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 https://hersfoundation.org/resources/female-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.
Anonymous,
The women you have spoken with who had their uterus and kept one or both ovaries must have been a small group. The Adverse Effects Data https://hersfoundation.org/adverse-effects-data/ tells you the real story about what 1,000 women reported after some had their uterus removed, or their uterus and one ovary removed, or their uterus and both ovaries removed.
Did you all have your ovaries removed? Because based on my experience and all the other women i have spoken with, women that kept at least one ovary were very satisfied with the outcome. Short and long term. Ovaries are critical to many bodily functions, even after menopause.
Hysterectomies make sense from gyn's point of view. They are keenly aware that upon hysterectomizing women, they are very likely gaining life long patients who will be in need of indeffinate further surgery. My gyn examined me and immediately told me I needed a hysterectomy. I was thrilled at this news, and only researched it to see how great life was gonna be afterward. (Watched your vid. Was clueless on female anatomy until now) Come to find out she's got a da vinci robot she has paid 1,000,000 dollars for and an annual upkeep of 140,000 dollars. THANK YOU GOD FOR HERS!!! I have visions sometimes of how profoundly different things could have been if I had gone through with it. 🙁
My wife (47) had a radical hysterectomy to remove a cervical cancer (carcinoma 1B1), on Decembers 2013 after 6 month her personality change and we divorced after 7 years happily marriage, now she doesn't speck to me at all. So far I do not know anything about her life, she just disappeared. Sad !!
Cynthia,
So many women identify totally with what you are experiencing. The loss of sexual feeling is more than the loss of enjoying sex and intimacy. It is hard to realize how much sexuality is a part of who we are. Our vitality, sexual energy, creativity and so much more.
Having said that, there may be some things that can help you enjoy sex more than you do now. Which is not to say that it can ever be the same as it was before. There is no way to regain the loss of uterine orgasm and vitality. If sex was a 10 or 10+, and since the surgery it is a 0 or 1, it might be possible for it to be a 5 or 6 and occasionally a 7.
If you want to discuss this, please call HERS to schedule an appointment to speak with Nora at 610.667.7757.
Hello everyone.
I had a hysterectomy almost 2 years ago now. The surgeon said that everything would be much better and that my sex life would be the same.
Um NO! I went through about 4-6 months of the "crazies". I felt crazy angry, jumpy, insane, emotionally disconnected, and definately not myself. I drugged myself with every kind of herbal supplement, and anything else I could get my hands on for months, and eventually it seemed to help. That state of mind eventually got much easier to deal with.
As for the sex and sex drive, they no longer exist. After the surgery we used to have sex but I couldn't feel anything and it was very frustrating, my husband said that I felt "hollow" to him and that he really couldn't feel much of anything either. We kept trying but it never got better. Now we just don't do it anymore and our relationship has suffered badly. I feel guilt all of the time and fear that eventually he will leave me. He is 6 years younger than me and still very "driven". When the idea of a hysterectomy came up I was told that everything would be fine, body fine, sex fine, life fine… I feel betrayed and without recourse. I cry a lot thinking that I am irreparably broken. Who could love me now??? Like it or not sex is part of the relationship package, and sometimes I do feel like having it.
Reading this post just made me feel pain for myself and the others here. I feel that I am too young for a sexless/partnerless life…
I'm not sure what else to say except that i am sorry for you all , and for myself.
Blessings and light to you all.
~Cynthia
If you have doubts about undergoing a hysterectomy, you can cancel or postpone the surgery. August 30th is an artificial deadline, it can be changed with a phone call. You can call and leave a message with the receptionist in the doctors office that you have decided to postpone the surgery and you will call them if or when you are ready to reschedule. That will give you the time you need to gather more information.
If you have not already done so, watching the short video "Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs at http://www.hersfoundation.org/anatomy gives you an understanding of what happens inside the pelvis when the female organs are removed, and how that affects the surrounding pelvic structures.
You can read what 1,000 women reported about their experiences with hysterectomy, at https://hersfoundation.org/effects.html.
If you would like to have information emailed to you contact HERS at hersfdn@earthlink.net. You can also schedule a telephone counseling appointment to discuss your symptoms, diagnosis and treatment options.
