The Hysterectomy Marketplace - Research and Development
The title is so casual it could be called… "Considering a Dessert?”
At first glimpse this appears to be a legitimate survey about the effects of hysterectomy. But it quickly reveals itself to be a device to obtain information for gynecologists and the medical industry to learn the most effective language they can use to promote hysterectomy to women. It’s a marketing tool whose purpose is to feed women into the surgical mill.
OBGYN.net’s approach seems to encourage our trust in their information.
OBGYN.net is vast, an ever growing and expanding
universe with over 1,000,000 pages of educational
content, discussion forums, videos, educational
tutorials, images, Ask the Expert, personal experiences,
career, job and product information, news, reports
from key conferences and social networking.
study so you can know what other women are saying. However, their website is littered with ads for the pharmaceutical and medical/surgical industry. Ads for physicians dominate every aspect of their site.
OBGYN.net was crafted by a company called Medispeciality, http://medispecialty.com/ which specializes in optimizing medical investment and marketing to the consumer market. They offer “tracking programs to cost effectively feed the sale pipeline” and their "flagship website OBGYN.net. “
In OBGYN.net’s newsletter dated November 25, 2008, their website beckons women to Ask the Expert asks women to fill out a hysterectomy survey, http://www.obgyn.net/survey/hysterectomy/. The survey begins as follows:
Help other women facing these decisions by filling out
this survey and we will send you the results of the OBGYN.net was crafted by a company called Medispeciality, http://medispecialty.com/ which specializes in optimizing medical investment and marketing to the consumer market. They offer “tracking programs to cost effectively feed the sale pipeline” and their "flagship website OBGYN.net. “
In OBGYN.net’s newsletter dated November 25, 2008, their website beckons women to Ask the Expert asks women to fill out a hysterectomy survey, http://www.obgyn.net/survey/hysterectomy/. The survey begins as follows:
Help other women facing these decisions by filling out
Are you considering having a hysterectomy...?
Once you answer the question yes, that you are considering a hysterectomy, the survey begins. If you answer no, you will be told the following: "Thank you for your willingness to participate in this study. Unfortunately, we can only accept information from women who are considering having a hysterectomy." OBGYN.net only wants to pass along information about hysterectomy from women who are "considering" the surgery. They do not allow women who have been hysterectomized or women who have decided against the surgery to weigh in. It is not that they "can only accept" the information they are looking for. They are only interested in the information that is shaped to be beneficial to them, not you. This survey is a lead-generator for doctors.
If you answer yes to the entry question, you are allowed to proceed through the first 11 questions, regarding your age, employment status, why a hysterectomy is being "considered", ranking from 1-10 how you feel about being told you need a hysterectomy, how you define hysterectomy, and how well informed you are about why and how hysterectomies are performed. This demographic information about women helps gynecologists, device manufacturers, and the hospitals who benefit from the removal of your female organs to hone their sales pitch to women.
Question 12 asks, "If your symptoms warrant a hysterectomy, how difficult would it be for you to have your uterus removed after you have completed having children?" The implication is that the only thing that might make hysterectomy difficult is if you desire to have children, or if you do not intend to have more children, then hysterectomy should not be difficult for you. There is no mention of the well-documented adverse effects that result from removing the uterus - whether you have children or not, whether you want children or not, is irrelevant.
Question 13-16 ask how well informed you are of "the role" of the cervix and ovaries, how concerned you are about their removal, and who you turn to for more information about these issues. The question informs you that they have a "role", but the question is never asked about how well informed you are about the functions of the uterus. It implies that the cervix and ovaries have a "role", and that the uterus has none except for childbearing.
Question 17 asks, "If the physician currently caring for your gynecological health recommends a hysterectomy treatment or alternative, to what extent do you trust their opinion?" The only answers they allow to this question are A) "I trust my doctor completely," B) "I trust my doctor, but may do some research on my own," or C) "I basically trust my doctor, but would seek a second opinion or some outside counsel." If you don't trust your doctor, you're out of luck, that answer is not an option.
Question 18 asks you to rate from 1-7 different factors in deciding which method of hysterectomy you might choose. The last two "factors" ask how important choosing a type of hysterectomy with "no change in sexual satisfaction" and "no change in urinary control" might be. There is no mention of the fact that in order to amputate the uterus with or without amputation of the cervix, the nerves that are attached to the uterus that flow into the cervix must be severed. Removal of the body of the uterus compromises bladder support and often causes urinary problems. Uterine orgasm is not possible without a uterus, so for women who experience uterine orgasm, avoiding sexual loss is unavoidable after the uterus is removed, regardless of the method. Furthermore, the participant must respond falsely to some questions. In two sections you must rate the importance of your answers, with #1 ranked the highest importance. You cannot assign the same number twice. If any questions have equal importance, you must rate one higher than the others, which makes your answer, and the conclusions drawn from it erroneous.
Question 20 asks, "Are you willing to consider treatments that may temporarily relieve symptoms and delay the need for hysterectomy for a few years?" What might be inferred from this question is that A) only hysterectomy provides permanent relief from symptoms, B) alternatives only provide temporary relief, and C) once a doctor says you need a hysterectomy, it is just a matter of time, and within 1,3, or 5 years you will be hysterectomized, so why bother with an alternative.
Question 21 is hardly a question at all. "Leaving the cervix maintains pelvic support potentially reducing the risk of incontinence, and appears to play a role in sexual satisfaction. Generally, the risk of vaginal/cervical cancer is less than 1% regardless of whether the cerix is left in place." They then ask whether or not you would like to keep your cervix. There is no need to consider amputation of the cervix unless there is a life threatening cervical disease. Questions 4 and 5 list only benign conditions that they say might lead to hysterectomy (fibroids, endometriosis, heavy bleeding, PMS). Those "conditions" can be treated conservatively, without removal of the uterus or cervix. As OBGYN.net states, the risk of cancer in the female organs is statistically insignificant.
