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Join the discussion about women's experiences with gynecologists, the alternatives to hysterectomy, and coping with the far reaching consequences of hysterectomy. Gynecologists tell women that they will feel better than ever after hysterectomy, and sex will be the same or better than it was before. The opposite is true.
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Friday, September 9, 2011
The tide is turning!
The tide is turning!
“I am still hoping to hear more about women who are past it all because they said no. It would be comforting to know there are women out there who had the same horrible symptoms, a big fat confused uterus, lived with it, resisted hysterectomy and are now through menopause and happy that they persevered.”
Women who were told they need a hysterectomy have expressed to HERS a strong desire and need to hear from other women who are/or were determined not to have their uterus and ovaries removed. They need your support. They are fighting pressure from gynecologists, and often well meaning family and friends, to undergo the surgery.
They want to hear from other women who are going through this now, and others whose health problems eventually resolved, either with treatment or just waiting it out until their symptoms subsided.
What gives women the knowledge and power to fight against having their female organs removed? It is the collective experience of vast numbers of hysterectomized women who are sounding the alarm for intact women. These women reveal how they were bullied or ensnared into the operating room, and how the damaging effects of hysterectomy ruined their health, their sex life, their relationships and their careers. The responsibility lies with the doctor to give women correct, factual and complete information on the consequences of hysterectomy and castration. A law requiring doctors to give women HERS female anatomy video, is necessary for informed consent.
Hysterectomized women want "intact" women to know that they, too, were smart, savvy, asked good questions and did not blindly or blithely agree to surgery. The vast majority of hysterectomies are performed on women who agreed only to exploratory surgery, or to conservative surgery such as removal of a fibroid or an ovarian cyst. Virtually all hysterectomies are performed without the information required for informed consent.
Hysterectomized women want you to understand that your good questions may be responded to with untruths or outright lies. They share with you their most private, intimate losses caused by the removal of their female organs. They want you to know that it could be you, that your good questions and research may not protect you from maltreatment. There is no treatment which is able to restore, replace or compensate for the functions of the missing organs.
Please share your fight to keep your female organs. Women desperately want and need to hear from others who prevailed, who remained intact, and to know that she is not the only one determined to keep her female organs!
Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY) will deliver the Keynote Address at the HERS Foundation’s 28th Hysterectomy Conference, Saturday April 23rd at the Hilton Hotel in Manhattan.
Maloney, a Democrat from New York, is a powerful advocate for women’s rights, allied with such organizations as Emily’s List and the National Organization for Women. In 2008, she published “Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated," a book that details the ongoing struggle women encounter on a number of fronts, including equal pay, politics, and healthcare.
State Representative Bruce Borders (IN) will discuss Hysterectomy Informed Consent legislation he introduced this year. Women and men from around the country will be there to voice their support for hysterectomy informed consent legislation.
Borders, a Republican from Indiana, recently proposed Hysterectomy Informed Consent legislation. His talk, "Your Vote is Mightier than the Lobbyist's Dollar," will address the legislative process and what conference speakers and attendees can do to enact meaningful legislation to counteract the more than 621,000 hysterectomies performed each year on women in the U.S. The information that is requisite to informed consent must be provided to every woman.
“un becoming,” by Rick Schweikert, will be screened on the eve of the conference. An explosive play written in the rich tradition of American political theater, “un becoming” premiered Off Broadway in 2004. It portrays the physical, political, economic, and social issues surrounding hysterectomy. The screening will be followed by a talkback with Schweikert and HERS President, Nora W. Coffey.
The public forum of the conference, combined with the imperative for hysterectomy informed consent legislation, will be embraced in a town hall style discussion at the conclusion of the day’s agenda, which can be viewed at http://hersfoundation.org/conference.html
A new Canadian study reports that castration (removal of the female gonads, the ovaries) almost doubles a younger woman's risk for developing lung cancer. "It's possible that vulnerability to lung cancer is caused by early and sudden decrease in estrogen levels or potentially long-term use of hormone replacement therapy, and further research is needed to explore these hypotheses." said study co-author Jack Siemiatycki, a professor at the University of Montreal's Department of Social and Preventive Medicine.
The report was published online in the International Journal of Cancer in May 2009. It is based on a study of 999 patients from hospitals in Montreal including 422 women with lung cancer. "A major strength of this study was the detailed smoking information which we obtained from all study participants," said study co-author Anita Koushik. "This is important because of the role of smoking in lung cancer and because smokers generally have lower estrogen levels than non-smokers."
"Although smoking is the dominant cause of lung cancer, we know other factors can play an important role in enhancing the impact of tobacco carcinogens." Koushik added "This research suggests that, in women, hormonal factors may play such a role."
________________
A note from Nora W. Coffey
This important discovery should alert every woman and man to the fact that removal of the female organs creates a higher risk of life threatening health problems including but not limited to heart disease, stroke, dementia and lung cancer. Although not considered a "health" or life threatening problem, the loss of sexual feeling and loss of vitality associated with sexual energy are serious adverse effects of hysterectomy and/or castration. There are many more permanent consequences that have either not been discovered, or if known, they have been denied or not reported.
Fraud in the inducement is a legal term used to describe a scenario where one person has tricked or deceived another into a harmful situation they would not have entered into if they had known they would be harmed.
In the example of hysterectomy, a woman is induced into signing a consent form under the guise that she needs the surgery, there are no alternatives to hysterectomy, and she may die without it. But that is rarely the case. She is also induced into signing the consent form by being told she will be "better than ever after the surgery," or that she will be a "new woman." She is then drugged, strapped to a table, and her female organs are removed, because of erroneous information supplied by the inducers.
No woman is unharmed or undamaged by the removal of her female organs, but that is really not the point. The point is, women who are provided with the information required for informed consent, such as the information provided in the HERS video "Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs," decide against undergoing hysterectomy.
Fraud in the inducement for hysterectomy requires proof that 1) a false statement of material fact was made, 2) the doctor/hospital knew or should have known the material fact was false, 3) the false statement induced the woman into signing the consent form, and 4) the hysterectomy caused injury to the woman who relied on the misrepresentation as fact.
False statements of material fact on medical websites are more the standard than the exception. A survey of doctor, government health agency, and hospital websites demonstrates that not only do doctors remove sex organs without providing the information required for informed consent, the information they do provide is often erroneous and unsupported by anatomical fact, as was confirmed on the blog post, "Hysterectomy and Female Castration: the Enablers Part II." Most of the false statements are authored by doctors and hospitals that claim to be sources of medical expertise, who should know that the information they publish runs contrary to anatomical fact. Women are encouraged to use this information to make a decision about hysterectomy. The adverse effects then cause injury to more than 621,000 women in the U.S. each year.
