This is the place for all Hysteroscopy chat.
Other threads that you may find of use are:-
Serum Welcome / Questions / General Thread for finding out about Serum
The Inbetweeners Thread where you can go and chat while you wait to start treatment or if you have had a negative cycle
Serum Current Cyclers Thread - January / February 2016 where you can go and chat when you start your treatment - you can also use this thread if you have been advised to tx naturally after having a hysterscopy
NOTE: Please make so not duplicate your posts across all the Greece threads, any duplicate posts will be removed.
You will find lots of information in agates file, which you will find here Agate's Serum File
For a quick guide here is some of the information -
Having hysteroscopy in Athens
Hysteroscopies are normally scheduled at the Yaia maternity department of the Iatriko Kentro Athena (Central Hospital of Athens) on Distomou 5-7 , Marousi. http://www.iatriko.gr/en/gaia-obstetrics-gynaegology-clinic/
please note that the Yaia has recently located to the Iatriko Kentro Athena (Central Athens Medical centre) which is on Distomo street near the Kifsias bus stop (a taxi ride or a bus ride (route 550 from the stop called Ippokrateio near Serum on Leoforos Kifisias to the stop Vlastou)- Its too far to walk from Serum and not particularly near to a convenient metro station unless you catch the metro to Neratziotissa (but that means going all the way into the centre of Athens to Monastakiri and then changing onto the green line 1 because the metro station for serum (Ambelokipoi or Megarro Mousikkis) is on the blue line 3 and you have to go into the centre of Athens to change lines. Please note that that not all the taxi drivers know the location of the new hospital so make very sure that they know they are going to the Iatriko Kentro Athena in Marousi - its actually very easy to find from Ambelokipoi, just straight up North on Leoforas Kiffisias, but for some reason, the new location is confusing the taxi drivers and they keep going to locations in the South of the city rather than teh North Taxi is cheap around 7-8 euros.
(My google map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=216291340940802168436.0004bfd72e971a5fd1675)
Hysteroscopies are normally scheduled for just after your period has finished so that the lining is thin and there isn't too much debris from your period - its not possible to do hysteroscopy if you have your period (because the view is obscured) or if you might be pregnant (because the baby might be harmed). If your cycles are irregular or fall at an inconvenient time, you may want use the pill (e.g., microgynon 30, marvelon, yasmin - started on about day 3 of your cycle) to keep your lining thin until the hysteroscopy, or to fix the timing of your period. You can get the pill for free from your GP or can get it fairly cheaply from a UK pharmacy using a private prescription posted from Serum or emailed to Rigcharm pharmacy - if you are paying for the pill, bear in mind that something like microgynon 30 is much cheaper (about £3 for 3 x 21 pills) than yasmin. You will need a medical review at the hospital before the surgery which means filling in some forms, some blood and urine tests and an ECG (heart monitoring). This takes at least an hour so is often done at the hospital the day before, particularly if your hysteroscopy is scheduled to be done at the Yaia. You need to show your passport when you fill out the forms. You may have to wait for the blood tests to be cleared by phone before you can leave in case they need to draw any more blood so you will want to take a book to read.
You will be asked to fast (no food or drink or water) from midnight the night before your hysteroscopy. You need to remove contact lenses, make up, jewellery and nail polish and to bring some sanitary towels with you. You will need your passport to confirm your identity and any valuables can be checked in with hospital security if you are travelling alone. The surgery will normally take less than 30 minutes but there can be quite a bit of waiting around (emergency surgeries may need to be carried out first) and recovery time. A light snack will be provided by the hospital afterwards.
When you come round in the recovery room, you will be asked to stay lying down until the nurses are happy for you to get up. If you are thirsty, they may let you initially have only tiny squirts or sips of water until they are sure you are safe to have a proper drink.
The hospital staff are very efficient and it can feel a bit brusque e.g., as soon as you get to the operating theatre, one nurse will quickly put your feet up in stirrups at the same time as someone else is giving you the anaesthetic and someone else is taping down your eyelids. When you are recovering, if they want to check you are not bleeding heavily, they will lift up your gown to check without much preamble and not explain what they doing- and they don't seem to be that concerned with making sure you are covered up e.g., for listening to your heart. It seemed to me to be more a culture where visitors are excluded so that the surgical areas only had patients and staff and therefore, covering you up, wasn't seen as important. Your partner or anyone else accompanying you will have to wait in the waiting area until you Go up to the ward to recover where they can join you again.