Finally, question 22 cuts to the quick, and a probable reason for this survey comes into focus. It tells women that hysterectomy by laparoscopy is performed through a smaller incision, the cervix need not necessarily be removed, and that the hospital stay and "recovery" times are less. Then it asks women which one they want - abdominal, vaginal, or laparoscopic hysterectomy.
The adverse effects of hysterectomy are permanent and irreversible, so "recovery" is not possible. For most hysterectomized women, the size of the scar, whether the cervical stump remains or not, and the length of the hospital stay quickly become inconsequential when they begin to realize that the damage done to their bodies and their lives is permanent.
The survey then tells you "95% of women are candidates for a Laparoscopic Supracervical Hysterectomy." In other words, regardless of almost all conditions, you are a candidate, as if hysterectomy is a given, a rite of passage for all women, healthy or not, and the only issue is how it will be carried out.
The remainder of the survey is a sales pitch of LSH. You have learned almost nothing of value, and you have been bombarded with subliminal programming, pressure and misinformation.
At the end of the survey, OBGYN.net says, "Thank you for taking the time to fill out this survey. Your input will help other women as they face this difficult decision." They then request your name and email address. This survey is clearly not intended to "help other women," because it supplies erroneous information. You have just been led through a sales pitch for LSH that is posing as a helpful survey. In other words, you have just participated in medispecialty's "lead generation, qualifying, and tracking programs," and now you are in their "sale pipeline." This "survey" is a poll of their target market, women with intact sex organs, and your uterus is the bulls eye. It is research and development, designed to inform gynecologists about the most productive way they can increase their market share by selling hysterectomy to unsuspecting women.
Let the buyer beware.
Labels: hysterectomy, laparoscopic supracervical LSH survey OBGYN.net fibroid endometriosis sex orgasm uterus cervix
posted by HERS Foundation @ 11:04 AM
48 Comments
48 Comments:
I wish I could have found this site before my hysterectomy. June 20, 2007 I had a complete hysterectomy due to being full of fibroid turmors and cysts on both ovaries. I was told next to nothing on the after effects of the surgery except for a quick recovery time and not having so much pain as before. I am now 45 years old and having more health issues than ever before in my life. I have pains in my bowels, trouble going or trouble with different types of movements. I have loss of sensation in my bladder, small memory loss, almost panic attacks because of not remembering things that I need to know because of my field of work-health care. I also break out in hives from time to time that is not explained and am refusing to take any hormone replacement therapy because of the breast cancer that runs strong in my family. I have lost my natural mother due to it and my natural sister has had several benign cysts removed from her breasts and is now having one watched for over a year because they are not for sure what is going on there just that it isn't growing. My obgyn isn't concerned and is pushing me to take a HRT, I am not doing it though. I am already big busted, am looking at a second mammogram in about 2 weeks due to a spot found. I have been checking out some sites on the web for information on this subject and this is about the only one I have found that actually talks about everything that I have experienced so far. My husband is very supportive of me and understanding about the changes in me. My life is turning more and more upside down but am struggling to handle it. I don't know what else to do. Thanks for having this site up and going strong. Cynthia (USA)
The $17B a year hysterectomy industry is the medical profession’s “Dirty Little Secret.” The public also perpetuates it especially other women that have been victimized and don’t speak out or do speak out but say that they are doing fine/great! We now know better albeit much too late!
And we know that the states’ medical boards (which are comprised of medical professionals) also perpetuate it. The state medical boards are supposed to protect the citizens of their states but instead protect the doctors (at least in Missouri). They could be the change agent but don't have the "balls" to speak out so they are just as guilty. As Albert Einstein said "“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”
In my case, my LSOS surgeon didn’t even follow the recommendation of the oncologist to whom he referred me. But from what I understand, the only person the medical board interviewed was the surgeon. That’s like confronting a lying child. Of course he’s not going to admit he’s lying! And although the oncologist stated that a TAH/BSO MAY be needed (if cancer was found), his records stated that I had a family history of ovarian cancer when no one in my family has had ovarian cancer or any reproductive cancer! All my sisters and my mother still have all their parts and neither of my grandmothers had any type of cancer. So this makes me wonder if the oncologist was “covering for” the surgeon. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me based on the horror stories I’ve read! Just shows how much doctors protect each other sometimes to the point of colluding with each other!
And this all happened in my city’s Catholic “baby factory” hospital that probably doesn’t allow abortions but they sure as hell have no qualms about “killing” women via castration. I guess that’s the Catholic Church’s acceptable form of birth control!
Shame on all the perpetrators and enablers! THIS INCLUDES THE INSURANCE COMPANIES THAT APPROVE THESE SURGERIES DESPITE THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR DAMAGING EFFECTS AND THAT ALMOST 100% OF THEM ARE UNNECESSARY. I guess they consider the doctors their clients instead of the patients that pay the premiums.
Here's the evidence of how these ob/gyn's "collude" to continue their revenue stream from female castration.