We are interested to hear how your experience with hysterectomy fits the four requirements above for fraud in the inducement. Would you take part in a class action lawsuit against doctors and "patient education" institutions that supplied the erroneous information used to induce you to sign a hysterectomy consent form?
Please be brief in your comments about how your experience fits the four legal requirements of fraud in the inducement.
I am Nora W. Coffey, president of the Hysterectomy Educational Resources and Services (HERS) Foundation.
When I was thirty-six years old, I was hysterectomized and castrated by Robert Giuntoli, at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, and his assistant Douglas Rabin. I was not informed by Giuntoli or Rabin of the consequences of the surgery, therefore my surgery was unconsented. The anesthesiologist and nurses who participated in the surgery were complicit. The hospital enabled them.
Giuntoli and I agreed that he would perform exploratory surgery to determine if the ovarian cyst that was symptomatic was malignant. If it was not, he would perform a cystectomy, removal of the cyst only. If it was malignant, he would remove my uterus and ovaries. The cyst was benign. In direct contravention to my expressed wishes and the agreement with Giuntoli, he proceeded to remove my female organs.
The removal of my female organs destroyed my health and well-being and ruined my family, professional, and social life. No longer healthy, strong, vibrant and sexual, I turned my attention to finding the answers to what was wrong with me that stumped the 25 or more doctors I saw in the first year after the surgery. I found answers in the medical library at the University of Pennsylvania, next door to the hospital where Giuntoli and Rabin collaborated. For the next two years I walked by the hospital every day to get to the library. After two years of research I understood full well what had been done to me. I have dedicated every day of my life since then to providing that information to other women.
Watch the female anatomy video on HERS website. Then, unless you are actively involved in a medical malpractice lawsuit, give your name and the name of the doctor(s) who removed your female organs and the hospital that enabled them. You have nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to hide from, you have done nothing wrong. By telling the truth you shine a spot light on the doctors and hospitals ruining the lives of another woman every minute of every hour of every day of every year. 621,000 hysterectomies are performed each year in the USA alone. That's not just a number, it's much more than a statistic - it's women's bodies, women's lives.
Do not let the doctor who ruined your body, your health, your sex life, your family life, your career, your professional life and your social life hide behind the good doctor persona and the hospital walls that shield them.
It's time to speak out, it's time to expose the doctors who failed to inform you of the consequences of hysterectomy and castration. By giving your name and the name of the doctor and hospital we can smoke them out of their protected environment. Together we can stop this from being done to another generation of women and girls.
It must be made unacceptable, it must be stopped legally. Sign the petitionto show your legislators that you demand a law that protects women from the violent medical practice of hysterectomy and castration.
If the female sex organs were visible like the male sex organs, would they still be removed from 622,000 women each year?
Myth: "Only men have gonads."
Fact: A woman's gonads are her ovaries. Removal of the ovaries is castration, and the aftereffects are to women what the aftereffects of removal of the testicles are to men.
Myth: "Sex will be better than ever after hysterectomy."
Fact: Removal of the uterus causes the loss of uterine orgasm, one of the many irreversible consequences of hysterectomy.
Myth: "After the surgery you'll feel better than ever, and sex will be the same or better."
Fact: The most common problems women report after hysterectomy include loss of sexual feeling, loss of vitality, bone/joint/muscle pain, fatigue, and personality change.
Myth: "Doctors don't perform as many hysterectomies as they used to."
Fact: Less than 2% of all hysterectomies are life-saving. Most hysterectomies are performed for benign conditions, not medical problems. The rate of cancer in the female sex organs and the male sex organs is almost identical. The rate of male sex organ removal is statistically insignificant, and yet in the last decade an average of 622,000 hysterectomies and 454,000 female castrations were performed each year in the U.S. That's more than one every minute of every hour of every day.. There are 22 million women alive today in America whose sex organs have been removed.
Myth: "Doctors don't have enough time to provide information about female anatomy and the functions of the female organs before they tell women to sign hysterectomy consent forms."
Fact: It takes just a few seconds for doctors to hand women HERS' 12-minute "Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs DVD, available at www.hersfoundation.org/anatomy. And that's good news. HERS' 12-minute female anatomy DVD makes the female organs visible. It fills the information gap and can prevent about 610,000 unwarranted hysterectomies and 622,000 hysterectomies performed without the information required for consent each year, which would save more than $17B dollars a year in rising medical costs.
Tell us what you were told about the life-long consequences of hysterectomy.
Educate and Empower Yourself At Hysterectomy Conference
The HERS Foundation's Twenty-Seventh Hysterectomy Conference will be held November 14th-15th, 2008 in Atlanta GA.
Become informed about female anatomy, the life-long functions of the female organs, the alternatives to hysterectomy, and the consequences of the surgery. Learn about the common reasons hysterectomy is recommended such as fibroids, endometriosis, endometrial hyperplasia, uterine or bladder prolapse, bleeding, and pelvic pain. Find out about the most frequently reported adverse effects of hysterectomy and removal of the ovaries (female castration), and some coping strategies for women who have had the surgery such as diet, exercise, acupuncture, acupressure, massage and reiki.
The conference will be of interest to everyone who is interested in women's health. Everyone is welcome.
On Friday November 14th at 7:30pm there will be a screening of "un becoming", Rick Schweikert's play about an artist who is faced with a medical decision that could forever change her life.
There has been a media blitz surrounding recent discussion of the pros and cons of surgical removal of the ovaries during hysterectomy (see Cochrane article below). But the most important issue has yet to be addressed: the uterus should rarely be removed in the first place.
The article below perpetuates a dangerous myth through the subliminal message that if your ovaries are left intact you’ll be fine if only your uterus is removed. Those who are unaware of the aftermath of hysterectomy, with or without castration, can join more than 400,000 others who have watched the HERS 12-minute video by clicking here: “Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs.”
If the analysis was a sincere effort to provide women with the information they need to make informed decisions about whether or not to allow a doctor to remove their ovaries, the article would have used the word castration, which conveys an immediate understanding of the gravity of their decision. The ovaries are the female gonads, the same as the testicles are the male gonads. The medically correct term for removal of the gonads is castration.
In the HERS Foundation’s ongoing study “Adverse Effects Data,”the experiences of hysterectomized women whose ovaries are left intact are strikingly similar to the women who are also castrated at the time of the surgery. Part of the reason for similar responses with or without castration is that in hysterectomized women whose ovaries aren’t removed, about 35-40% of the time the ovaries cease to function after hysterectomy, resulting in a de facto castration.