You have to pay the hospital fee (about 550E) by card/cash to the hospital before you leave. The surgeon's fee (about 1000E) needs to be paid to serum in cash because this fee gets paid to the surgeon and cannot go through the clinic's books - Serum do not get any fee themselves for arranging the hysteroscopy. If you are not comfortable with carrying cash from the UK, you can arrange to draw it out from the ATM machines near the clinic (e.g, near the Athens Tower), or if you really don't want to pay cash, you could talk to Serum about making a bank transfer to Serum but I understand this would have to be at least 1 week in advance of your visit and would cost an extra 50Eu on top because of the added complexity for Serum.
After you have recovered you will normally get a taxi back to Serum - its easy to hail a taxi from the main street just outside the hospital - so you can have a chat with Penny about the findings from the hysteroscopy. The surgeon will normally provide a short video of the hysteroscopy on a DVD which you can view on Penny's TV. If you haven't had the locus medicus menstrual blood test for Chlamydia or the Life Code test for 6 'bugs', The surgeon can take a sample during your operation or Penny can take a cervical blood sample when you get back to the clinic as you will have some bleeding following the hysteroscopy. The results of the locus test are normally back within 1 or 2 days and will be emailed to you.
Penny will usually prescribe some cyclacur after the hysteroscopy and will discuss with you whether you need to take just the white tablets or the white tablets and then the brown tablets (usually you take the white tablets then the brown tablets but stop the brown tablets if your period arrives whilst you are still taking them) and whether you need any 'resting' cycles on cyclacur before you can do your next fertility treatment (depending on the findings from hysteroscopy). Penny may also prescribe some antibiotics or suggest you buy some antibiotics to take back with you to the UK just in case the locus test suggests you need them. If you are intending to cycle soon, you might want to take the opportunity to buy the medication you will need for your fertility treatment to take it back with you - especially if you need avekap 0.1mg for an OE cycle because you can't buy that in the UK.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
If I have an aquascan and its abnormal can I have a hysteroscopy the same day?
Probably not because you do need to fast (no food or water) before the general anaesthetic and you do need serum to be able to get you a surgical slot and a doc.
Can I have hysteroscopy at any time of the month?
The ideal time to go is just after your period finishes - so the lining is thin but you don't have any bleeding obscuring the 'view'. A thin lining makes the surgery easier especially if you end up needing to have something complex done like fibroid removal. So although technically it may be possible to have hysteroscopy at any time of the month (provided they are sure they can't possibly be pregnant), it is best to go when your lining is thin, just in case you unexpectedly need a more complex surgery. You can't have hysteroscopy after ovulation if there is a chance you might be pregnant. If you need to book flights etc and your periods are not predictable, you can ask Penny if you can use the pill to fix the timing of a bleed, or to prevent the lining thickening up (and hold off a bleed). You normally need to start the pill (a low dose combined pill like marvelon or microgynon) on about day 3 of your natural period, but can then take it for between 3-6 weeks (usually) if that helps your timing - a bleed will normally start on day 3-5 after stopping the pill. In the UK you can get the pill for free from your GP - although technically its only available free on the NHS if its for contraception. You can get a private prescription from Serum and use that to buy it from any pharmacy.
Why am I being advised to try naturally after hysteroscopy?
Where the hysteroscopy or infection testing reveals a problem that can be addressed (e.g., adhesions in the uterus that are cut away), Penny often advises couples to try naturally for at least 2 cycles - just in case the main barrier to infertility has just been fixed. This may seem like an unnecessary delay, especially if you have been trying to conceive for many years, but she very often does see spontaneous pregnancies after hysterscopy/antibiotics. Its likely that if hysteroscopy has dealt with a problem, pregnancy will result quickly, so its worth just trying for 2 or 3 cycles just in case you no longer need IVF. Experience shows that, in these circumstances, natural conception is likely to happen quickly or not at all, so only 2 or 3 months is justified before continuing with IVF.