In 1994, a reknowned Dr. that performs uterus-sparing procedures wrote of attending a seminar on medical economics: "The topic was how to care for women in order to maximise our fee. The experts who led the discussion reminded us that gynaecologists make the most money by doing surgery and that the highest fee we can generate come from hysterectomy. With that in mind, we were urged to 'cultivate' our patients carefully. Initially care would require advice on contraception. Then, in the normal course of events, we would supervise their pregnancies and deliver their babies. Once a patient had completed her family, we were advised to plant the idea that she might some day need a hysterectomy. The culmination of our years of care would be the hysterectomy. The culmination of our years of care would be the hysterectomy. With proper planning, our advisers suggested, each year of practice would produce a lucrative 'crop' of women ripe for hysterectomy.26
What a medical doctor who sexually mutilates women for profit, legally by deceit, would be called in psychological terms:
I am researching the psychological condition describing the characteristics necessary for a medical doctor ob/gyn surgeon to perform the "standard of care" and medically accepted treatment concerning hysterectomy (sex organ removal)/Castration (which everyone on this blog knows is based on medical impossibilities).
One of the most glaring questions a hysterectomized woman would be interested in knowing is how? How can ob/gyn surgeons morally amputate a woman's sex organs by deceit for profit?
I researched and found a web site called: allacademic, which is the start of understanding the question:
How can ob/gyn surgeons morally sexually mutilate women by deceit for profit?
Excerpt: allacademic
"The Psychopath Goes To School: Examining psychopathic personality traits in different fields of study" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology"
The term “psychopathy” has often been considered synonymous with criminal behaviour. There is an emerging literature, however, that suggests that individuals with psychopathic traits might be finding non-criminal ways to express their charming, manipulative, and unemotional personalities. Babiak (1995) has explored case studies of individuals in the business world who score in the psychopath range (according to accepted measures of criminal psychopathy). The psychopaths Babiak followed were not only successful in the business context; they flourished. Entertaining the idea that particular contexts might encourage psychopathic personalities, our research examined the psychopathic personality trait tendencies of students in differing fields of study. If particular careers allow psychopaths a non-criminal avenue for expressing their personalities, then we would expect individuals with greater psychopathic personality clusters to flock to these particular fields of study. Data are presented to support this claim."
All medical doctors know what the ob/gyn surgeons are doing to women by de-sexing them, the medical doctor went to medical school. A General Practitioner knows one in three of their general practice patients has no sex organs. Every medical doctor from a gastroenterologist to a urologist and heart specialist is not surprised to see Hysterectomy-Sex Organ Removal/Castration in their patients history.
There is no defending the current standard of care concerning hysterectomy/castration. The "Standard Of Care" so called medical information is contrived thievery, an abusive legal maiming of the worst kind.
Why don't the non-predator medical doctors stop it?
The entire medical industry cashes in on the de-sexed altered woman, it causes problems, major medical problems...being passive does not make them not responsible or innocent. They are in the company of legal criminals and they know it and they have the power to stop them, why don't they?...because they profit or because they would be black-balled for rocking the money boat.
One in three women in the U.S.A, 22 Million Women Alive Today, did not become de-sexed by being told the truth. The women are being lied to medically and the numbers of de-sexed women in this country prove it.
I agree not every ob/gyn surgeon is a predator, just the majority of them. The remaining ob/gyn's stand by and watch the destruction, in my opinion that is just as heinous.
Any woman or woman and her partner told the medical truth about what an ob/gyn was really doing to them would run for their lives and rightly so.
Passing the Hers law to end this tragic nightmare will do justice to the future generations of medical doctors, continuing to obscure the medical truth is already beyond the boundaries of inhumanity.
Thanks to the HERS Foundation for warning women about obgyn.net. More fraud, lies and deception from ob/gyns. The gynecologists who do this are very sick individuals, but I think the other doctors who stand by and watch this being done to women are maybe even worse.
Re the quesitons for hysterectomy. Why do they write that it is a difficult decision?
What is difficult about this decision?
I believe there are very few women who want a hysterectomy. Most women who present to an obgyn want a solution to the problems they are facing. They want to come away informed about all the options they have and most importantly they want to know EXACTLY what the side effects of a hysterectomy are.
Furthermore, women who say things like "Well no use for the 'nursery' now" should be corrected by the obgyn and informed exactly what the benefits of remaining intact will bring to the woman all of her life.
Did anyone's gynecologist tell them that hysterectomy and oopherectomy (ovary removal) is the same surgery that is done when a woman wants to have a sex change?
Taking a poll.
What insurance company approved your surgery?
Did you attempt to get a less invasive / less radical procedure or treatment and the insurance company denied it in favor of damaging hysterectomy and/or ovary removal?
Why are these insurance companies approving these surgeries when they KNOW the permanent adverse effects and the fact that they result in higher claims for the rest of these women's lives? I thought insurance companies were all about cost control. How is this "cost control?"
Think of how much cheaper health care would be if all these unnecessary surgeries weren't being done along with all the lifetime medical and drug claims post-surgery.
http://www.aarpmagazine.org/health/health_care_costs.html
The insurance companies could easily stop approving hysterectomy and ovary removal and only approve less radical treatments and procedures. Then the doctors would be forced to use these other procedures. It would also weed out a lot of the greedy ob/gyns. Good riddance!
Blue Cross Blue Shield paid my doctor to perform an unnecessary hysterectomy/castration on me without my consent. They are all in bed together. The insurance companies take the money from us to pay the doctors to perform damaging unncessary surgeries. Blue Cross Blue Shield even admits in one of their pamphlets that less unnecessary hysterectomies are performed under their PPO plans than their traditional plans. They all know it and keep it going so the greedy doctors can keep their big fat income coming in.
It has been more than a decade since my unnecessary hysterectomy and ovary removal. I was, and remain, a victim of "the cancer scare." A decade is a long time to desperately think about how you might could've saved yourself.
I've read countless articles and texts, both old and new. The cruelty found in them, the ongoing cruelty of these practices never ceases to leave me in despair for all humanity.
It is like there are two different human races. One who understands our shared humanity and feels compassion towards others and, another, an alien race who rejects any common heritage and, therefore, any common decency. Sadly, these alien and alienating beings look and can act like a real human being. It is only by their deeds that you can tell them apart.