This information is public knowledge and has been published in peer-reviewed medical journals for more than a century, so neither journalists nor doctors who hold themselves out as experts in gynecology should get it wrong.
The response to these articles would be far different if the headlines read, “Should women be castrated during removal of other sex organs?”
Removing ovaries during hysterectomy: effects remain unknown During hysterectomy operations, surgeons often remove a woman’s ovaries as well as her uterus. Cochrane Researchers now say there is no evidence that removing the ovaries provides any additional benefit and warn surgeons to consider the procedure carefully.
“Until more reliable research is available, removal of the ovaries at the time of hysterectomy should be approached with caution,” says lead researcher, Dr. Leonardo Orozco of the OBGYN Women’s Hospital San José in Costa Rica.
Of those women who undergo hysterectomies aged 40 or above, around half also have their ovaries removed. This amounts to more than 300,000 women a year in the US alone. The reason most commonly given for carrying out an oophorectomy at the same time is that it prevents ovarian cancer. However the ovaries produce not only estrogen, but also important hormones such as androgens that may have important clinical effects which have yet to be identified.
The researchers say there is little evidence to support the idea that removing the ovaries during a hysterectomy provides an overall health benefit. They identified only one controlled trial, involving 362 women. This compared hysterectomies with oophorectomies to hysterectomies without oophorectomies. Although this trial showed a very slight positive effect on psychological well-being when oophorectomies were performed, the team say much more data is required before any conclusions can be drawn.
“There could be a real benefit or harm associated with oophorectomy, but it has not been identified, more research of higher methodological quality is needed.” says Dr. Orozco.
Orozco LJ, Salazar A, Clarke J, Tristan M. Hysterectomy versus hysterectomy plus oophorectomy for premenopausal women. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD005638. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD005638.pub2. Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group.
Hysterectomy and Female Castration: Who are the enablers? Part I—University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
*** ANNOUNCEMENT *** Part I of this series was posted on January 1, 2008. Regarding the information below, HERS acknowledges that on or before February 6, 2008 UPMC deactivated the link to the “Hysterectomy” and “Preparing for a Hysterectomy” sections of their Patient Education Materials, thereby eliminating contradictions with the “Hysterectomy” section of their Procedures materials, which remains active.
One of the most frequently asked questions at HERS is, “How do doctors get away with removing the female organs from more than 600,000 American women each year without informing them of the consequences?” The answer is complex, but the responsibility largely falls on doctors, medical schools, and hospitals. One hand washes the other in the 17 billion dollar a year hysterectomy industry built on the profits made from removing the sex organs from more than 22 million American women alive today.
The internet is a minefield of both helpful and harmful information on any topic, including hysterectomy and female castration. The fact that the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) publishes contradictory statements, for example, is easily demonstrated by comparing the information provided on their own website. As you will see, on the one hand UPMC claims that sexual intercourse isn’t affected by hysterectomy and that sex may even be improved by the removal of a sex organ, but on the other hand they say that the uterine contractions associated with orgasm aren’t possible when the uterus is removed. Both statements can’t be true. Therefore, the untrue information is contradictory and potentially dangerous.
We would rather believe that no hospital would put its name on contradictory medical information. But it’s irrefutable when, in their own words, UPMC publishes potentially dangerous information about the functions of the female organs. UPMC’s own website provides the proof that the information about hysterectomy is unreliable.
No matter how smart and savvy a woman is, if she isn’t accurately informed about the functions of the female organs before she sets foot in a doctor’s office she won’t be able to evaluate the validity of the information that a doctor or hospital gives her. Medical schools institutionalize and sanction an educational environment that uses advertising to attract customers to hospitals that provide professors and students with the live bodies of women to practice on. Teaching hospitals and large corporate hospital chains alike provide the equipment, staff, and facilities to implement hysterectomies on women. If those women rely on UPMC’s online “Patient Education Materials,” they may be misinformed of the aftermath of the removal of the uterus and/or ovaries. Medical schools, doctors, and hospitals who hold themselves out as experts form a circle of power that has a unique responsibility to provide accurate information about hysterectomy. That circle of power, however, often obscures information, omits facts, and reinforces harmful myths about hysterectomy.
This is the first of several posts that will highlight omissions of fact and misinformation about hysterectomy currently being provided to women on the websites of doctors, medical schools, and hospitals. As UPMC’s website (http://www.upmc.com/home.htm) demonstrates, the degree of accuracy of the information you will receive about hysterectomy depends in part on how you search their website, which is the reason why the following is broken into two sections. _____________________________
Section A:
From the UPMC home page, if you click on “Health A-Z” a list pops up on the left side of your screen. Under “Personal Health,” if you click on “Women” it takes you to the “Health Library.” Next, click on “UPMC Patient Education Materials” then “Women’s Health.” Finally, from the bottom of that long list select “What is a hysterectomy?” Or, after you click on “Women” from the “Personal Health” section, you can find it by clicking on “Health Reference,” then “UPMC Patient Education Materials,” then “Women’s Health,” then “What is a hysterectomy?” The “What is a hysterectomy?” link takes you to http://patienteducation.upmc.com/Pdf/Hysterectomy.pdf . The following excerpts were taken from that web page on 1/1/08.
UPMC begins by defining three types. “Partial hysterectomy,” they tell us, “is the removal of the top part of the uterus (the fundus uteri), leaving the lower part of the uterus (the cervix) in place.”
HERS comment: If they said, “Partial hysterectomy involves severing the nerves, ligaments, and blood supply that attach to the body of the uterus, leaving the cervical stump,” then it would alert the reader immediately that this is a major surgery resulting in far-reaching anatomical and functional changes.
They also tell us, “A hysterectomy does not include the removal of the fallopian tubes and ovaries. Your doctor may recommend that these organs be removed at the same time, depending on your age and the condition of the organs. Your doctor will talk with you about this.”
HERS comment: In order for UPMC to provide accurate information to women about female anatomy, they could say, “Your doctor may also recommend the removal of your ovaries. Just as the testicles are the male gonads, the ovaries are the female gonads. Removal of the gonads is castration.” If they said that, then women would understand that the removal of the ovaries is life-altering. UPMC implies that age is a disease. The gonads in both women and men continue to function throughout the human lifespan, and age is never a justification for removal of the ovaries. Women who understood this would be unlikely to consent to castration. It’s important for women to be informed of the correct medical terminology and consequences.
