Tubal Ligation: Dealing with Regret

It happens to many women. You think you're doing the right thing by getting a tubal ligation, and then you wake up from the operating table you realize that you've made a terrible mistake. Sometimes the regret starts right away, sometimes six months or a year later. For some women, the problem lies in the desire to produce more children, for others, the tubal ligaqtion itself has caused physical and psychological problems that stem from changes in hormonal balance.

These physical problems are life-changing for some women. Hair loss or thinning, abnormal growth of facial hair and ovulation pain are just a few of the physical problems that are directly caused by tubal ligation. For some women, the problems are even worse. Premature menopause can occur in women as young as their twenties and thirties. Also, the chances for ectopic pregnancy, which can be life-threatening, are much higher for women who've had their tubes tied.

Most women aren't warned of many of these potential problems that can result from tubal ligation. Most are warned only of complications from the operation itself and the possibilities of ectopic pregnancy. After your operation is over and your "healed", you're left to deal with the aftermath on your own.

So how do you deal with regrets you feel? You can't change the past. You can get medical help for some of the physical complications, even going as far as getting a reversal (reversals are expensive, and not guaranteed to work) but for many, there is still the issue of dealing with infertility itself. It can be extremely hard to deal with if you're the one who decided on a tubal ligation, and afterwards felt you made a mistake.

Regret is a mixture of sadness and guilt. It's ok to feel these things. Just don't let them take over your life. Getting a tubal ligation is a life changing event for many women who have the operation. You're going from fertile to infertile in a very short period of time, and this is of course going to cause stress in most women to some degree.

Unless you're suffering from severe psychological problems or depression(and if you do, you need to seek professional help), you just need to take it one day at a time. You probably won't ever be happy about it, but you don't have to think about it all the time either. Remember you have control over your emotions. Don't make yourself miserable by dwelling on things you have no control over. Concentrate on the important things in your life, things that make you happy, and the things you can control.