I am so confused, I'm having surgery next Tuesday August 30,2011 to get my uterus and ovaries removed, cuz of cysts. I've been medically menopause (lupron shot) I've been having vaginal dryness, no libido, no orgasms,hot flashes. My doctor says it's going to get better after surgery. I'm going to get hormone replacement shot. But after reading all this, I'm getting scared. Can someone help me with some advice
It is not surprising that men do not understand why their partner has changed after a hysterectomy. Hysterectomized women have no idea why they are experiencing so many problems, so it is no wonder their partners are also very confused.
HERS Female Anatomy video at http://www.hersfoundation.org/anatomy has been extremely helpful to both women who have undergone hysterectomy and their partners.
Thanks for sharing your info. It help me a lot especially for my husband.
Was it on another blog, or was it a comment on another post on HERS blog? Did anyone respond?
I just read a reply from a woman asking for advice on hysterectomy and had to share.
She told me, "Please don't refer to them (ovaries and uterus) as sex organs. They are nothing more then the location to conceive and carry a child and when they are no longer needed for that purpose they are just organs sitting inside you."
Wow
I feel a little bad having attacked this med student. I know, it is THE time to approach doctors but some of the posts were a little over the top.
I also, do not understand why women I give the web site info to and after they watch the video, they still go ahead with the surgery!! I have seen, numerous times, HERS being accused of trying to scare women. Maybe the site should be reworked to be a little more ‘fluffy’!! A little more attractive to a first time looker as to reel them in.
Just a thought.
Remark regarding, ‘There is no price to be put on a pay back amount’.
There is only one thing that I repeatedly think about that would give me payback satisfaction and that is to see my OBGYN have his testicles and penis removed during a routine check for cancer!!
Shelley, sweetie, I am so sorry about what was done to you, sorry for what has been cruelly done unnecessarily to far too many women–including myself.
I am now almost 12 years past the removal of my ovaries and uterus. Despite a loving hubby of decades and a wonderfully exciting pre surgical sex life, sadly, I have found nothing to make up for the loss of these critical organs.
No sane person tries to tell a man that he can have his penis severed, his prostate removed, and
his testicles tore from his body without critical endocrine, sexual, emotional, mental, and reproductive consequences.
So why does the medical profession largely persist in its’ insistence on this very same inhumane treatment for women? Under the banner of advocacy, no less.
My Dad used to have an expression that he used when, in his opinion, someone was past redemption. He’d say, “H*ll won’t be hot enough for ’em!” I say the expression fits here.
All of that being said, I can tell you what I do that seems to help in some small measure. First, I take the fish oil. There is an ingredient found in fish that is chemically similiar to the ovaries’ own oxytocin, the hormone of mating and maternal behaviours. Personally, I believe that it is this hormone that women miss the most. Oxytocin is also a great stress reliever.
Additionally, I use a weekly estradiol patch (0.1mg), compounded tri-est vaginal creme, an otc progesterone creme (480mg. per ounce) and a compounded, transdermal testosterone (1%). While there is both positive and negative to be said about all, a couple of days before the patch is to be replaced, I start feeling more down. Bottom line: I just feel like I need ’em. The testosterone, not so much. I use it during the day so that I’ll know if it is giving me trouble. It can give me a headache. Both compounds I make a one month supply last for six or more months so my usage is way below what the directions say. Same for the progesterone. The medicos have no idea when it comes to dosing. Or, perhaps, they are intent on finishing us off. At this point, I put nothing past them.
Ah, well, back to my regiment… which also includes calcium with Vit D, a baby aspirin, and resveratrol (red wine extract). There is so much positive research on the fish oils and the resveratrol that I figure it is well worth the small cost. I use Sundown supplement versions of both.
Shelley, please know that not everyone views humanity with such little regard as has been shown by the destructive treatment that you received.