In the section titled “Removal of the ovaries,” the UPMC website tells women, “In general, ovaries are removed only if there is a problem with them. Two factors in this decision are a woman’s age and another is whether she has gone through menopause. In women who have not gone through menopause, the ovaries are important… The ovaries stop working after menopause, so they may be removed during hysterectomy in women who have completed or are close to menopause. Removing the ovaries reduces the risk of ovarian cancer, which is difficult to detect in its early stages. When a woman who has not completed menopause has both ovaries removed during hysterectomy, a condition called ‘surgical menopause’ occurs. Women who experience surgical menopause may have the same symptoms as those who have had natural menopause. These include hot flashes, night sweats, and shrinkage of vaginal tissue.”
HERS comment: This section begins with a contradiction. Whereas in the introduction to “What is a Hysterectomy?” we’re told, “Your doctor may recommend that these organs be removed at the same time, depending on your age…” this section says, “In general, ovaries are removed only if there is a problem with them.” So which is it? Do they mean to say that age is a disease or that the ovaries should only be removed if they are diseased? It can’t be both.
UPMC states that the ovaries “stop working after menopause,” although it’s well documented in medical literature that the ovaries continue to function in post-menopausal women. The ovaries are “important” to a woman’s health and wellbeing all of her life.
UPMC goes on to tell women that ovarian cancer is difficult to detect. But they fail to mention that the incidence of ovarian cancer is less than .01% of the population at risk and is listed by the National Institutes of Health as a “rare disease.”
Finally, UPMC also fails to use the word “castration,” which is the medically correct term for removal of the ovaries. Instead they use the euphemistic oxymoron “surgical menopause.” It is in fact impossible for a woman to become surgically menopausal. A menopausal woman has functioning, hormone-producing ovaries in her body. A woman whose ovaries have been removed doesn’t have the benefit of the natural hormones and other substances produced by her gonads. There is no comparison between castration and menopause, and the functions of the ovaries can’t be replaced.
Under the heading “Physical changes after hysterectomy,” UPMC states, “Unless extensive surgery is performed, the vagina remains the same after a hysterectomy. Once healing has occurred, the vagina will continue to function normally. Sexual inter-course [sic] is not affected by a hysterectomy.”
HERS comment: A majority of all hysterectomies are “total,” where the top of the vagina is cut into around the cervix in order to remove the uterus. After the surgeon removes the cervix, the vagina is then made into a closed pocket. The surgeon does this by pulling the walls of the vagina together to close the hole created in the top of the vagina and suturing it back together. Also, much in the same way that a seam created by sewing fabric together results in diminishing the pre-sewn size of the cloth, in addition to filling in the hole where the cervix had been the surgeon shortens the vagina when the seam at the top of the vagina is created by suturing it shut. Therefore, the vagina is altered in depth, shape, and elasticity.
And for those women who experienced uterine orgasm before the surgery, they won’t experience it ever again without their uterus. It would be informative for UPMC to explain how “sexual inter-course is not affected by” removing a sex organ. The possibility of uterine orgasm is eliminated, sensation in the vagina and external genitalia is diminished or lost entirely, the vagina is shortened, and the uterine ligaments, blood supply, and nerves that radiate throughout the pelvis are severed. Hysterectomy causes profound changes in sexual function.
In the section “Emotional effects” UPMC states, “A woman’s sexuality and femininity are not changed by a hysterectomy. During the recovery period from surgery, anxiety, fatigue, and fear of pain can cause a lack of sexual desire. Allowing time to heal and recover, sharing your feelings with your partner, and using a gentle approach can help you achieve sexual pleasure.”
HERS comment: A sex organ can’t be removed without altering sexuality and femininity. As we have said and is well-documented in medical literature, when the uterus is removed uterine orgasm can’t occur. The vagina is shortened, sutured shut at the top, and women develop adhesions that are often very painful. This scarring, shortening, and loss of elasticity in the vagina often makes sex extremely painful during intercourse. Furthermore, the nerves that attach to the uterus branch out to the vagina and external genitalia. Those nerves must be severed to remove the uterus. When they’re severed it causes not only a loss of physical sexual sensation, but it also often causes pain in the buttocks, groin, pelvis, and vagina. Severing of the ligaments affects skeletal structure, commonly causing pain in the lower back and hips. “Sharing your feelings with your partner” and “using a gentle approach” won’t replace the functions of the nerves, ligaments, blood supply, or sex organs. Nor will they stop the painful aftermath of hysterectomy. Lack of sexual desire is to be expected when a sex organ is removed.
In the section titled “Myths associated with hysterectomy,” UPMC refers to “Sex will be less enjoyable” as a myth. They elaborate by stating as fact that, “The ability to enjoy sexual intercourse should not be affected by a hysterectomy… Once healing has occurred, the ability to enjoy sex and achieve orgasm will return to normal and may even improve. Some women have a temporary loss of vaginal sensation and less lubrication during sexual activity. These are common side effects of the surgery. Vaginal sensation and lubrication will return to normal when healing is complete.”
HERS comment: No—sex can never return to “normal” after hysterectomy. That’s impossible because a sex organ has been removed. Even if you never experienced sex before the surgery, the potential to experience sexual satisfaction and uterine orgasm will no longer be possible. Sex isn’t improved by the removal of sex organs or by shortening the vagina. The loss of sensation to the vaginal and external genitalia isn’t temporary, it’s permanent. The nerves that made physical sensation possible are severed during hysterectomy and they can’t be reattached. The permanent loss of physical sensation and uterine function is universal. But sexuality and sensuousness aren’t limited to sexual acts. All of human interaction, sexual energy, and vitality are diminished by the removal of the female organs.
There are two “UPMC Patient Education Materials” about hysterectomy. The misinformation in “What is a Hysterectomy?” is reinforced and expanded in the “educational” document from the same list called “Preparing for a Hysterectomy.” On the third page, under the heading “Will a hysterectomy affect my sex life?” it says at the end of the first paragraph and into the second paragraph, “At this point in recovery your ability to enjoy sex and achieve orgasm will return to normal and may even improve. Because of the temporary shrinkage of tissues that occurs after surgery, your vagina may feel shorter or narrower even though no tissue has been removed.”
HERS comment: No woman can experience uterine orgasm without a uterus. A woman whose pain was relieved by removal of her uterus may be glad to be rid of that particular pain, but that doesn’t mean that she would have consented to the surgery if she had known that she would experience a total loss of uterine orgasm and diminished or lost sensation to the vagina and external genitalia.