At the time of my surgery, I wasn't Internet savvy. While I now would like to think the Internet a major weapon in combating these medical abuses, HERS' extensive expose' has shown us the other barren landscape: how the "net" can be effectively expanded and more tightly woven to capture ever more surgical prey.
(sigh) The snow job on the public has a very green grassroots underground system. All media are dependent on advertisers with drugs, hospitals, physicians, and medical device makers high up on that list. Actually, when it comes to the drug trade, or big pharma, its' manufacture and export are pretty essential to an already ailing gross domestic product. The subsequent protections and promotions afforded these related industries are mind boggling. Consequently, it is almost impossible to get any negative attention on hysterectomy thru any of these channels.
Rather, quite the opposite is true. I've got a Christian magazine where a gyn has taken out an ad and, in the same issue, the magazine does a single page interview with him. Somehow, in that short space, two women manage to rave about his surgical skill and how great their hysterectomies are. Of course, I wrote the magazine to call 'em on it but, hey, it is already published and my letter is not.
Our paper did much the same in a profile of a hospital's surgical robot. There's the gyns touting how easy the robot makes hysterectomy and how quick the "recovery". As if there actually were a recovery from hysterectomy...
World wide economies are now faltering and falling. Of necessity, people are now scaling back on medical treatments. To me, that is like having a wolf
(in sheepskin!) that is growing ever hungrier. We can only look for the assaults to grow ever more in number-- and increasingly clever and cleaver.
There is only one hope that I can see for the humane among us. Take your cue from HERS. Point out this green underground grass roots system at every opportunity. Once you can get someone to thinking about whether or not their medical advocate really is an advocate for them or, instead, only for themselves, then you've scored one for all humanity. HERS' "The Hysterectomy Marketplace-Research and Development" site is a great place to start.
On the subject of the insurance poll, Blue Cross and Blue Shield approved my surgery---but, at first, they turned it down saying that I didn't fit ACOG's broad hysterectomy guidelines. The brave little BCBS clerk actually faxed a copy of the ACOG guidelines to my surgeon. In reply, he wrote and gave the clerk the cancer scare that he was giving me. It was only then that the surgery was approved. Certainly, at the time, I was not made aware of this exchange but found out about it only when, post op, I requested my records thru my insurance company. My medical records didn't contain any of this.
Also, I had asked for an independent second opinion referral. I carried my records with me for the consultation; however, unknown to me, my surgeon faxed over his recommendation to the other gyn. My surgeon claimed that he had not talked with the second opinion but I don't believe that that fax showed up at the referral's office without some discussion beforehand--do you?
One other thing on this topic, my general practitioner had referred me to my surgeon. I later, again post op, found out that they were in business together. So her gyn recommendation was not without an inherent conflict of interest.
Regarding the insurance poll - Cigna approved my TAH/BSO no questions asked for a cystadenoma (which was benign). I'm sure the cancer scare tactic was used to get this surgery approved just as it was used on me. CIGNA APPROVED THE SURGERY WHILE I WAS STILL IN THE EXAM ROOM!
Shame on you, Cigna!
To add insult to injury, the oncologist to whom my surgeon referred me (which I wasn't really supposed to have time to get in to see) only recommended TAH/BSO if cancer was found. Funny though that the oncologist did NOT communicate this to me so he was "in bed" with the ob/gyn but "covering his own a@#" via documentation. I only found this out after receiving my records.
I'm now going to file a complaint with Cigna against the ob/gyn. I doubt whether anything will come of it but it can't hurt.
Informed consent is a joke from a patient's standpoint. Think about it. A doctor has a patient sign a form stating that they have been told all the risks, side effects and alternative procedures. Think about that...how could a patient ever know for a fact that they've been told all that information? NEVER!! Only a doctor would know that. The consent form is only used for the doctors and hospitals to cover their ass, that's it. It does not, in anyway, protect a patient. It actually takes rights away from a patient. Another thing is that there is no law that the doctors have to put any of it in writing. There is no other contract in the world that would hold up without the specifics in writing, but when it comes to medical contracts, doctors and hospitals are immune to laws that the rest of the citizens have to follow. Ever wonder who is making the laws? Plus, informed consent laws are not enforced in the United States. How convenient for them.
"Hello! I want you to meet Kim's heart, Kim's brain, and over there on the right is Kim's right eye and on the left, is Kim's left eye..."
"What do you mean, I should just treat Kim as a single human being with the total woman being greater than the sum of her parts?"
"I'm a (fill in the blank) specialist. I don't understand what it is you're saying."
There you have one of the biggest problems with our medical system. Each speciality sets its' own guidelines and so called standard of care (a very low setting so as not to be a legal problem).
While what happens to Kim's circulatory system matters a great deal to Kim's heart, the science of cardiology never weighs in on how severing the uterine arteries disrupts her circulatory sytem. Nor does it ever weigh in on the altered endocrine profile.
Certainly, the cardiologists see it. The medical literature is clear on the increased cardiac risks that come with hysterectomy and with ovary removal. Yet, to my knowledge, there has never a time that the AMA has said to ACOG that "Your practice of medicine is much more commonly harmful to the patient than helpful." Never said, "ACOG to 'first, do no harm'--you must consider the patient as the integrated being that they are." Nor said, "ACOG, the vast number of unnecessary surgeries removing organs is determinal to our- and your!- patient's health. We cannot continue to support this with our silence!"
Nope, it all goes unsaid by a medical profession that "looks at" everything and takes a stance on nothing within its' ranks. A medical profession that can only see Kim in pieces. A medical profession that would render her to their distorted vision.