All the best ladies - and any other concerns ask away as there are many ladies who have had this procedure and will be able to answer your questions
Grey xx
This post contains an unconfirmed link/information and readers are reminded that FertilityFriends.co.uk or its owners are not responsible for the content of external internet sites
Other threads that you may find of use are:-
Serum Welcome / Questions / General Thread for finding out about Serum
The Inbetweeners Thread where you can go and chat while you wait to start treatment or if you have had a negative cycle
Serum Current Cyclers Thread - January / February 2016 where you can go and chat when you start your treatment - you can also use this thread if you have been advised to tx naturally after having a hysterscopy
NOTE: Please make so not duplicate your posts across all the Greece threads, any duplicate posts will be removed.
You will find lots of information in agates file, which you will find here Agate's Serum File
For a quick guide here is some of the information -
Having hysteroscopy in Athens
Hysteroscopies are normally scheduled at the Yaia maternity department of the Iatriko Kentro Athena (Central Hospital of Athens) on Distomou 5-7 , Marousi. http://www.iatriko.gr/en/gaia-obstetrics-gynaegology-clinic/
please note that the Yaia has recently located to the Iatriko Kentro Athena (Central Athens Medical centre) which is on Distomo street near the Kifsias bus stop (a taxi ride or a bus ride (route 550 from the stop called Ippokrateio near Serum on Leoforos Kifisias to the stop Vlastou)- Its too far to walk from Serum and not particularly near to a convenient metro station unless you catch the metro to Neratziotissa (but that means going all the way into the centre of Athens to Monastakiri and then changing onto the green line 1 because the metro station for serum (Ambelokipoi or Megarro Mousikkis) is on the blue line 3 and you have to go into the centre of Athens to change lines. Please note that that not all the taxi drivers know the location of the new hospital so make very sure that they know they are going to the Iatriko Kentro Athena in Marousi - its actually very easy to find from Ambelokipoi, just straight up North on Leoforas Kiffisias, but for some reason, the new location is confusing the taxi drivers and they keep going to locations in the South of the city rather than teh North Taxi is cheap around 7-8 euros.
(My google map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=216291340940802168436.0004bfd72e971a5fd1675)
Hysteroscopies are normally scheduled for just after your period has finished so that the lining is thin and there isn't too much debris from your period - its not possible to do hysteroscopy if you have your period (because the view is obscured) or if you might be pregnant (because the baby might be harmed). If your cycles are irregular or fall at an inconvenient time, you may want use the pill (e.g., microgynon 30, marvelon, yasmin - started on about day 3 of your cycle) to keep your lining thin until the hysteroscopy, or to fix the timing of your period. You can get the pill for free from your GP or can get it fairly cheaply from a UK pharmacy using a private prescription posted from Serum or emailed to Rigcharm pharmacy - if you are paying for the pill, bear in mind that something like microgynon 30 is much cheaper (about £3 for 3 x 21 pills) than yasmin. You will need a medical review at the hospital before the surgery which means filling in some forms, some blood and urine tests and an ECG (heart monitoring). This takes at least an hour so is often done at the hospital the day before, particularly if your hysteroscopy is scheduled to be done at the Yaia. You need to show your passport when you fill out the forms. You may have to wait for the blood tests to be cleared by phone before you can leave in case they need to draw any more blood so you will want to take a book to read.
You will be asked to fast (no food or drink or water) from midnight the night before your hysteroscopy. You need to remove contact lenses, make up, jewellery and nail polish and to bring some sanitary towels with you. You will need your passport to confirm your identity and any valuables can be checked in with hospital security if you are travelling alone. The surgery will normally take less than 30 minutes but there can be quite a bit of waiting around (emergency surgeries may need to be carried out first) and recovery time. A light snack will be provided by the hospital afterwards.
When you come round in the recovery room, you will be asked to stay lying down until the nurses are happy for you to get up. If you are thirsty, they may let you initially have only tiny squirts or sips of water until they are sure you are safe to have a proper drink.
The hospital staff are very efficient and it can feel a bit brusque e.g., as soon as you get to the operating theatre, one nurse will quickly put your feet up in stirrups at the same time as someone else is giving you the anaesthetic and someone else is taping down your eyelids. When you are recovering, if they want to check you are not bleeding heavily, they will lift up your gown to check without much preamble and not explain what they doing- and they don't seem to be that concerned with making sure you are covered up e.g., for listening to your heart. It seemed to me to be more a culture where visitors are excluded so that the surgical areas only had patients and staff and therefore, covering you up, wasn't seen as important. Your partner or anyone else accompanying you will have to wait in the waiting area until you Go up to the ward to recover where they can join you again.
