If you suffer from post tubal ligation syndrome, you may wonder why more doctors don’t seem very interested in helping you find relief from your symptoms. You read so many stories online about all the suffering many women go through and you just wonder what is going on. It’s even more surprising when you learn that reports of PTLS have been around since the 1950s.
Using an article from medicinenet.com (please do a search at that site on post tubal ligation syndrome) as the source of information about what some doctors believe, we find out what Dr. Stephen Corson thinks about it. He has done a study about hormone levels in PTLS women versus those who did not have their tubes tied. He has decided that all these women who report symptoms are really just suffering from a combination of aging and discontinuing the usage of birth control pills.
However, this explanation has just too many women falling through the cracks. Simply put, what about the women who were in the 20s, 30s or even early 40s who had a tubal ligation right after delivering a baby? They just don’t seem to fit into this neat little answer most doctors seem to accept, if they even think about it at all.
Amber was 22 when she had her tubes tied. She had her baby about 0300 a.m. and was wheeled to her tubal ligation about 0800 the same morning. Looks like neither aging nor birth control pills are factors here for the suffering Amber went through. So her menopause type symptoms, among others, were not due to menopause, not at 22.
Then there is Linda who had her tubal ligation at 21 right after the birth of her child. For the next 14 years, Linda suffered headaches, mood swings, heavy heavy periods, and other symptoms. She spent most of her 20s, nine years, living with the after effects of her operation to ensure she had no more children. No warnings from her doctor either on possible side effects. This is certainly a case where neither aging nor birth control was the factor in PTLS.
Christie was in her very early 30s when she had her tubal ligation surgery after the birth of her son. It was the morning after he was born. Looks again like we can rule out birth control pills, or any kind of birth control, as being the cause of her post tubal ligation syndrome. Her doctor, after four and a half years of her suffering and trying to get his help, tried to tell her she was just getting older…at 36! But with her tubal reversal in 2006, her life has returned. She considers her recovery to be a 100% success story.
These are just a few of the stories I was allowed to share here of the women who have to live with this awful condition. That is, they have to live with it unless they take steps to overcome the effects. These, surprisingly enough, include being put onto birth control. Interesting, considering that they had the surgery to provide birth control. In the article from medicinenet.com mentioned above, a Dr. Grimes even states that “…many women are put back on the pill after the surgery to control these very symptoms.” Hmm, aren’t there supposed to be problems being on birth control long term?
What if you don’t want to live the rest of your life, or until real menopause, on birth control. There are two other alternatives from which you can choose instead of just suffering from post tubal ligation syndrome. But both involve more surgery. The first is a hysterectomy with its own possible side effects. Please research this further if you choose to pursue it. The other is having a tubal ligation reversal done. Find the best surgeon to do this and chances are you find your life coming back to you.