Hi My name is Shelley and I am 43 years old this year. For years I seeked help from my family doctors and OB’s asking and looking for something to help me. I even sought counseling cause I thought something was wrong with me, in why I didn’t want to have sex with my 2nd husband. I didn’t understand….I was 28 or 29 when I got that procedure done. except they took everything out. uterus and ovaries.. and falopian tubes. I got married again to my 2nd husband at 30. within 1year we started having marital problems, sex was the big one. I thought maybe he didn’t turn me on…cause by then I was having sex cause he needed it. I got nothing from it. after 9years we divorced. Nobody could help me. My doctors would recommend estrogen/progesterone and then black cohosh. Now I have been taking effexor since a year after my hystorectomy cause i was emotionally unstable. i thought my marriage was the problem. I can’t explain how long I have been searching for answers….and now I am with a wonderful man, who loves me….and I don’t get sexual or get feel the need for sex. when we have it, it is nice cause I love him…i want to please him, but to be completely honest I don’t feel the need for sex and that distroughts me. cause now that I am reading this…I don’t know what to say. I have been castrated at 28/29 and now I am 43, and NOW i know why i feel the way i do…and all these years of no dam doctor knowing why i am feeling the way I am is downright malicious and I am completely heart torn. I have been raped of my woman hood. cause some doctor said I had endometrius or what ever that is, and me so out of it in pain, my dad gave the dr permission to do that surgery on me. I can’t remember the doctors name but i think i can find out the hospital…corpus christi tx is not that big.
What can I do? is there any kind of surgery to change this? any kind of implant? or is there meds that can help my sexual desire at all??
Shelley
shelley_mitchell2@yahoo.com
If you want to support creating a law that will compel doctors to provide the information women need before they are told to sign a hysterectomy consent form go to http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saynotilyouknow/
and SIGN the PETITION. You have the power to help HERS stop this from becoming the legacy of the next generation of women and girls.
I wish so bad I could turn back the hands of time to the once happy,thin,non-manic,non-hurting woman I once was. My hysterectomy is the absolute worst thing I have ever been through and it continues to dominate my life. From chronic fatigue, to fibromyalgia to forgetting simple words, to aging and grey hair, to feeling duped by a doctor I trusted was doing the right thing. I have been everywhere and spent so many thousands of dollars to try to get me back. I feel so disconnected to my life with lightheadedness, and just a sense of feeling sick everyday for the last 5 years trying to get better. I have to believe there is help for me and someone with a brain can get these hormones right or I may as well turn the key on and sit in the garage.Believe me it has ran through my mind so many times it’s scary. So my plan is to get me back and be a voice for hysterectomy on some public forum besides the internet on Oprah or something. If it had been featured on her show, I would have NEVER put myself through this HELL on earth.
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 prove it.
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Yes, to the post above, doctors rule the United States. That is why they are able to amputate the sex organs of over 1/3 of the female population without being prosecuted like the criminals they are. They are frauds posing as medical experts when their only true intention is to profit from the removal of female sex organs and the sick twisted joy they derive from harming women.
“Socialism is the phantastic younger brother of despotism which it wants to inherit. Socialism wants to have the fullness of state force which before only existed in despotism… However, it goes further than anything in the past because it aims at the formal destruction of the individual… who… can be used to improve communities by an expedient organ of government.” –
Friedrich Nietzsche
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary: Despotism; a system of government in which the ruler has unlimited power.
Doctors are in an organization all by them selves which has power beyond what a patient can fight back, by them selves. Doctors aim at the formal destruction of the individual. Hysterectomies are the silent destruction of women and there families. Anyone who cares needs to let the world know of this crime. Tell women that there other alternative. Don’t be silent, fight for our freedoms.
In many states there are no laws regarding malpractice insurance for doctors. Many doctors are performing major surgeries on people without any malpractice insurance and the hospitals that have them on staff are not responsible by law. If one of these doctor’s maims or kills you or one of your loved ones, there is no recourse. This is just another way that ob/gyn’s and other doctors can perform unnecessary surgery on and get away with it.
It isn’t very difficult to imagine the stress and mental anguish a man would bear after realizing his wife was castrated and de-sexed by lies, deceit and greed in the hospital by a gynecologist, legally.
Literally knifed into someone else, someone the woman doesn’t even know, who she must learn to live with or die.
Male in Mich:
I agree that half the men are gone to find an intact woman or the damaged woman set the man free from the constant anguish of being in a relationship with a de-sexed woman is causing him. The remaining marriages and partners are living a life they could have never imagined existed in an underlying constant state of despair and loss causing depression and even physical illness.
