Fibroids: you never need a hysterectomy for fibroids

Fibroids are benign growths of muscle and connective tissue that grow until you reach menopause. Then they slowly and gradually shrink to a negligible size, at which time they will be small and calcified.

The average size of the uterus including fibroids in the late thirties to early forties is a ten to twelve week pregnancy size (about 13cm in the largest dimension), in the middle forties fourteen to sixteen weeks is average (about 17cm in the largest dimension), and in the late forties to early fifties eighteen to twenty weeks is average (about 21cm in the largest dimension).

Fibroids have two rapid growth spurts that are natural, predictable, and not a cause for alarm. The first rapid growth spurt is in the late thirties to early forties. Then you have a few years of slower growth. Right before you go through menopause, when you have the hormone changes associated with the beginning of menopause, you have the second and last rapid growth spurt. Then the fibroids slowly and gradually shrink to a negligible size.

You develop all of the new fibroids you are going to have in your 30's you do not develop new fibroids in your 40's.

Both estrogens and progesterone stimulate fibroid growth. Many women use the so called "natural" progesterone yam cream that promoters claim shrinks fibroids, but in fact it makes them grow.

Fibroids are not a disease, they are your genetic blueprint. If you can live with the symptoms it would probably be better than unnecessary intervention of any kind. If you cannot live with the symptoms a myomectomy is a reasonable option.

Hysterectomy and the Loss of Uterine Orgasm

Most women are taught little about the functions of the female organs beyond iinformation about menstruation and pregnancy. The uterus and ovaries are the female hormone-responsive reproductive sex organs. The female organs are internal and their functions are not visible. Most women and men know more about the functions of male reproductive sex organs than female female reproductive sex organs because the organs are external and visible.

One of the common myths perpetuated by doctors that has become folklore is that the female organs are only needed by women who want to have children and that after they complete their family they no longer need these organs. Nothing could be further from the truth. The uterus is a hormone responsive reproductive sex organ that supports the bladder and the bowel. It functions all of a woman's life. Many women are sexually active and experience uterine orgasm into their 80's.

The ovaries are the female gonads. They produce hormones all of a woman's life. The pre-menopausal ovary produce more estrogens than androgens, and the post-menpausal ovary produces more androgens and less estrogens. Removal of the ovaries is castration.

The uterus provides support to the bladder and the bowel. When a hysterectomy is performed the support to the bladder is compromised, and the bowel drifts down to take up the space where the uterus had been. The vagina is shortened, made into a closed pocket. Because the uterus separates the bladder from the bowel, when the uterus is removed the bowel drifts down and takes up the space where the uterus had been. When there is stool in the bowel it presses against the bladder and down into the top of the vagina. This would not have been possible with the uterus intact.

In a HERS Foundation survey 99.7% of women reported that the doctor who performed the surgery did not inform them of the consequences or they were lied to when they asked if they would experience any changes. Most often doctors tell women "You'll be better than ever" and "Sex will be the same or better".

Because doctors are not informing women of the adverse effects of hysterectomy the HERS Foundation has launched a campaign to compel every doctor to provide HERS short new educational video "Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs" to every woman before she is asked to sign a Hysterectomy Consent Form.

SIGN THE PETITON at www.ipetitions.com/petition/saynotilyouknow or by visit www.hersfoundation.org and click on "Petition". It's every woman's right to know.