The shortening of the vagina in a total hysterectomy is not temporary. It is an irreversible consequence of cutting a hole into the top of the vagina that is then sutured shut. The vagina is permanently shortened.
“This educational material,” UPMC tells us, “was developed by a team of women’s health care experts throughout UPMC, including Magee-Womens Hospital, a National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health as designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.” Visitors to Magee-Women’s Hospital of UPMC are provided with a prominent link back to this hysterectomy information on UPMC’s main website. In the “About Us” page on Magee’s website they say that part of their “WOMANCARE PHILOSOPHY” is being “committed to…empowering [each woman] through education.” _____________________________
Section B:
UPMC’s contradictory information about hysterectomy becomes clear by clicking on a different link on the same website. It was “last reviewed January 2007.”
From the UPMC home page, click on “Health A-Z” and then “Women.” But this time, instead of clicking on the link to “UPMC Patient Education Materials,” click on “Procedures.” Once there, you’ll see a long list of “Procedure & Surgery Fact Sheets.” Next, scroll down the long list of “fact” sheets to the link for “Hysterectomy” where, in addition to reading about the surgery, you can view an animated hysterectomy, although this animated version does little to convey the extreme physical assault to a woman’s body.
The first paragraph narrowly defines hysterectomy as “the surgical removal of the uterus, resulting in sterility, or the inability to become pregnant. It may be done through the abdomen or the vagina.”
HERS comment: In addition to the comments above that demonstrate that this definition is incomplete, by omission it informs women only about the loss of childbearing, not the many other important functions of the uterus.
In the section titled “Parts of the Body Involved,” UPMC lists the following: • Partial or Subtotal Hysterctomy [sic] – Removal of the uterus • Total, Complete, or Simple Hysterectomy – Removal of the uterus and cervix (the opening of the uterus leading to the vagina) • Radical Hysterectomy – Removal of the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, upper part of the vagina, and the pelvic lymph nodes • Salpingo-oophorectomy – Removal of the ovaries and fallopian tubes (may be combined with any of the above procedures)
HERS comment: In the first definition, although the cervix is not wholly removed during a “subtotal” hysterectomy, it is “involved.” The uterus is amputated from the cervix, which leaves a cervical stump. The description of “radical” hysterectomy fails to mention that the paraaortic lymph nodes and the omentum are often removed. And in defining salpingo-oophorectomy they fail to define removal of the ovaries as female castration. Rarely would a woman consent to being castrated.
It would be much more informative for people who hold themselves out as women’s health experts to say, “No matter how or what type of hysterectomy is performed, every cell in a woman’s body is involved. The endocrine system (of which the uterus and ovaries are major components) helps regulate every part of a woman’s body to maintain health and wellbeing in far-reaching ways, such as hair follicle stimulation, sexual function, bone structure, metabolism, sleep, insulin production, cardiovascular health, and all of the known (and unknown) functions of the female organs throughout every woman’s anatomy. For example,” they might add, “hysterectomized women have a three times greater risk of heart disease, and women whose ovaries are also removed have a seven times greater risk of myocardial infarction.” But UPMC fails to mention those facts.
Under the subheading “Description of the Procedure,” in the section titled “What to Expect,” we're told that during an abdominal hysterectomy, “A cut is made in the lower abdomen to expose the tissues and blood vessels that surround the uterus and cervix. These tissues are cut and the blood vessels are tied off to remove the uterus. Stitches are placed in these deep structures, which will eventually dissolve and do not need to be removed. The uterus is removed from the top of the vagina, and the vagina is closed to prevent infection and to keep the intestines from dropping downward.”
HERS comment: UPMC fails to inform women that the tissue and blood vessels not only surround the uterus and cervix but are attached to it. They fail to mention a fact of significant importance—a large bundle of nerves and broad bands of ligaments that are attached to the uterus must be severed to remove it. By stating that blood vessels are tied off it doesn’t convey that the rich blood supply that provides blood flow to the uterus and throughout the pelvis and lower extremities is severed. It also doesn’t mention that one of the ligaments that must be severed is the utero-sacral ligament that attaches to the uterus and to the sacrum in the lower back, which may be one of the reasons why hysterectomized women experience chronic back problems.
And once again UPMC fails to inform women that during a total hysterectomy the top of the vagina is cut around the cervix and the body of the uterus and the cervix are removed. It states that the vagina is closed to “keep the intestines from dropping downward.” In fact the intestines do move down to take up the space where the uterus had been, but because they’re no longer in their natural location behind the uterus they now sit directly on top of the surgical scar at the top of the vagina where adhesions develop. So suturing the top of the vagina shut doesn’t prevent the intestines from dropping downward, it only prevents them from falling through the hole that the surgeon has made into the top of the vagina.
The same facts apply to their definition of “Vaginal Hysterectomy.” In the second sentence of the paragraph describing what is done to women during vaginal hysterectomy, UPMC tell us, “The doctor does, however, make an internal incision at the top of the vagina around the cervix.”
HERS comment: If the precise language was used in all of the descriptions of “total” hysterectomy, then women would understand that their vagina will be cut into and sutured shut at the top, whether the surgery is performed abdominally, vaginally, with the use of a laparoscope, by a robot, or any other method.
This section is also inaccurate when discussing the dislocation of the intestines, as mentioned above. They don’t mention that there’s also a loss of the natural barrier of the uterus between the intestines, the vagina, the bladder, and the bowel, which is one reason why hysterectomized women usually experience bowel and bladder problems.
In the subsection titled “Possible Complications,” UPMC provides the following list: • Reactions to anesthetics • Pain • Infection • Bleeding • Fatigue • Injured pelvic organs (bowel and/or bladder) • Urinary incontinence (problems holding your urine) • Loss of ovarian function and early menopause • Depression • Sexual dysfunction
HERS comment: When the blood supply to the ovaries is damaged during the surgery causing the ovaries to cease to function (which occurs as often as 35-40% of the time), the doctor’s actions result in a de facto castration (a total loss of ovarian function) even if the ovaries aren’t removed at the time of hysterectomy. Loss of ovarian function is not comparable to menopause. A menopausal woman has ovaries that produce hormones her entire lifetime. She also has a functioning uterus. Menopausal women have not had their female organs removed.
In the section titled “Outcome” there are several subheadings. The first is “Physical,” in which the last paragraph begins, “If the ovaries are removed (oophorectomy), your body's main source of estrogen and other sex hormones is gone. If you were not already postmenopausal, this sends your body into an instant menopause…”
HERS comment: Again it incorrectly defines the removal of the ovaries as being the same as menopause and not castration.