Mad as hell said:
This is a joke! It indicates that the primary issue with informed consent is a language barrier or reading disability. We all know too well that it's much more than that!
There's a woman featured that was deceived into having a hysterectomy but didn't realize she had one until her post-op appointment. Nothing shocking to those of us that were also deceived into having healthy organs removed!
If a gynecologist can't deceive a woman into agreeing to an unnecessary hysterectomy, then he'll just wait until she's under anesthesia and amputate her organs when she can't defend herself. Innocent unsuspecting women are no match for these slick and cruel criminals.
I had a hyst when I was 38 (turned out the fibroid was only 2 cm and could have been shelled out with a hysteroscope) In a year my sigmoid colon fell to where my uterus used to be and I got a rectocele. Got bad constipation issues. Had removal of sigmoid as I was told by 3 surgeons it blocked off the top of my rectum. This showed on a defecogram. I did not consent to 6 other "reconstructive" procedures my surgeons did. As a result I lost the use of my rectum due to scarring, my lower colon scarred in, and I was unable to eat for 7 months due to small bowel loops that were compressed in my deep pelvis with scar tissue. 10 docs wouldn't touch me. I was going to die if someone didn't do something. ONE doc lysed my small bowel adhesions and made a permanent ileostomy. So far I'm OK and can at least eat, but I fear future adhesion small bowel obstructions. But one day at a time. Moral of my story NEVER HAVE A HYST! Rosemary
MERRY CHRISTMAS HERS FOUNDATION AND STAFF!
You have given so much of yourself to help other women. I really don't know what we all would have done without the support from HERS.
Please, it is not too late to send in your tax deductible donation today. Lets thank HERS by our donations. I know anything you can give will be greatly appreciated. It would be a sad day if HERS was unable to go on with their work. With all our help, a law will be passed to make sure doctors hand the DVD 'Female Anatomy' to every women they prescribe a hysterectomy.
Hysterectomies and castrations will be a surgery of the past! GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST AND PEACE TO EVERY WOMEN LEFT WITH HER SEXUAL ORGANS!!!!
I am 32. I am still recovering from a total hysterectomy. In hindsight--I wish I had been more informed. One day my doctor said,"We're going to have to remove the womb," and a few weeks later I came by to sign a consent form and do tests at the hospital. I was never sat down and educated. I am sorry I didn't demand it. My question is this, what ARE good reasons to have a hysterectomy? I had Carcinoma in-situ on my cervix as a cause of HPV. Was that cause enough? I'm terrified of the consequences to be.
Regarding the poll "What insurance company approved your surgery?"
So far, the only responses have been Cigna and Blue Cross Blue Shield.
I'm certain there are others. Please post the name of the insurance company that enabled your surgeon to mutilate you.
Dear Anonymous,
I, too, had a TAH for CIS of the cervix. When I read my path report from the hysterectomy and discovered that there was NO cancer, well, needless to say, I was devastated to the point of a clinical depression. The cancer scare tactics that were used on me and my husband were deplorable. I had a 2nd opinion, too, from another gyn-onc. Turns out, he was also the director of the gyn-onc I was seeing in addition to being the director at another prominent teaching hospital where I saw him for my 2nd opinion. The first gyn-onc I saw told me not to tell my husband of my HPV status! The 2nd opinion gyn-onc never even addressed it, but said, "total abdominal hysterectomy." I can't tell you how frightened we were. And just to be clear, I am not an ungrateful person and am not looking a 'gift horse in the mouth'. I was SERIOUSLY misinformed and completely uninformed on several issues. Further, I was directed not to search the net because too much wrong info is posted (his words). I was also severely anemic from a GI bleed - had nothing to do with anything from a gynecological perspective. By the way, I informed the gyn-onc who did the hysterectomy that I was being seen for GI bleeding and do you know what's in my records from him? Menorrhagia! I never had menorrhagia! Also, cancer of the cervix is written on some of the forms. Yet, since that time, after talking with several more gyn-oncs, all agree that CIS is a precancerous condition because there is no frank invasion. If I knew then what I know now from all of the research I've done and visits with several more specialists, unfortunately after the hysterectomy, I would never have agreed to a hysterectomy. There were other options for me like a cold knife cone. But that was not presented to me at the time, instead, I was frightened with 'micro-invasion' and 'it will come back.' I now suffer from pelvic prolapse which I've had surgery to correct, but things are not the same and there's lingering problems. I am concerned that way too many drs are recommending hysterectomy for cervical dysplasias and precancers as preventative or as this doctor called it, 'definitive treatment.' And far too many women, like myself at the time, do not completely understand their options, the HPV link, stats of progression, prognosis, etc. I blog on another site and have read too many other women's stories where they believe that having a hysterectomy will prevent HPV related dysplasias/cancer from recurring. And, that's just not the case.
I do not want to scare you. Even though you may have had a hysterectomy, you will go on. It may help to see a counselor to help you through the grieving process because there is a loss. I hope you take the time to take care of yourself now to heal well, and I'll keep you in my prayers.
It sounds like your surgery was just a few weeks ago. While you’re recuperating it’s particularly important to do what you’re comfortable doing, and to not push yourself to do more than you feel up to doing. It’s outrageous that the doctor who performed the surgery didn’t educate you about the medical problem you were diagnosed with, all the options in treatment, and the consequences of hysterectomy. I hope you’ll work with HERS to get a law passed that will compel doctors to provide HERS Female Anatomy video to every woman before she is told to sign a hysterectomy consent form.