Just for a minute imagine how a woman would feel if her husband had his balls and prostate gland knifed off by deceit by a medical doctor posing as a medical expert.
Wouldn’t you be living in a state of underlying despair and sadness for the castrated man?…you bet you would.
To the sweet woman above who is struggling so much after being attacked by an ob/gyn and his accomplices: Why are you looking for a gynecologist????. They can’t help you and are responsible for the state your physical, sexual and psychological being are in now (maimed) since they lied to you and your husband to cash in on you by legally lying. None of them can help you by prescribing any anti-depressant and they know it.
Ob/gyn’s are the most despicable dangerous frauds in the country and the entire medical industry knows it.
Type in to your browser: best homeopathic naturopathic doctor in Oregon…and start there.
Trying to balance your severely damaged endocrine system and entire body chaos now after this horrific amputation is a challenge only a homeopathic naturopathic doctor or holistic healer can handle even getting close to helping.
I can understand how your husband finds it hard to post…our husbands are devastated.
Hers will stop this epidemic female sexual mutilation by deceit for profit by the ob/gyn’s of this country…Oh yes we can!
Hers…Nora…Rick…Gracie…Bibi…Castrated…and all of the women and men on this life saving blog.
I too complained to the Wisconsin Medical Board and was told Dr. Jerome Gundersen of LaCrosse, Wisconsin did nothing wrong and that he followed the standard care of practice. Then to make matters worse, he was given an award for outstanding practice. It is all about you scratch my back and I will scratch yours!
We all have to work with the HERS Foundation to get a law passed or this will keep going, one woman at a time until no woman or girl has her ovaries, uterus or cervix.
We all need to give whatever we can to help HERS. Please send in your donation today. It doesn’t matter what amount because it all helps.
In the New Year we can take giant steps toward HERS legal initiative to stop hysterectomy from becoming the legacy of another generation of women. HERS will be meeting with politicians to ask for their support of HAVE Law-HERS Hysterectomy Anatomy Video Education Law.
2009 is the year of HERS and its followers. TOGETHER WE CAN STOP FEMALE CASTRATION!
To the person who complained to the Missouri Board of Healing Arts. It’s pretty shocking and distressing (to say the least) to be attacked by a doctor who wants to remove your sex organs for profit, only to learn that all the government entities that are supposed to protect citizens, are all part of the scam. These doctors look for any lame excuse to remove female sex organs for $$. They don’t really need a reason because the majority of them cover each other’s ass so they can all keep doing it. The medical boards are a joke. They get their money from the very doctors they are supposed to be overseeing. Ha ha ha ha!!!!! We live in such a sick country to allow this to be done to innocent unsuspecting women. I’m sorry for what they did to you. They did the same thing to me. It’s horrifying. Every day, I am still in shock that this happened to me and is being done to over a half a million women every year. These doctors need to be all be in prison, and then rot in hell.
I sit here and cry as I post this. The Missouri Board of Healing Arts reviewed my complaint and determined that my surgeon did nothing wrong. My surgeon not only lied about my condition to get my consent to castrate me, he also did not follow the recommendation of the oncologist to whom he referred me. The oncologist’s office report stated “possibility of TAH/BSO” so when the frozen section of the cystadenoma came back as benign, he should not have removed my perfectly healthy uterus and other ovary.
The Board obviously doesn’t protect the state’s citizens as stated in their mission statement below:
“The mission of the State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts is to protect the citizens of the state through the licensing of physicians and other health designated professionals, assessing their competence to practice and their moral character. It is also the board’s duty to investigate all complaints against its licensees in a fair and equitable manner.”
I suspect the discipline of this surgeon whose father had strong ties with the “baby factory” hospital would have been too much of a scandal in this big city. Plus, it would have curtailed the very profitable hysterectomy industry that is alive and well in Missouri.
Sadly, I know that Missouri is only one of many states that condones this mutilation by deceit of its female citizens. Shame on them!!