Next is the subheading “Emotional.” Here UPMC tells us, “Some women have strong emotional reactions, including depression, in response to the loss of their uterus.” HERS comment: This statement would be correct if it said that women experience depression because of the loss of the functions of the uterus and ovaries.
Finally, the last subheading is “Sexual.” In this subsection UPMC tells us, “Some women notice a change in their sexual response after a hysterectomy. Because the uterus has been removed, uterine contractions you may have felt during orgasm will no longer occur. If the ovaries have been removed, vaginal dryness may be a problem, but this is usually relieved with the use of estrogen. Some women report an increase in their sexual enjoyment, possibly because they are relieved of the pain from the condition that prompted this procedure, or no longer need to worry about an unintended pregnancy.” HERS comment: Women who happen to find this link on UPMC’s website will at least be informed that the uterus is a sex organ and that uterine contractions that occur during orgasm can no longer occur without a uterus. But if they click on the Patient Education Materials link they’ll be told the opposite…that the “ability to enjoy sex and achieve orgasm will return to normal and may even improve.” This contradictory information is potentially dangerous and damaging. UPMC is one of the rare hospital websites that educates and informs the public about uterine contractions that occur during orgasm and that they will no longer occur without a uterus. It is unfortunately the last statement in this long description of hysterectomy and contradicts earlier statements. It should be one of the first, most prominent statements and mentioned throughout, not buried at the end. The loss of uterine orgasm is of vital importance to women.
Visitors to the UPMC website must wonder why it is that the question “Will a hysterectomy affect my sex life?” is answered in the Patient Education Materials page titled “Preparing for a hysterectomy.” This is information women need to be told prior to deciding whether or not they’ll proceed with the doctor’s recommendation for a hysterectomy and not while preparing for the surgery itself. As we have discovered, UPMC admits that in a total hysterectomy the cervix is removed, the vagina is incised and closed at the top, and uterine contractions that occur during orgasm can’t occur without a uterus. Why is it, then, that UPMC fails to provide the correct information when they themselves ask the question “Will a hysterectomy affect my sex life?” It’s baffling that they then answer that question by stating that sex “will return to normal and may even improve.”
“References” for these “facts,” UPMC tells us, were obtained by accessing the websites of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, the American Medical Association, and the National Women’s Health Information Center on October 14, 2005.
There are many contradictions throughout UPMC’s website, but for the purposes of this discussion we will point out just a few more. “UPMC Patient Education Materials” don’t provide a separate information page for oophorectomy—female castration, the surgical removal of the ovaries. But in their “Procedure & Surgery Fact Sheets” UPMC has a page titled “Oophorectomy.”
They define oophorectomy as follows: “The surgical removal of one or both ovaries, called bilateral oophorectomy. This procedure may be combined with the removal of the fallopian tubes, in which case it is called a salpingo-oophorectomy. Removal of the ovaries and/or fallopian tubes is often done as part of a complete or total hysterectomy.”
HERS comment: Again, because these are presented as “fact” sheets from those who hold themselves out as medical experts, if they used the medically correct definition for the ovaries it would convey an immediate understanding that the consequences of removal of the ovaries is serious and damaging. The ovaries are the female gonads. Removal of the gonads is castration. By omission UPMC fails to provide the critical information needed for women to decide whether they will consent to being castrated.
Under “Parts of the Body Involved,” UPMC provides a drawing of the “Female Reproductive System.” It would be accurate to say that the brain (chiefly the hypothalamus and the pituitary), the breasts, and other “parts” of the female anatomy (such as the adrenal glands and all of the connecting tissues, vessels, and nerves) complete the female reproductive system, along with the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and vagina. But not only are the brain, breasts, adrenals etc not included in UPMC’s artist rendition of the female reproductive system, the uterus itself isn’t labeled. The drawing only labels the ovaries, fallopian tubes, bladder, and vagina.
At the end of the “Procedure & Surgery Fact” sheet on oophorectomy, UPMC credits EBSCO Publishing. EBSCO is a privately held corporation out of Ipswich, Massachusetts. On their website, under “Consumer Health Complete Database Coverage List,” among many other publications they offer an “Evidence-Based Fact Sheet” called “Hysterectomy: Surgical Removal of the Uterus [or Womb], Vaginal Hysterectomy, Abdominal Hysterectomy” from “Great Neck Health Publishing.” They also offer “Health Animation” from “Blausen Human Atlas.” Blausen offers many short videos. In the one called “Ovariectomy” it says, “A woman’s reproductive system includes the uterus, the ovaries, the fallopian tubes, and the vagina.”
In the section titled “Possible Complications,” UPMC lists “changes in sex drive.” This fact, however, isn’t listed in the “Outcome” section.
HERS comment: Changes in sex drive are to be expected after removal of sex organs. It’s an outcome, not a complication. UPMC repeatedly makes the point that removal of the ovaries often accompanies removal of the uterus. In fact, the NIH reports that about 75% of all hysterectomized women are castrated at the time of hysterectomy. It’s baffling then, that elsewhere UPMC makes the blanket statement that sex will return to normal and may even improve after hysterectomy.
Under the heading “Postoperative Care,” UPMC states that, “If both ovaries are removed, your body goes immediately into menopause. If you are not being treated for breast cancer, your doctor will prescribe hormone replacement therapy (HRT), either estrogen alone or with progesterone, to help manage the symptoms of menopause.”
HERS comment: Castration—removal of the ovaries—results in the loss of the production of the many hormones and other substances produced by the ovaries. “Hormone replacement” is a misnomer, because it isn’t possible to replace the natural, complex, lifelong functions of the ovaries with any other substance produced outside of the body. This would be an ideal place for UMPC to mention the largest randomized HRT study ever conducted on healthy post-menopausal women. The NIH’s Women’s Health Initiative study was abandoned when researchers determined that the risks of HRT outweighs the benefits. A significant number of the study’s participants experienced serious complications, including breast cancer, strokes, heart disease, ,endometrial cancer, and other adverse effects.
Let the reader beware. Before you make any decision about female surgery watch the 12-minute video “Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs” at www.hersfoundation.org/anatomy.
Email HERS at hersfdn@earthlink.net if you know of a doctor, medical school, or hospital website that you think should be highlighted on this blog.
If you would like to talk with women about the consequences of hysterectomy, HERS provides a network of women who will talk with you about their experiences. If you have undergone a hysterectomy at UPMC or their affiliated hospitals since 2003, contact HERS at hersfdn@earthlink.net.