Your question, “…what ARE good reasons to have a hysterectomy?” seems simple, but there are many issues to consider. These are but a few of the issues:
For instance, have all of the appropriate diagnostic tests been performed to evaluate whether you have a medical problem? This is difficult for someone to determine if they are not an expert in this particular area of medicine themselves. The majority of women who have been told they “need” a hysterectomy are not medical experts, so you may need some help to determine if there are other diagnostic tests that would be informative, and how to interpret the results. If you understand medical terminology, and have the knowledge to evaluate the validity of studies in medical journals, you may find some good articles in PubMed, the National Institutes of Health online database.
If any of the diagnostic studies that were performed show a possible serious problem, confirm their findings by having them repeated at a different laboratory. There are often errors in diagnostic studies. If there are slides from tissue samples, they can be sent to another pathologist at a different facility to get an independent opinion.
Obtain copies of all of the reports from surgical procedures, biopsies, blood tests, and radiologic studies such as ultrasound, CT scan and MRI’s. If you need help with the terminology or interpreting the results you can contact Irene at HERS at 610.667.7757 to make a telephone appointment to discuss it with a counselor.
There are many more issues that are important to know in determining what path you will choose if you’re told you need a hysterectomy, but they are too lengthy and complex for a blog comment.
We hope you continue to have an uneventful recuperation, and look forward to helping you at HERS if you feel the need to talk with someone.
Dear Ladies,
I am writing from Austria. I am the founder of FEMICA, the first support group for hysterectomized and castrated women in the german spoken countries: Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Ignorance and silence towards us concerned women is the biggest problem here. We have nobody to help us: no women organizations who are really interested in this subject. Information is poor and the biggest problem is, that there is NO difference made at all between women with organs and women without organs. For our doctors and also for the women organizations all this is "menopause" - so simply they are explaining our consequences of hysterctomy and castration.
If we wouldn't have found HERS we would feel completely alone.
Unfortunately not so many women in our countries are able to read the HERS blog, because of the language barrier.
I do my best to translate the most important informations into german but it is the lack of time that makes it impossible to translate all these useful contributions of the concerned ladies here.
Very often our feelings and experiences we make in our home countries we can read them also here on this blog.
So we feel us near to you despite the far geographical distance between us.
We wish all the concerned women here all the best and we hope strongly that HERS will be successful and be heard soon by the responsable authorities.
Thank you for this BLOG!
femica
I have been reading with interest a lot of this blog- I have a uterus, without ovaries. So I am castrated, but not hysterectomized.
Does anyone have experiences with a uterus without ovaries?
I am taking estrogen, progesteron and testosteron to deal with the consequences of castration. I am now dependant on these hormones.
I would like to share experience with another lady who does have still the uterus. I fear that this is nearly impossible- because till now I could'nt find anybody with the uterus in.
Please, if you know such a lady, inform HERS so that I would be able to contact her.
Thank you
Wishing everyone a good 2009!
Holidays are often a challenge for hysterectomized and castrated women. "Happy" New Year no longer falls easily from our lips, yet here we are, so we say it. Best wishes, rings true.
I hope every intact woman who reads this blog will know how important her female organs are, all of her life, and that she will stay out of an operating room.
And for women who have undergone hysterectomy I know you will make the year the best it can be for you and yours, and you'll educate every woman, man, and child that you know.
All of us, women who have had the surgery and those who have not, will work together to bring us closer to creating a law that will end this once and for all.
Best wishes to all.
Nora W. Coffey
After having an unnecessary cesarean and 3 VBACs (vaginal births after a cesarean), I am very open to the HERS message about medical mistreatment of women. Thanks for being there. I have been able to pass on your message to others and thus prevented at least one unnecessary hysterectomy as well as a number of unneeded cesareans. Many, though thankfully not all, in the medical field neither understand nor appreciate women's bodies. They don't promote natural childbirth or breastfeeding, and they don't value the non-reproductive functions of the uterus and ovaries either. We women are all in this together. Thank you, HERS Foundation, for your essential work.
Carol Morrisey, member of ICAN
(Int. Cesarean Awareness Network)
is it normal for ur tail to hurt after a hysterectomy . and leg pain
RE: tail & leg pain post-hysterectomy:
Although every woman does not experience tail and leg pain after the surgery, a large number of women do.
By tail pain do you mean in the tail bone? Women commonly report that they experience pain in and around their tail bone, their hips (most often the right hip), and pain in one or both legs. The leg pain usually travels along the nerve pathway either on the inside the thigh from the top of the thigh down to just above the knee, or on the outside of the thigh from the hip socket to mid-calf or down to their ankle.
Another common area where women experience pain after hysterectomy is in their back. It starts at the waist and travels down one leg to the buttock, the back of the leg to the ankle, or all the way down to their toes.
Other women have back pain that starts
midway up the spine and radiates throughout their lower back.
There is variation in the severity of the pain, but it is usually permanent. When it's slight it's an annoyance, much like having a splinter that's irritating, but not something that interferes in your activity. When it's moderate it's like have a large thorn that hurts every time you move, and sitting on it is painful. When it's severe it's like having a crushing clamp pulling on the nerve pathway. Women with severe nerve pain say it feels like someone's holding a hot poker to the affected buttock and leg.
Pain in the tail bone, buttocks and back can make it difficult or impossible to sit, and walking can be painful too. Sitting for a few minutes alternating with walking for a few minutes may make it possible to continue functioning. It's amazing what women tolerate and push themselves to cope with when they have pain in their back and legs.
Although it can be painful to exercise and stretch, if you do as little or as much as you can tolerate, it may lesson the pain a little. The most effective pain management is with acupuncture.
This is a problem that's not only difficult for the woman experiencing it to understand and cope with, it's difficult for family and friends to understand it too. After seeing several doctors in an attempt to find out the cause so that it can be "cured", only to be told again and again that they're fine, everything looks "normal", it can become isolating to cope with the pain when no one seems to understand what you're experiencing. Family and friends who may have been concerned initially may start to wonder if, as doctors often tell women, "it's in your head".
