TDLR: JUST DO IT.

Reddit threads like this one were so helpful for me leading up to surgery so I wanted to share my full experience top to bottom to hopefully shed some light and ease nerves. I’m going to get very detailed but if you have questions feel free to ask!

My surgery was today, July 21st, 2026. I’m sterilized!!

Backstory: 35yo, Female, 5’7” and 150lbs. In shape. I have never had great reactions to hormonal birth control (headaches, crazy, and just hate the long term potential side effects). Over the course of 10 years I had three Paraguard (copper) IUDs that became malpositioned. My husband had a failed vasectomy (new doctor who was shortly fired after - not sure ultimate reasoning). We didn’t have many options and I was ready to just move on from all of this.

Consult - After discovering my 3rd IUD was malpositioned during an unrelated CT scan, I consulted a friend of mine who recently had this surgery done. She recommended Dr. Bearden at Women’s Health Associates in Bentonville, Arkansas. Dr. Bearden was a dream - listened to my backstory and had no concerns or questioning about permanent sterilization. After a quick consult, I was booked for my bisap surgery about 1.5 months later. She was going to take out my IUD during surgery. 

Pre-Op - Day before surgery. Things started getting real. I had to answer a ton of questions (do you smoke, any allergies, ever have a history of XYZ). I had my blood drawn and was given some special soap to wash with the night before and morning of my surgery. Still not quite sure the point of that. 

The Big Day - My surgery was scheduled for 10:30am and I was told to arrive at 8:30am. I had to run through all of the questions again and taken back to pre-op about 9:00. I did a urine sample and dressed down. They handed me a package of really thick cleansing cloths and I had to wipe down my entire body with them and then put on the gown, socks, and hair net. The blanket had a tube of warm air blowing inside which was nice because the room was freezing! I had to answer the same questions again. 

I had a student nurse put in my IV - her third ever. That scared me just a bit (she did fine but it did move slow). The IV started flowing and my lovely pre-op nurse and the student left. 

At about 10:00, my doctor popped in just to say hello and ask how I was. At about 10:15am the anesthesia nurse came in and asked me the same questions again. She went over exactly what would happen step by step from there. Shortly after she got in there - had to be right around 10:30 - my two operating room nurses came in and were ready to grab me. She anesthesia nurse finished up, gave me an anti-nausea patch for behind my ear, and put something anti-nausea in my IV. I had mentioned last time I had surgery might’ve been a little queasy. 

I kissed my husband goodbye and two OR nurses then began pushing me out. When we got to the second floor, a different anesthesia nurse put some anti-anxiety meds in my IV which I was super thankful for. Honestly, I expected this to come sooner and not sure how much it ended up being needed because not even a minute later I was moving onto the OR bed. I scooted to the OR bed and  I remember them putting an oxygen mask on and I think I took two breathes with that, and was out. 

I woke up in post-op pretty quickly. I remember seeing a clock and it was 11:45am. A new nurse began asking me how I was, how my pain was, and offered me ice, pudding, and sprite. I joking said I wanted an Outback Blooming Onion (LOL). They brought my husband back and I was able to get my phone. During this, I’d say my pain was about a 3-4 out of 10. Mainly my abs, I could feel each individual area but it wasn’t painful. She gave me a Hydro and an ibuprofen. We sat around for a short time as I continued to wake up. She asked if I needed to pee but I didn’t need to. She started detaching everything and I was able to put my normal clothes on. Lastly she removed my IV, and had my husband go get the car. She wheeled me in a wheelchair to the front, and BAM I was on my way out. We were leaving the hospital at 1:00pm!! I bought a stomach pillow where you can insert an ice/heat pack - I used that to protect my stomach from the seat belt on the way home. Pain was about a 2.5/10. 

Afterwards - During surgery I got a text that my prescriptions (800mg Ibupohen and 5-325 hydro/acetaminophen) were ready to pick up, so we swung by and got that. When we got home, my husband made me some butter noodles and I laid in bed. I had bought a multi-piece wedge pillow situation from Amazon to prop me up, had my stomach pillow with an ice pack on my stomach, and two regular pillows on each side. We have two very rambunctious dogs and I did not want them wallowing all over me. Pain at this point was a 1.5/10. The ice packs felt really good. 

6piece Wedge pillow - https://a.co/d/0aKa9hdG
Stomach pillow with ice pack slot - https://a.co/d/0hMWXvTh
Ice packs to put in the stomach pillow slot - https://a.co/d/07QGyrc0

I immediately took a Gas X when I got home, drank lots of water, and sucked on cough drops as my throat was a little scratchy. The noodles were kind of hard to eat because I felt like they were getting stuck in my throat. Water helped. 