It's hard to believe that hysterectomy was popularized in the United States over a century ago. The surgical removal of the female hormone responsive reproductive sex organs is a primitive practice, yet there were an average of 622,000 hysterectomies((removal of the uterus) performed a year for the last decade. In 2005 76% of the women hysterectomized had their ovaries removed. The ovaries are the female gonads, and removal of the ovaries is castration. Doctors tell women sex will be the same, or better than ever. Women say their sex lives are over, they're "dead in bed".
As women who have had their sex organs discover after the surgery, this is about much more than sex. Among the most commonly report effects of hysterectomy are a loss of vitality, loss of sexuality, loss of sensuality, loss of short term memory, loss of creativity and change in personality.
This is a place for all hysterectomized and castrated women to tell the truth about their experiences and observations.
Family and friends are welcome to post, too. Labels: castration, experts, Female Anatomy, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, ovaries, sex, sex after hysterectomy, support
The most common reason hysterectomy is performed is for fibroids. Most fibroids don't cause any symptoms and rarely cause a true medical problem. But if you had symptoms that were more than annoying, if they really impacted your ability to function, there would be no reason to undergo a hysterectomy. If you are told that a hysterectomy is your only choice to treat symptomatic fibroids, find another doctor who has the skill to perform a myomectomy, and who will respect your decision to choose the treatment that you think will be best for you. It's your body, you always have the right to refuse treatment.
Here is basic fibroid information that can help you decide if what you have is a true medical problem or if it's really a nuisance.
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 become small and calcified. Less than 1% of fibroids are cancer, a leiomyosarcoma.
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, the surgical removal of fibroids leaving the uterus intact, is a reasonable option. Even in the case of leiomyosarcoma, some women choose myomectomy, if the leiomyosarcoma is in the wall of the uterus, and not attached to a ligament.
If a doctor tells you that it can't be done because you have too many fibroids or that your uterus is too large it just means they don't have the skill, and that you need a doctor that does have the skill. Fibroids that cause heavy bleeding with large blood clots are submucosal, they are in the endometrium, the inside layer of the uterus. A submucosal fibroid that is 4cm or cm or smaller can be removed hysteroscopically. A hysteroscope, a long tube, is inserted into the vagina, into the cervix, and into the uterus. A tool is attached to it, and the surgeon chips away at the fibroid until nothing remains but the shell. If the submucosal fibroid is larger than 4cm you would need a myomectomy. A horizontal incision would be made above the pubic bone, and the fibroid would be dissected out of the uterus. Fibroids in other locations do not cause heavy menstrual bleeding or large blood clots.
Although there are many other treatments for fibroids, such as uterine artery embolizaiton (UAE, also called UFE), endometrial ablation, focused ultrasound, myolisis, and Lupron to shrink them, they are all destructive. The only constructive treatment for fibroids is myomectomy, but only if you're in the hands of a skilled gynecologist who has consistently good outcomes. A good outcome from myomectomy means you came out of the operating room with an intact uterus, you were not given a blood transfusion, and you did not have a new medical problem that you did not have before the myomectomy.
If the female sex organs were visible like the male sex organs, would they still be removed from 622,000 women each year?
Myth: “Only men have gonads.”
FACT: A woman’s gonads are her ovaries. Removal of the ovaries is castration, and the aftereffects are to women what the aftereffects of removal of the testicles are to men.
Myth: “Sex will be better than ever after hysterectomy.”
FACT: Removal of the uterus causes the loss of uterine orgasm, one of the many irreversible consequences of hysterectomy.
Myth: “After the surgery you’ll feel like a million bucks!”
FACT: The most common problems women report after hysterectomy include loss of sexual feeling, loss of vitality, bone/joint/muscle pain, fatigue, and personality change. Myth: “Doctors don’t perform as many hysterectomies as they used to.”
FACT: Less than 2% of all hysterectomies are life-saving. Most hysterectomies are performed for benign conditions, not medical problems. The rate of cancer in the female sex organs and the male sex organs is almost identical. The rate of male sex organ removal is statistically insignificant, and yet in the last decade an average of 622,000 hysterectomies and 454,000 female castrations were performed each year in the U.S. That’s more than one every minute of every hour of every day. There are 22 million women alive today in America whose sex organs have been removed.
Myth: Doctors don’t have enough time to provide information about female anatomy and the functions of the female organs before they tell women to sign hysterectomy consent forms.
FACT: It takes just a few seconds for doctors to hand women HERS’ 12-minute “Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs” DVD, available at www.hersfoundation.org/anatomy.
HERS’ 12-minute female anatomy video makes the female organs visible. It fills the information gap and can prevent about 610,000 unnecessary hysterectomies each year and save more than $17B+/year in rising healthcare costs.
Then sign the Petition to compel doctors to provide the information in this video to every woman before she is told to sign a Hysterectomy Consent Form.
The answer to this question has never been so simple, and the need for help has never been so urgent.
Visit www.hersfoundation.org today to SIGN THE PETITION mandating that HERS’ DVD “Female Anatomy: The Functions of the Female Organs” be shown to every woman who is told she needs pelvic surgery. Please do it now, and dedicate one full day to make sure everyone you know signs it.
Contact HERS for a sample email to send to everyone on your email list or any email list you can get your hands on. Make follow-up calls to make sure your friends and family sign the petition. Post the petition on listservs, online chat rooms, and blogs. Ask HERS about sponsoring an ad in your local newspaper. Make your voice heard, and help HERS end unconsented hysterectomy for all time!
Send everyone you know to www.hersfoundation.org. Urge them to watch HERS’ DVD “Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs” and to sign the petition. Do all that you can to make your state the first one to pass laws to compel doctors to provide accurate information that is every woman’s right to know.
The sex organs are removed from another woman in this country every minute of every hour of every day. A statistically insignificant number of men have their sex organs removed, even though the rate of cancer in the male and female organs is nearly identical.
99.7% of the women in an ongoing HERS survey begun in 1991 reported that they would not have proceeded with the surgery if a simple anatomy lesson had been provided to them.
The female reproductive sex organs are internal…the functions are not visible. Consequently, what is often referred to as the most over-utilized and unwarranted surgery remains the most commonly performed non-obstetric surgery in America, at a cost of more than $17B/year.
A new 12-minute female anatomy video from the HERS Foundation makes the female organs and their functions visible. “Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs” provides an essential component of the educational process. Doctors must be compelled to provide a DVD of this video to every woman prior to asking them to sign a consent form for the removal of their female organs.