Women who write on HERS blog and elsewhere about their experiences validate all of those women who have no one else who truly understand what it's like to live with these unexpected, unwanted, and unacceptable problems.
Sign HERS petition to stop this damage from being done to the next generation of women:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saynotilyouknow/
As a castrated woman, I agree that it's very hard to say "Happy New Year" but I have to somehow "accept" this new tortured life and go on for the sake of my loved ones. It's very difficult as I frequently think about suicide in spite of having been in therapy off and on since this nightmare began (almost 3 years ago). I can only say that I do not live with physical pain so I'm thankful for that and my heart aches for those that do.
Let's make 2009 the year that a law is passed to stop this abominable mutilation of women!
As posted by HERS, please continue to educate every woman, man and child about the truth of hysterectomy and castration.
Although we're all hoping and working toward getting a law passed, in the meantime, let's expose the surgeons and hospitals that mutilated / castrated us.
Please post the names of your perpetrators.
I would like to name my perpetrator, but I am involved in a lawsuit. I think it's important for women to name these criminals who are portraying themselves as "healthcare professionals". You might save the next unsuspecting innocent woman from being de-sexed and mutilated. Regarding pain, I have had a lot of lower abdominal pain from walking, sitting and bending that I never had in my life. Sometimes it radiates down my legs too, and I have almost constant hip pain. I am bloated almost constantly. I had none of these symptoms prior to being hysterectomized and castrated. What these so called "doctors" are doing to women is an atrocity. I don't know why the sun keeps shining when this hideous crime is allowed to go on. There will never be another "Happy New Year" for me or my family.
Anyone know of any other sites besides ratemd to rate doctors?
Here's a few more: www.ucomparehealthcare.com, www.vitals.com, www.revolutionhealth.com
If you google your predators name, sites come up that you can comment or rate the doctor.
Today I was flipping through a magazine at a laundrymat while waiting for my clothes to dry. I stumbled across an article in "the Ladies Home Journal" January 2009 issue titled "The Health Problem Women Dont Talk About" on urinary incontinence, written by a Janis Graham. I skimmed through the section on causes of urinary incontinence thinking hysterectomy would be overlooked as usual. So imagine my surprise when I read the line "A hysterectomy can also damage the pelvic floor nerves and muscles". I was so elated just to know that a mainstream magazine for women is now acknowledging the damaging effects of hysterectomy, even if only for a brief line. The article goes on to discuss the effects of loss of estrogen due to menopause as a cause, and also surprisingly that estrogen replacement therapy has been shown to actually make the problem worse by decreasing collegen around the urethra opening. Of course, if you have been castrated this is a double whammy for increased risk of urinary incontinence. Take it from a 36 year old woman who had everything removed three and a half years ago at 33 years of age and who has wet her pants since then on more than one occasion, despite being slim and fit.
At any rate I thought this was worth mentioning. It isnt just a bunch of "radical, hysterical" women (said with tongue in cheek) from places like this blog complaining about the effects of hysterectomy. Doctors, nurses, lawyers, the media all are well aware of what is going on and the mainstream media is beginning to substantiate what we have known all along.
I want to cut the reproductive organs off the doctor who did this to me and then tell him it's all in his head when he say's he feels numb now and can't orgasm. Would this be legal because the doctor made me insane?
I think that sounds legal, of course, it would be absolutely legal if you had an M.D. after your name.
Female genital mutilation refers to the mutilation of external genitals, e.g. labia, clitoris, etc., and not the internal female organs. Thus, it would be more accurate to state it as 'mutilation of the female internal organs' to give visibility to that which is not visible. While the word "mutilation" emphasizes the gravity and horrific nature of the act, there is also an allusion to the existance of remnants. "Something" remains, however disfigured "it" may be. With hysterectomy and/or oophorectomy, the uterus and/or ovaries are removed, extracted, amputated. Nothing remains, only emptiness, as you have become newly hollowed.
I would be glad to name my perpetrator. Dr. Jerome Gundersen of Gundersen Hospital Clinic in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He is now retired and I am sure has enough money from castrating women to have a wonderful life unlike the women he has hysterectomized and castrated! This doctor along with so many other doctors across the nation have destroyed so many vibrant women's lives.
If there are women reading this blog and are still thinking about having this surgery, think again! Read what we are saying because we are the experts, not the doctors.
Find a doctor that does alternative surgeries such as a myomectomy to remove fibroids. A polypectomy that removes cysts or polyps. Most doctors find it is easier to just clean house! They are getting by with it so why not. LETS RAKE IN THE MONEY WHILE WE STILL CAN! Why else would you become an Gynecologist?
Gracie, I don't see Dr. Jerome Gundersen or Gundersen Hospital Clinic defending themselves, because all these criminal doctors know there is no defense to their hideous attack on women. The biggest scam of the 20th century, and now into the 21st century.
Dr. Shalodi, gyn-onc at Cleveland Metro Health Hospital did the hysterectomy and my useless 2nd opinion from Dr. Peter Rose, Director of Gynecology Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic as well as Cleveland Metro Health Hospital (Shalodi's director) could have prevented this from happening, but went along recommending abdominal hysterectomy and whose office called and left messages twice to schedule surgery by him. I'm sobbing as I'm writing this, even though I was hysterectomized almost 3 years ago. If I could relive that moment...I would RUN not walk out of both offices!