My next pain pills were taken at 4:00pm as directed, and I did notice the abdominal pain was slowly coming back around then - 3.5/10. I also switched out the ice pack in my stomach pillow and I do think the ice felt good and helped with swelling. The shoulder pain starting coming around this time too. Very dull at first. I noticed I was having audible flappy (lol) flatulence, which isn’t typical for me and I assume from the laparoscopic gas. Maybe my gas went downwards instead of towards my shoulders? Maybe the wedge pillow helped. 

It’s now 9pm. I haven’t slept or really felt tired at all. I’ve walked completely around the house a couple of times (it’s currently 100•F outside). I’ve changed my ice packs just for comfort, but have continued to have very little pain - dull around lower abdomen like I worked out, and dull/nonexistent gas pain around shoulders and neck. 

Extras: 
The catheter - one of my biggest scaries. Done 100% during surgery and never knew it happened. Urinating was maybe SLIGHTLY spicy the first time, but absolutely no issues or pain with this. Don’t worry about this. 

The IUD - luckily, while it was mispositioned, my strings could be seen so she pulled it out. I had no cramping or spotting afterwards. Easy peasy. 

Bruising and looks - I suspect bruising will get worse. I have been taking arnica Montana a couple days before and still taking in hopes to reduce that some. I am not nearly as swollen as I expected to be either. Like.. barely at all.

Post-Op - My post op is 20 days after surgery day (partially due to travel I have and doctor availability). They didn’t cover any real after care except don’t lift heavy. I assume sec can resume when I feel up to it.

I did quite a bit of research on ensuring my procedure was fully covered by insurance. ChatGPT gave me step by step what to do. Happy to answer questions on that if needed.

Overall I was VERY surprised how easy this procedure was. I was nervous at first, mainly just going under. It all went so quick and I’m so so so thankful and proud of myself that it’s complete. I never have to worry again. I never have to deal with hormones again. I hope this review helped you and wishing you the best of luck. 🫶🏻

I’m in my 20s and I’m planning to have one done at the same time as my laparoscopic diastasis recti and small hernia repair.
I’d really love to hear your honest experience.
Did you gain a lot of weight afterwards?
Did you notice more acne, hormonal changes, mood changes, or lower sex drive?
Was the recovery very painful?
Is our stomach gonna be the same as before?
Do you have any regrets, or would you do it again?
Is there anything you wish you had known before surgery?
I’ve seen a lot of TikTok videos claiming people gained a lot of weight or didn’t feel like themselves afterwards, and it’s honestly making me anxious. I know social media isn’t always accurate, so I’d really appreciate hearing from people who’ve actually had the procedure.
Thank you so much! ❤️

29yo, no children, not married, 9 year partner.

After knowing I would never want kids (and an abortion in 2021) I am now sterile! I have visited this sub for a long time and decided I would not put it off anymore. After many different birth control methods I decided to have my tubes removed.

I live in Texas and browsed online, and on the friendly doctor list, for who I would want my doctor to be. After deciding, everything went so smoothly! I quickly got an appointment to discuss a BiSalp, and my doctor was perfect, so kind and understanding. Only 2 weeks later I had the surgery.

The whole process was great, from hospital staff, the surgery, my family, etc. The only hiccup I had was with billing/insurance. The hospital called me and wanted to collect payment before the surgery, so I called my insurance. I have BCBS TX and at first they said "well you haven't met your deductible", but I kept standing up for myself and reminded them "The billing codes are 58661 and Z30.2. BCBS is ACA compliant, and by law I am covered fully for a birth control prevention method of my choice (elective sterilization). After that they were on my side and even called the hospital to straighten everything out. *Thanks to this sub and everyone's support and information about my rights*

So today I am on day 1 recovery!

Coming off of anesthesia at the hospital was a little scary for about 10 minutes (hard to breathe, cried a little (idk why), urethra burning, throat hurt, confused) but the nurses were SO sweet and caring and gave me meds which made go down to a 2/10 pain. No nausea at all, very hungry and thirsty. When my sister and partner showed up with sweets and gifts everything was better!! (Couldn't be more blessed and grateful.)

I would say today my pain is very manageable 3-4/10 with ibuprofen during the day and the stronger stuff at night (with stool softener!) I struggle to fall asleep on my back so I had to take something to fall asleep. I had blood spotting on the surgery sites the day of, but it since has stopped (talked to the nurse and she said to call if it starts up again). Gas pain is around my ribs and only 3/10 pain. Throat pain is 4-5/10. Also my neck hurts from sleeping on my back. But very manageable and getting better every hour!!!

