PTLS syndrome can be very real for many couples.
Megan and Jared are one such couple who have been effected by PTLS syndrome. Megan and Jared have been together for six years and they have four children. After having two children together, Megan had a tubal ligation and then began experiencing tubal ligation side effects. She suffered with side effects for several years before realizing the true cause of these symptoms.
She then discovered PTLS syndrome and began a quest to rid herself of these tubal ligation problems by having a tubal ligation reversal at A Personal Choice.
Below is her story…
Tubal Ligation Problems: How They Start
Megan had a tubal ligation after the birth of her last child. During her previous two pregnancies, she had a 19 week miscarriage and her her last pregnancy was complicated by an abnormal fetal heart rate. These were very emotional pregnancies for Megan.
Since these last two pregnancies were stressful and because she already had four children, Megan’s doctor encouraged her to have a tubal ligation. Megan felt many pressures during this time: one devastating pregnancy loss, one medically complicated pregnancy, encouragement from her health care providers, four healthy children, and a stable happy relationship with Jared.
Megan also felt social pressures because she felt like she was looked at strangely because she had four children and many people would express the opinion she should be done with four children. In Megan’s words,
“The tubal ligation just seemed like the next step…”
Megan had a postpartum ligation and resection type of tubal ligation and soon thereafter the tubal ligation problems started.
PTLS Symptoms
The PTLS symptoms began immediately after her tubal ligation. She began having pain one week after tubal ligation. She had postpartum depression and her doctor prescribed anti-depressant medications.
Megan then began to experience rapid weight changes, hair loss, mood swings, anxiety attacks, abnormal cycles, and “morning sickness” for two weeks out of the month.
She felt as if her body was changing and her life was falling apart. Nothing was really helping.
Anxiety After Tubal Ligation
Megan suffered with this symptoms until she was doing an internet search on tubal ligation problems. She realized her symptoms were from Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome in March 2010. She had began searching all over the net using key words like “ovarian cysts post tubal ligation” and “anxiety after a tubal ligation”. One day an article on PTLS popped up and in her words:
“…I sat at that computer and stared at the screen, and cried for hours. I had almost every single one of those symptoms!”
Megan had finally figured out what was happening with her body and then she became convinced she would have to fix it.
Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome Treatments
Megan then had a discussion with her ob/gyn doctor about Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome and treatments for PTLS. The conversation went nowhere and she became frustrated. She was offered endometrial ablation and hysterectomy. She felt these treatments were unnecessarily aggressive for her at the age of 26.
She then made an appointment with her primary care provider to discuss PTLS treatments. Megan shared her experience and also the experiences of other women she had discovered on the internet who had problems after tubal ligation.
She received a warmer response from her primary care provider who was supportive of her desire to get relief of her symptoms through tubal reversal surgery.
Her doctor even wrote a letter of support for Megan to provide to her insurance company in an attempt to get reimbursement for tubal reversal surgery as a Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome Treatment.
Submitted by Dr. Charles Monteith