You have to pay the hospital fee (about 550E) by card/cash to the hospital before you leave. The surgeon's fee (about 1000E) needs to be paid to serum in cash because this fee gets paid to the surgeon and cannot go through the clinic's books - Serum do not get any fee themselves for arranging the hysteroscopy. If you are not comfortable with carrying cash from the UK, you can arrange to draw it out from the ATM machines near the clinic (e.g, near the Athens Tower), or if you really don't want to pay cash, you could talk to Serum about making a bank transfer to Serum but I understand this would have to be at least 1 week in advance of your visit and would cost an extra 50Eu on top because of the added complexity for Serum.
After you have recovered you will normally get a taxi back to Serum - its easy to hail a taxi from the main street just outside the hospital - so you can have a chat with Penny about the findings from the hysteroscopy. The surgeon will normally provide a short video of the hysteroscopy on a DVD which you can view on Penny's TV. If you haven't had the locus medicus menstrual blood test for Chlamydia or the Life Code test for 6 'bugs', The surgeon can take a sample during your operation or Penny can take a cervical blood sample when you get back to the clinic as you will have some bleeding following the hysteroscopy. The results of the locus test are normally back within 1 or 2 days and will be emailed to you.
Penny will usually prescribe some cyclacur after the hysteroscopy and will discuss with you whether you need to take just the white tablets or the white tablets and then the brown tablets (usually you take the white tablets then the brown tablets but stop the brown tablets if your period arrives whilst you are still taking them) and whether you need any 'resting' cycles on cyclacur before you can do your next fertility treatment (depending on the findings from hysteroscopy). Penny may also prescribe some antibiotics or suggest you buy some antibiotics to take back with you to the UK just in case the locus test suggests you need them. If you are intending to cycle soon, you might want to take the opportunity to buy the medication you will need for your fertility treatment to take it back with you - especially if you need avekap 0.1mg for an OE cycle because you can't buy that in the UK.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
If I have an aquascan and its abnormal can I have a hysteroscopy the same day?
Probably not because you do need to fast (no food or water) before the general anaesthetic and you do need serum to be able to get you a surgical slot and a doc.
Can I have hysteroscopy at any time of the month?
The ideal time to go is just after your period finishes - so the lining is thin but you don't have any bleeding obscuring the 'view'. A thin lining makes the surgery easier especially if you end up needing to have something complex done like fibroid removal. So although technically it may be possible to have hysteroscopy at any time of the month (provided they are sure they can't possibly be pregnant), it is best to go when your lining is thin, just in case you unexpectedly need a more complex surgery. You can't have hysteroscopy after ovulation if there is a chance you might be pregnant. If you need to book flights etc and your periods are not predictable, you can ask Penny if you can use the pill to fix the timing of a bleed, or to prevent the lining thickening up (and hold off a bleed). You normally need to start the pill (a low dose combined pill like marvelon or microgynon) on about day 3 of your natural period, but can then take it for between 3-6 weeks (usually) if that helps your timing - a bleed will normally start on day 3-5 after stopping the pill. In the UK you can get the pill for free from your GP - although technically its only available free on the NHS if its for contraception. You can get a private prescription from Serum and use that to buy it from any pharmacy.
Why am I being advised to try naturally after hysteroscopy?
Where the hysteroscopy or infection testing reveals a problem that can be addressed (e.g., adhesions in the uterus that are cut away), Penny often advises couples to try naturally for at least 2 cycles - just in case the main barrier to infertility has just been fixed. This may seem like an unnecessary delay, especially if you have been trying to conceive for many years, but she very often does see spontaneous pregnancies after hysterscopy/antibiotics. Its likely that if hysteroscopy has dealt with a problem, pregnancy will result quickly, so its worth just trying for 2 or 3 cycles just in case you no longer need IVF. Experience shows that, in these circumstances, natural conception is likely to happen quickly or not at all, so only 2 or 3 months is justified before continuing with IVF.
All the best ladies - and any other concerns ask away as there are many ladies who have had this procedure and will be able to answer your questions
Grey xx
This post contains an unconfirmed link/information and readers are reminded that FertilityFriends.co.uk or its owners are not responsible for the content of external internet sites