Stop putting women through brutal hysteroscopies without pain relief | Letters

I fully endorse everything Anna Moore writes in her excellent article on the lack of pain relief for hysteroscopies (‘It was barbaric. I was crying my eyes out’: why are so many women left in agony by routine womb examinations?, 16 August).I have had three of these barbaric procedures, two of them being associated with being on hormone replacement therapy (HRT). All three were administered with very basic pain relief, ie a small amount of local anaesthetic, which I would compare to numbing a gum with a piece of ice and then proceeding with root canal treatment. I was offered a general anaesthetic on the third occasion, but this is way too much. At no point was anything else offered, like it is for colonoscopies.I feel the system is biased against women. The hysteroscopies were much worse than childbirth for me – it was zero dilation to full dilation in no time at all. As a result of my three awful experiences, I came off HRT, because I have no wish to experience this ever again.In the 21st century, the NHS should be offering women a bit more than a paracetamol and the equivalent of a bit of ice. A bit of dignity would also help – a recovery space perhaps? Or even treat us like men who have colonoscopies.Carole KendallLetchworth, Hertfordshire