleeding and find the right treatment approach.
Ready to learn more? We’re here to help. Call us to schedule a visit at your nearest Capital Women’s Care office in Frederick or Mount Airy, Maryland, today.
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