A woman from Hertfordshire has added her voice to calls for better pain management during hysteroscopies, describing her own experiences as brutal and worse than childbirth. Carole Kendall, of Letchworth, was responding to a recent Guardian article by Anna Moore that highlighted the widespread lack of adequate pain relief for routine womb examinations.
Kendall said she underwent three hysteroscopies, two of which were linked to her hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Each time, she received only a small dose of local anaesthetic, which she compared to numbing a gum with ice before a root canal procedure. Although she was offered a general anaesthetic on the third occasion, she felt that was excessive, and no intermediate options were presented — unlike the choices she believes are typically offered for colonoscopies.
She expressed the view that the healthcare system is biased against women, noting that the examinations caused her more agony than childbirth due to the rapid dilation involved. The repeated trauma led her to stop taking HRT, as she did not wish to undergo such an experience again.
Kendall urged that in the 21st century, the NHS should offer women more than paracetamol and a numbing agent akin to ice. She also called for basic dignity, such as a proper recovery space, and for women to be treated with the same standard of care as men receiving colonoscopies.