I have submitted my doc to the friendly doctor list! Dr. Tina Chu, Dallas TX. Surgery at Dallas Medical City.

ANY questions please comment and I will give any tips/more about my experience. <3

I’m just curious to get a tally of some kind going here. Trying to be fully informed before I make the decision to get the bi salp. I see some comments saying how easy their recovery was, and others describing the opposite.
Quick easy questions:
Date of surgery, how long did recovery take for you, and what was the pain 0-10? (Feel free to add anything else you feel pertinent) Thanks friends!

Hi everybody! I'm thinking about having a bilateral salpingectomy and I've been receiving (as expected) a lot of backlash from the doctors I've visited.

The first one directly didn't mention it and dismissed it because of my age and the fact that I don't have any children. The second one was even more rude, straight up telling me that she wasn't going to do it personally on a """child""" and that, in her opinion, it should be illegal to do it in a young woman (lovely, I know).

Aside from those experiences, my family has a lot of doubts about the side effects of it, even though they support my decisions and they will not interfere in this process; one of them being that I'm 23, and they only know older women who have had this procedure done.

For me, the only thing that concerns me is that I've read that it can lead to an early menopause, but I'm aware that it doesn't affect your hormones and theoretically the blood flow of the ovaries.

I would love to read the experiences of women who had it from some time, and those who did it at a similar age.

Note: I'm based in the EU, so I'm not worried about health insurance, but more for the negativity of some doctors to do the procedure itself.

Just curious? Im officially at 3 weeks post op. My OBGYN / surgeon said wait 2 weeks but then my other doctor said as soon as i want. I was going to try after my period ended a few days ago but then saw a post on here from 2 years ago of someone asking the same and I saw people on there that said not to do it until youre fully healed internally and to wait the 4 to 6 weeks which I really hope thats not the case.. i was told not to have sex 2 weeks before my procedure to prevent any chances of pregnancy so like I definitely dont want to wait another 3 weeks ontop of what I already have waited.

How long did you wait? Should I be ok? It scared me seeing people say to wait the 6 weeks because of risk of infection. I feel mostly ok aside from random aches and pains when I over exert myself and lingering constipation but aside from that im mostly normal now.

Hi everyone

I am seriously considering a bilateral salpingectomy but I am worried about adhesions forming after the laparoscopy causing chronic pain. I have read online that there is a risk of around 45%, but I don't often see people talking about that side effect when they talk about their surgeries. For those of you who got that surgery done, especially if several years have passed already since you got it, do you experience any level of chronic pain? And if so how long after the surgery did the pain start?

Thank you

Alas the happiness of getting this done was run off the highway by the giant semi truck called "evil-ass insurance." I have Anthem BCBS New York through my dad's work, and it's legally required to cover 100% of this procedure as long as everything's in-network, as far as I know. It covered only $19,102.07 of $22,989.68, leaving me to cover nearly $4k. I think the shittiest part is that the itemized bill doesn't even say what exactly wasn't covered. Like it lists everything and all charges, and at the end just has an "insurance covered" part. I even received a letter from my insurance weeks prior to this procedure stating both the hospital and my Dr were in-network and approved. Ugh I don't even know where to begin with unraveling this bullshit...

Hi all! I’ve sent a message to my doctor already, but I figured I would see if anyone here has any experience while I wait to hear back.

I’m 3 weeks post op, and I’ve been pain free for the last couple of days. But yesterday I made the stupid of mistake of twisting and reaching over to plug in my laptop from the couch without getting up. It was a good little twist and reach, and now I’m experiencing a dull pain around my belly button area.

I’m super paranoid that I’ve given myself a hernia. I’ve felt around and don’t feel any bulges at the incision sites. There’s also no tenderness there, so I think the pain is deeper and I maybe just jostled things around inside? And I used my abs in a way they haven’t been used in a while so now they’re unhappy too.

Has anyone had any experience with anything like this?

I’m feeling really stupid because I was doing so well, and it seems like one careless moment where I forgot I was in recovery and needed to be careful has set me back :(

I am due in October and am looking into getting a salpingectomy because I have very high risk pregnancies and cannot continue to have children without increased risks.My toddler will be almost two when I give birth and im not quite sure about when i am getting the surgery as my husband and I have just decided to be done after two.For anyone that has gotten the surgery while taking care of two other kids how did recovery go?