I cannot thank enough you two kind men who just posted – one man, and then the great soul too of “Male in Michigan”. You are so right, also, Gracie; in that, people need to hear from men. Also, the comment made that this centure will go down in history as a time when such a ‘barbaric’ thing was being done to women. I wish I could even use a stronger word than ‘barbaric’. Also, it could be a fair statistical comment regarding divorce rate. I am grateful I have a husband who realizes who I was before this Hyst., and everything changed with me afterwards… (like night to day). As I posted previously, I do find my children questioning me at times. My daughter is still too young to understand, and does not have any friends who have gone through this. I hope she never does. My son, since my Hyst., has missed out on a lot I would be doing with him, if I had not had this surgery. He also, was too little to remember many things of the way I was before. He was only eleven when I had it done. He just wonders, at times, why his mother is not like other mothers, and I can’t do what I did before. Thank goodness my husband knows me, and knew this is the fact. I changed after the Hyst., and since he did know me for so many years prior to the Hyst., and the achieving, hard working person I was; he gets it. He also knows I was one to not complain, and made it through always with anything, rising above, and move forward, but this Hyst. took it all out of me. What saved our relationship also; is that, I have always been there for him. I guess, for us, it is the factor with the saying of the one vow, to be there in “sickness and in health”, and I have always done this for him. Thank goodness I was; otherwise, I do question if he would still be with me now.
I think about with him with tolerating me with my no desire to have sex now. We had, before the Hyst., the great, frequent, spontaneous, and as an example – see me in the shower in the morning, and jump in with me to have some love making, and this is just one example. We ‘christened’ every room of our business. He loves the ‘outfits’. I was happy and excited to surprise him and accommodate his fantasies with the ‘French Maid’ outfit, fishnet stockings, etc., and I have lost the desire, because I just don’t feel those (whatever it is chemically) things kicking in to spark this. I was even usually the one to promote the frequent and spontaneous sex/love-making. He knows this, and only saw this change in me after the Hyst. The poor guy!!! He should write on this. I will try to get him to do so. He will confirm this, but also say how he was convinced with the GYN who castrated me, how he was ‘swashbuckled’ into believing “How much better” I would feel, and how our sex life “will be even better” after the surgery. As I have said before, I even saw this doctor wink at my husband. I know he was referring to the “no more bloody periods”, and “won’t this be great”, to not have to deal with;
i.e., so my husband would not have to be turned away during certain times of the month. I wonder how many doctors have done this with men who attend appointments, and this is brought up, and sway the man to push his ‘woman’ into this surgery. I know my husband mentioned it after we left that one appt. before the surgery. He was thinking what glorius reasons the doctor gave while he was there, and it was almost, “Where does she sign?”
It is so true with men. With men not being able to see our insides; it is hard to relate. If my husband was explained that my uterus and ovaries are like his penis and testicles, and that is what he would be removing from me, in same comparison; I know my husband would have escorted me right out of that office, and said to me, “There have to be alternatives to this.” If men were told this by physicians, “You will feel so much better after this surgery – removing your penis and your testicles”, you would actually see men ‘Fly’ out of doctors’ offices…
Women have the unforunate factor with our bodies… our sex organs cannot be seen. We do not ‘wear’ these on the outside of our bodies; therefore, why would we have any problems? To cut these off of a man – might as well have him ‘curl up and die’. What is the difference with a woman? I would love for a doctor to answer this question?
I would like to ask of anyone out there if they can recommend a good GYN doctor in the Northwest. I live in Oregon, and I have been to five already, with they being of no help or understanding. I need to see a doctor who is on our side with this. I would appreciate any help. I was to the point of never seeing a GYN again. Isn’t this sad? I am willing to try to travel elsewhere, but I would have to be sure this doctor is the right one. I would have to ask family for help with this, and I have ‘been there, done that’ before with traveling several hundred miles to see a ‘specialist’ GYN, and I was so disappointed. He was a “Wham, Bam, Thank You, Maam’ type, and passed this off to seeing a Fibromyalgia specialist. Oh, I did, and he put me on Xanax and Lyrica, partly for sleep help, and I am sure for what he probably was also prescribing for ‘anxiety’. I hated the Xanax. In fact, it made me more anxious. The Lyrica did not help, and this doctor did not get it. I am having problems Post Hyst., and the problems are all related to this. Do women get Fibromyalgia after a Hyst.? Is this the reason we feel this way after a Hyst.? It is Fibromyalgia?