Can you imagine a country where the sex organs are removed from 622,000 mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends each year? That country isn’t in Africa or Asia or South America. It’s the United States of America…simply because they were deprived of 12 minutes of information.
Visit www.hersfoundation.org/anatomy to view the video. The attached letter has been sent to the following chairs and faculty of the OB/GYN departments of ten of the top medical schools in America, the American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology, and the National Institutes of Health:
Baylor College of Medicine: Dale Brown, Jr., MD, Interim Chair, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons: Mary E. D’Alton, MD, Chair, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Duke University School of Medicine: Haywood Laverne Brown, MD, Chair, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Harvard Medical School: Robert L. Barbieri, MD, Chair, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine: Harold E. Fox, MD, Chair, Gynecology & Obstetrics
University of Michigan Medicine School: Timothy R. B. Johnson, MD, Chair, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine: George A. Macones, MD, Chair, Obstetrics & Gynecology
University of Washington School of Medicine: David A. Eschenbach, MD, Chair, Obstetrics & Gynecology
UCLA School of Medicine: Gautam Chaudhuri, MD, Chair, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine: Nancy C. Chescheir, MD, Chair, Obstetrics & Gynecology
American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology: Kenneth L. Noller, MD, President; Douglas H. Kirkpatrick, MD, President-Elect; Peter A. Schwartz, MD, Vice President
National Institutes of Health: Elias A. Zerhouni, MD, Director Raynard S. Kington, MD, Deputy Director; Norka Ruiz Bravo, MD, Deputy Director; & Michael Gottesman, MD, Deputy Director Vivian Pinn, MD, Director of Office on Research on Women’s Health
☐ Castration, neutering and removal of both ovaries are the same.
☐ Sex life is better after hysterectomy.
☐ Death from heart disease is more likely in hysterectomized women than in normal women.
☐ Hysterectomy has no effect on men’s sex lives. ____________
Hysterectomy: exactly what is it?
During the operation called hysterectomy the uterus is removed from a woman’s body and its functions are permanently lost.
During a hysterectomy it is a common and unjustified practice for surgeons to remove normal ovaries and fallopian tubes in surgery called bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (also called ovariectomy or castration).
Neither hysterectomy nor oophorectomy is constructive or restorative surgery. Both hysterectomy and oophorectomy are, by medical definition, destructive procedures. There is no treatment which is able to restore, replace or compensate for the functions of the missing organs.
The immediate and life-long complications induced by these operations have been widely documented in the scientific and medical literature since their introduction into the surgical armamentarium, and are well known in medical circles.
What women say about life after hysterectomy
The adverse effects most frequently reported to the HERS Foundation:
• Loss of sexuality: loss of desire, loss of physical responsiveness and pleasure, and painful intercourse.
• Pain in bones and joints: “locking” of joints so that some women are unable to stand, walk, or lift without assistance; some women require braces, walkers, wheelchairs; some are bedridden.
• Backache: severe, persistent, disabling.
• Extreme dryness of skin, eyes, genital tissues; vaginal atrophy.
• Rapid, abnormal aging of tissues affecting appearance, skin and general health.
• Angina: chest pain and pressure may occur spontaneously, with exertion, or with exposure to cold.
• Cardiovascular disease.
• Chronic urinary problems: stress incontinence, feeling of urgency or irritability, frequent night voiding, infections, fistulae (surgically-caused abnormal openings into the vagina from the urinary tract).
• Internal pain: in pelvis, groin, vagina or side.
• Emotional dislocation: profound depression, crying, emotional blunting; loss of maternal feeling and of emotional connection and response to loved ones.
• Chronic debilitating fatigue which is not relieved by resting: loss of stamina and of ability to resume the pattern of life which preceded surgery, i.e., diminished ability to run a household, return to work, maintain familiy and social connections.
• Persistance of the condition for which surgery was performed: endometriosis, cancer, pelvic infection, urinary disorders, etc.
• Insomnia; panic attacks; heart palpitations; impaired memory and concentration; weight gain; intolerable hot flashes.
Can you imagine a country where the sex organs are removed from 622,000 mothers, sisters, daughters, lovers, and friends each year? That country is the United States of America.
Sign the Petition at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saynotilyouknow/
Join thousands of women and men and sign the Petition to make sure that every woman and girl who is told she needs surgery to remove female sex organs is provided with the HERS Foundation’s educational DVD “Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs.” The purpose of the DVD is to inform women that the adverse effects of removing reproductive sex organs is anything but routine, and yet no other part of the human anatomy is removed as frequently as the uterus and ovaries. Hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus, a hormone-responsive reproductive sex organ with lifelong functions that are essential to a woman’s health and wellbeing. Oophorectomy is the surgical removal of the ovaries, the female gonads, which is performed on an average of 75% of women at the time of hysterectomy. The medically correct term for removal of the gonads is castration. There are 22 million living women in this country whose reproductive sex organs have been removed. A statistically insignifi cant number of men have their sex organs removed, although the rate of cancer in the male and female organs is nearly identical. In a HERS survey of women’s experiences with hysterectomy, 99.7% report that doctors neglected to inform women or lied to them about the well-documented adverse effects of the surgery. There simply is no informed consent until basic information about female anatomy is provided to women. Therefore, almost all surgeries to remove the uterus and ovaries are unconsented.
Typically women are asked to sign a consent form that lists the procedure to be performed and the most common risks of any major surgery. The proposed surgery is written-in on the consent form as “exploratory surgery and possible TAH BSO” (total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy), which means that the uterus and ovaries may be removed during the surgery. Many women are told that they are only consenting to exploratory surgery, but the word “possible” gives doctors permission to remove the reproductive sex organs and creates a legal loophole that protects doctors and hospitals from legal claims. It is not customary to remove organs during other types of exploratory surgery, and yet it is common during exploratory surgery of the female organs. So women and girls are specifi cally at risk. Furthermore, women are often told to sign the consent form after they have been sedated just minutes before the surgery.
Clearly, the consent form process itself does not work and is deeply fl awed. No woman should be asked to consider consenting to exploratory surgery or the removal of her uterus or ovaries until she is provided with information about female anatomy and the functions of her reproductive sex organs.
No information? No consent!
Sign the Petition to enact laws compelling every doctor to provide HERS’ new educational DVD “Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs” to every woman and girl who is told she needs pelvic surgery, including exploratory surgery, hysterectomy, or oophorectomy.
Who would deny a woman the right to know?
Watch the DVD at www.hersfoundation.org, click on "Female Anatomy"
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.
