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Katharine Tylko

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About Katharine Tylko

  • Rank
    Starter

Profile Information

  • First name
    Katharine
  • Last name
    Tylko
  • Country
    United Kingdom

About me

  • Organisation
    Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy
  • Role
    Researcher

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  1. Content Article Comment
    Excellent article Kath Sansom! The same tokenism applies to hysteroscopy. Womb endoscopy continues to be hideously painful and traumatic for 1 in 3 because the NHS, the Royal College of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and its little sister the BSGE, keep patients with actual lived experience of painful hysteroscopy out of meetings, consultations and research. The hysteroscopy establishment prefers to silence the whistleblowers and pretend that women aren't daily screaming in pain during brutal and medieval endoscopy performed WITHOUT ANAESTHETIC. The British Society f
  2. Community Post
    Dear Teresa1 @Teresa1 I apologise for only now seeing your post. I hope very much that the situation has been resolved and that you have had the hysteroscopy under general anaesthetic and that all is well. Please, if you are still waiting, then I've attached below the statement that the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists has published on its website. Here, the hysteroscopists' professional body - the British Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy - have made it perfectly clear that all women must be given the option of GA/regional A (and if available then IV sedatio
  3. Community Post
    Hello Carrie - It's your body so it's your choice what happens to it. Having said that, I'd hate the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy to prevent anyone's cancer from being diagnosed early. Hysteroscopy is currently the best test to rule out womb cancer - but there are other ways of doing it than just outpatients or general anaesthetic. I'm not a doctor so can't give medical advice but I can say that some hospitals have super-modern ultra-sound machines and I would ask about these. Also, please ask about the options of spinal anaesthesia/ epidural/ MRI and the ArquerDX urine test for
  4. Community Post
    I'd very respectfully say there's masses and masses of research into outpatient hysteroscopy pain. The Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy has been in existence for over 7 years. We've read several hundred papers and audits on outpatient hysteroscopy pain. The most recent survey of 5,000+ patients done by the British Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy showed a mean pain score of 5.2/10. Individual hospitals are currently reporting 1 in 3 outpatient hysteroscopies as causing SEVERE pain of 7/10 or more. The Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists have produced a leaflet (w
  5. Article Comment
    Here's the quote I gave HSJ from the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy: “A shortage of anaesthetists continues to cause barbaric pain in gynae endoscopy. Leading gynaecologists are trivialising uterine endoscopy and claiming it causes only “mild discomfort”. So women are tricked into attempting hysteroscopy/biopsy/polyp removal with NO sedation, NO anaesthesia and just paracetamol & ibuprofen from home. NHS audits show that 1 in 3 hysteroscopy outpatients suffer SEVERE pain. Yet colonoscopy patients are routinely offered safely monitored IV sedation
  6. Community Post
    Dear Pipsqueaker I'm Katharine Tylko - a researcher for the community interest group the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy www.hysteroscopyaction.org.uk On Twitter we're @HysteroscopyA Am so angry that you were treated appallingly. The Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists and the British Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy in 2018 issued a statement telling hysteroscopists to follow GMC informed consent guidelines and offer all hysteroscopy patients upfront the option of general anaesthetic or IV sedation with analgesia. Hysteroscopists were also instructed to s
  7. Katharine Tylko started following “There’s no problem with the mesh”: A personal account of the struggle to get vaginal mesh removal surgery
  8. Content Article Comment
    Am so sorry to read about all the pain and uncertainty that you have endured. Thank you for posting such a clear and detailed story which explains how gynaecologists were pushing a seemingly trivial operation without consideration of its long term side effects.
  9. Content Article Comment
    Good to see that the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists' patient info leaflet has been adapted by Kingston. It's truthful about the risk of severe pain during biopsy. It could be a lot more detailed about the possible need for a paracervical block and the inability to guarantee pain-relief for polypectomy and fibroid removal. The pain and duration of fibroid removal is played down. There have been recent reports on Care Opinion of awful hysteroscopy procedures at Kingston. Training needs to be investigated as does truthful 'shared decision-making'.
  10. Community Post
    Hi HelenB Am very sorry to hear you had an awful HOLOGIC Myosure procedure. Am concerned too that you weren't warned upfront that a typical pain score for Myosure is 7/10. Please, if it's any use and if you're on Facebook we have a hidden/closed Action/Support group that you're most welcome to join. If you'd like to do so please send me - Katharine Tylko (one of the admin, not a medic) a Facebook friend request and I'll add you to the group. Meanwhile, we have an ongoing anonymous 'dissatisfaction survey' of painful hysteroscopy at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc2X
  11. Community Post
    Hello Np - I'm very sorry to hear about the Myosure procedure. I hope that you will feel a lot better soon and that the memory will fade. You are absolutely not alone in experiencing severe pain and trauma during an outpatient hysteroscopic procedure . Please, if it's any use and if you're on Facebook, the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy has a private/hidden Action/Support group you'd be very welcome to join. If you'd like to do so please send me (Katharine Tylko - one of the admin, not a medic) a FB friend request and I'll add you. We have an anonymous patient survey if you're in
  12. Content Article Comment
    Dr Sundar - I can't thank you and PSL enough!! You should get a medal for this. You told the truth about outpatient hysteroscopy - and you didn't pretend that "only 3 to 5%" women experience severe pain. The Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy has been inundated by horrific stories of women crying, screaming, fainting or vomiting during OPH and then feeling that it was somehow their fault. I so hope that the BSGE and RCOG include your truthful evidence in their new hysteroscopy guidelines and patient information. Since Montgomery and Cumberlege there is no legal e
  13. Content Article Comment
    Dear Lisa - this is SUPERB! Thank you so much for acknowledging gynae pain and the way that women are taught from an early age that they must keep quiet about even white-hot searing pain. At the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy we're trying to persuade the Department of Health to permit all NHS hysteroscopy patients to choose from a range of pain-control options (including IV sedation, spinal/regional/general anaesthetic) and not be forced through Trial by Outpatient Hysteroscopy with just 'vocal local'. @hysteroscopyA www.hysteroscopyaction.org.uk On Facebook: the Campaign Against P
  14. Community Post
    Hi Emmyloow - that's really good that your polypectomy was bearable. The Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy stresses that 75% of patients feel only mild to moderate pain - and some people feel no pain at all. One way of helping to reassure future patients would be to post your story (can be done anonymously) on www.careopinion.org.uk. It helps patients to see where the good clinics are. One of the aims of our campaign is to persuade the NHS to offer IV sedation with painkiller as an option for womb endoscopy. Then hysteroscopy patients would have the same pain-relief as their brothers
  15. Community Post
    Hi Birdy - it's great to hear that you had a skilled compassionate team looking after you. I'm a researcher for the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy. It's very useful and reassuring for patients to know where in the country there are excellent outpatient hysteroscopy teams. Please, at some stage, might you consider posting your story anonymously on the independent www.careopinion.org.uk website? Totally agree with you that all women should be able to make a fully informed choice as to how hysteroscopy - and other gynae procedures - are performed.
  16. Community Post
    Hi Alice - I'm Katharine, one of the admin of the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy. Am not a medic so can't give medical advice but can point you in the direction of medical advice. You're absolutely not alone in having had previous difficult gynae procedures and wishing to be asleep for a hysteroscopy. The Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists has issued a statement saying that even during the pandemic women having hysteroscopy are free to choose GA/IV sedation instead of an outpatient procedure. (See below) We know of women who've had GA hysteroscopies during the
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