I would just really appreciate any feedback/input/help regarding this.
Thank you, and all of you take care out there; including you guys, and thanks again you two for posting. We need you, and more men to do the same (including my own husband – he just has a ‘typing phobia’, but this is too important; so I will stress this to him).
Help!
Warmest regards.
The 20th Century will be known as a time in history when gynecologists systematically hysterectomized and castrated one-third of the female population in the U.S. for PROFIT.
male in mich.
To the gentleman who recently posted indicating he can see the difference between a castrated woman and one who is “intact”. As I’ve posted before and this is not to insult any of the ladies. I can see by a womans walk, her stance, her physical appearance the effects of this mutilation. The doctors rob my wife, use her for medication swaps to see how her condition swings. It ruined a once healthy, vibrant, woman and now she has mood swings from the left and right. On good days its tolerable, on bad days I leave. Sorry to say this but it affects a mans mind. I have the patience of a statue, other men lack this fortitude and thus can’t deal with it. I understand what is happening to the woman, but what about the men in their lives. Hysterectomy is cruel to married couples. Probably leads to the divorce of 50% of hysterectomized women.
Thank you for your comment. We need to hear from more men and how it has impacted their lives. This surgery not only changes the woman’s life, but their husbands, children and friends.
Maybe if more men would speak up, the doctors would listen because they sure don’t want to listen to us.
I know how everyone in my family was destroyed by the doctor giving me an unnecessary hysterectomy and castrating me. Did I know he was castrating me, NO WAY! I had no idea the uterus, ovaries and cervix were my sex organs and when taken out my sex life and also my life as I knew it before my surgery would not be the same.
This is a very damaging and destructive surgery for everyone in the woman’s family. She will not be the person she was before her surgery. She will not have the energy she had before her surgery and she will most likely lose her husband and career. We never ask for this to happen to us. We were never told of the consequences of this surgery only that everything will be much better after the surgery and sex will not change.
WE NEED ALL MEN TO SPEAK UP! Please tell us how this surgery has affected your life.
Now, I am not an MD, nor, indeed any other type of doctor. I am a concerned man.
I have believed for over 50 years that most hysterectomies are not needed and are destructive of a woman’s vitality. Why? Because I saw the results in the mothers of my friends when I was a kid, the wives of my friends when I was a younger adult and now I see the difference between my intact post-menopausal wife and her friends who have been mutilated.
Keep up the good work of spreading the word. It is needed; it becomes more essential each day.
Just a thought, when you need a new heating pad why don’t you send your old one that doesn’t work to the doctor? Make sure you put your name on it so he remembers who you are. I hope it makes him feel guilty. You could also send him a copy of the receipt for the new heating pad.
I have to add one more thing, and then I will sit back, and once again, listen to others who post; like all do here, with an open heart.
There is no price to put on a payback amount for this: (and this
gets more frustrating and hurting as years go by after a Hyst.; in that, some family and friends begin to question. I have had a member of my family question my disabilities.
My children question why I am not the vibrant, over achieving, work fourteen hours a day, run in 12 mile races mom they once had. This, with my children, crushes me more than anything. They are good to me, but I can sense and know them only too well; they are thinking it. If they could feel what I feel and live with each day, for just one day…
They do need to view the DVD, and sit down and read posts on this blog. It would set them; hopefully, on a different pattern of thought (I should say thoughtfulness). I think I would be right in saying so many posting do experience the same.
Bibi
P.S. Family backing/support =
Being able to tolerate
I just posted, but wanted to add this. I am going to send a letter to the OB/GYN who did this barbaric act to me at some point. When I do I will reference this Blog site, but I think with the posts which have been even made this last week it is enough to ask him to read.
