One concern for many women after tubal reversal surgery is whether or not their tubes are actually open. For this reason, they or their doctor may want to use a HSG procedure. The long way of saying that is a hysterosalpingogram procedure. However, there are some things you should consider before proceeding too quickly.

First you might want to know what a HSG or hysterosalpingogram really is. Just think of it as a real time x-ray being done while a dye, or contrast material, is put into your uterus through the cervix. It is hoped, if done correctly, that the dye will flow from the uterus into both fallopian tubes and then spill out the ends into your abdominal cavity.

Perhaps the first concern with doing this procedure comes from it just being done too soon. Using the statistics from Dr. Gary Berger of Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center, we learn that 70% of women conceive within one year of the tubal reversal surgery. Some can become pregnant in less than a month whereas others may take as long as 68 months. Although that latter number can seem frightening, it should not when you realize that most women do conceive within a year.

Another reason for not pursuing a HSG too quickly are the possible hazards. Although not very likely, you do risk infection, reaction to the dye material used, fainting and spotting. Most women who do spot only do so for a day or two. In stories reported though, quite a few felt like fainting.

This leads to another potential hazard you face with an HSG. Although a few women have reported no problems with the procedure, many on the Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center message board said they felt like passing out from the pain. One woman said it felt like gasoline had been put into her body and then lit on fire. It was the most severe pain several had ever encountered.

The pain is why Dr. Gary Berger of CHTRC says you should take 600 mg of ibuprofen before the procedure. If you have a low pain threshold, you may even want to discuss the matter with your doctor before hand. Additionally, in order to fight infection, Dr. Berger prescribes taking a vaginal douche the night before and the morning of the HSG. This is in addition to taking a prophylactic antibiotic as prescribed by your doctor.

However, even if you are willing to risk the above possibilities, you may discover the one big problem with having a HSG procedure. That problem is that the results you get may prove to be inconclusive. This can be due to a number of things such as the radiologist reading the films wrong or the dye not even getting into the tubes. It could be called inconclusive even if the dye gets past the anastomosis site of your tubal reversal but does not spill into the abdomen.

Hopefully, now you have some thought that it could just be better to wait. After all, most women do conceive within a year. At least wait till after the one year point after tubal reversal surgery to proceed with this potentially painful and costly HSG procedure.