The obgyn.net survey and the way that the gyns in general are trying to use the Internet is very scary to me. Not for myself as I was victimized long ago and have nothing left for them to take. No, scary for all the innocent intact women out in cyberspace who still don't understand that they and their organs are no more than bank deposits to hospitals and surgeons alike. Whenever I have "access" to a woman, I try to warn her and I encourage the list to do the same. Sure, you run the risk of being brushed off, but, even so, who is not to say that, when confronted with hysterectomy, that her mind will not go back to the urgent warning of a stranger or a friend. It is all about empowering women in the same way that men are empowered when it comes to their sexual, reproductive, and endocrine organs. To that end, I have some info. that I would like to share with the list concerning how much alike men and women really are.
Take a moment out to think about this: both the clitoris and the penis have erectile tissue. Something else, the first gynecologist, Curtis, that actually thought female anatomy revelant to gynecology, detailed the female sexual nerves as being much the same as a man's. Later, another noted gynecologist, Dickinson, did female anatomy drawings showing the clitoris as being much larger than is normally portrayed in today's medical texts. Dickinson's drawings show the clitoris as bearing an undeniable likeness to a penis with most of the organ internal. It was only later that the clitoris was widely medically illustrated as being much smaller.
Here allow me to quote from a Feb. 1993 "Self" article by Lynn Snowden, "The truth of the matter is that lurking beneath the tiny pea shaped organ that is visible externally is a giant network of bulbs, valves, ducts, and spongy tissues, not to mention two long clitoral "legs." What this means is that when the clitoris is viewed as a cutaway anatomical drawing, it looks as if someone had deconstructed a penis and arranged it internally. This view is only confirmed in other drawings showing how the spongy tissue of the legs becomes blood engorged and how the glans and shaft of the clitoris become erect (sound familiar yet?) and stay erect "until resolution."" The book that Snowden was writing about is titled, "A New View of a Woman's Body" by Gage and Rothman.
At this point, you can call me "unmanned".
My hysterectomy was 6 years ago. I have aged 10 years, my mind feels crazy.This once vibrant person is a shell of her former self and so suicidally depressed it is a battle everyday. I have spent well over 50k to get myself better. If I believed your article that this is permanent, I would have committed suicide long ago. There is an answer out there and I will find it. You cannot give hopeless people no hope. My friend had one and is on the right bio identical combination and has gotten herself back. We have to stick together and let each one of us know what works. Do I wish my doctor dead? probably. He went on with his life while I am sentenced to a prison within. Do I understand why I'm going through this. No, but I have a big mouth and therefore it will be my life's mission to make changes so it will NEVER happen to anyone else.
I am so glad I found an OB/GYN that was for saving a woman's organs. I have a hormone imbalance that I am taking care of with the bio-identical hormone prometrium. It keeps my lining from getting too thick because progesterone is the first hormone to go. Without it, a woman becomes estrogen dominant and the uterus lining builds up.. resulting in excessive and irregular bleeding. I agree with the woman's note above.. we have to help each other with what has helped us and avoid this surgery unless it is truly necessary. I am thankful I found a handful of books out there to read before forging ahead with an irreversible surgery.
To the last anonymous,
When you say that "progesterone is the first hormone to go. Without it, a woman becomes estrogen dominant...", women might think that you mean after menopause they no longer produce progesterone and therefore they become estrogen dominant. But that's not accurate. In fact, post-menopausal women continue to produce progesterone, and they do not become estrogen dominant.
In the years before menopause women produce more estrogen and less androgens. Postmenopausal women produce less estrogens, and more androgens.
There are many factors that can cause endometrial hyperplasia, a thickening of the lining of the uterus. Among them are diet (foods that stimulate high estrogen like soy, tofu, ginger, and others can cause hyperplasia. Excess weight can also cause it, and make it very difficult to reverse hyperplasia.
It's also important to note that all exogenous hormones, those not produced by the ovaries, put women at increased risk for breast cancer and blood clots that can cause a stroke. It doesn't matter whether they're manufactured by a pharmaceutical, or whether they are so-called bio-identical, or whether they grow on a plant in your back yard, the risks are the same.
There is an excellent book out called "What you doctor may not tell you about PRemenopause" that goes into the risks of synthetic hormones or bio-identical. And they are absolutely not the same. I agree with the woman's information above. People think they are the same, but they are not. I am sorry you have that understanding.
Has anyone seen the Hyster Sisters website? http://www.hystersisters.com/
It is clearly a website to encourage women to have a hysterectomy and supported by ads for the Da Vinci technique. They know what they are doing in falsely acting like they are supporting women with hysterectomies when in reality they are encouraging women to have a hysterectomy website. This website is not on the up and up and appears to be a hysterectomy support group. One bit of evidence is that they ask those using the website to report if any other websites are saying negative things about them on the WEB, if so to give the web address. Well, if they were really a hysterecomy support group would they care? After using their service, it is clearly a way to manipulate women to have a hysterectomy by saying there is nothing to be afraid of and we are here for you. A lot of good a blog does you when you are in so much pain from a hysterectomy or LEEP that you can't sit up to log into your computer.
You're right anon. That hystersisters website is not open at all. You can't post in the sexual dysfunction section until it's been six months post op. You can't add links to other websites, and you can't post unless you've had a hysterectomy or are going to have one. It has to be one of the most censored forums around.
Yes If you look at their forum rules, they actally say that free speech is not allowed.I have been censored a few times and now I have been banned for trying to speak the truth about hysterectomies and pap smears. If you want to know about the other huge hoax of the 20 and 21st centuries read about pap smears at:
http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/unnecessary-pap-smears/
and
http://patientprivacy.blogspot.com/2009/05/womens-privacy-modesty-concerns.html
(Anonyomous has been replaced with an alias so that others can follow your comments. Please choose a name or alias when you comment. Thank you.
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