I have mentioned this previously about sending him a letter. I just want to be the letter of his lifetime; one in which, he will take to heart also. I hope he responds also. I am not greedy monetarily; although, I would like to be paid back every penny for the operation costs, every doctor bill I have been charged by him, every bill I paid in the follow-up with seeing other doctors, all tests, all my transportation and motel bills, etc. while seeing other doctors out of town, the misc. things I have been having to pay for to help me – an example would be the heating pads I have purchased to use, the medications I have been told to take, etc., and the list goes on and on…
Perhaps I can give him a trade on some of the things. He could come over and clean my house (or pay for a cleaning person); as I can’t do it like I did due to the damage done to me physically. He didn’t even consider my other nerve disease I had, and should never have severed any nerves on me during the Hyst. because of the untold but known amount of damage caused by a Hyst., and he could bend over with a vacuum for me to get those areas – because when I bend over now, after the Hyst., I am in such awful pain in the back. I have gone through so many heating pads. I have to use a heating pad on my abdomen daily and thru the night. It relieves my pain there. I treat my heating pad like a security blanket now, and only has been this way since the Hyst., and he can do other things for me due to my fatigue level being so high since the Hyst., and he can pay my dental bills; since I gag whenever I brush my teeth – since the Hyst.; so he can help with any damage due to me sometimes saying, “Heck with it. I won’t brush my teeth before I go to bed.” I hate to almost throw up each time I brush. I will give him my really nice lingerie wear and my ‘French Maid’ outfit, fishnet stockings, and thong underwear; as I have no use for them anymore. He can ‘Garage Sale’ these items, and give me the proceeds. He can come over, as trade, and get me ready in the morning; as this is one of the worst times. I wake up, and my abdomen, after moving around the first part of the day, feels as if someone lit a fire inside of me. And no, it is not heartburn. It is right where there is no uterus any longer. I wish he could feel one moment of that also. In fact, I wish he could feel what I feel in my body now, after the Hyst., and it might help him write that ‘payback’ check to me; along with an added amount above all this for the pain and suffering I feel after the Hyst., and will have to bear, most likely, the rest of my life. Except, if he wants to put my uterus back, free of charge…
There, I at least feel better venting. Thank you all for listening. I mock somewhat; but really, in all fairness, it is not far fetched. The “far fetching” part is he could never begin to pay me back for the damage he has done to me. This kind of devastation, for a woman, comes with no price tag.
Take care all,
Bibi
Wow! Great posts I have just read from Nov. 21st thru the 24th.
Atta girls!!!
It is awful; however, I just got really upset this evening reading all of them. Well, my mood does promote me, but it frustrates me so much, I can’t think of anything else for awhile.
I, just of recent, have been emailing a friend who told me her GYN is recommending a Hyst., and I have sent her a wealth of information, and emailed her five times on this matter. She might get overwhelmed, but I told myself after this happened to me, I would do whatever it took to save anyone from having this done to them. I will kidnap her, if that is what it takes! I’m serious…
Take care all!!!!! XOX!!!!!
Bibi
notes on the HERS 27th Conference
A friend of mine, her granddaughter, Brittany, and I went together to the evening screening of “Unbecoming”. No matter how many times I see the play, I always find myself moved to tears. The raw emotionality of it is brutal and, yet, compelling. Looking at Brittany, I could see that she, too, was affected. Such an incredibly powerful thing to do, to bring your young. The discussion that followed was lively. It is this free speech that draws us, binds us.
One woman mentioned two women who professed satisfaction with their hysterectomies. Yet, neither of the two women remained married following their surgeries. This opened the door for a conversation between myself and a lady seated beside me. She was intact and marveling that she had never heard any of this before. Her former sister-in-law had a hysterectomy and never said anything bad about it. I asked her, “Did your brother and sister-in-law get divorced before or after the surgery? Naturally, the answer was after. Here, I had to think of my own family, of my own brother, of my own sister-in-law, of their bitter divorce, and of my young nephews caught in the crossfire.
(sigh) If only I had made the connections prior to my own surgery… The sad repercussions from hysterectomy are all around us, it is just rarely that we connect the dots and, then, all too often, it is too late. For all too many, the loss of mating and maternal feelings is painfully pronounced. Nora says that she gets calls from women imprisoned who had no criminal history– that is, up until the time of their surgeries. My thoughts driving home had me regularly swiping at my tearing eyes.
The next day came early. Looking around, I saw that the conference was smaller in attendance than is usual, yet there were some decided positives in those attending. There were almost an equal number of men attending as there were women. There were several grateful women whom HERS had helped avoid a hysterectomy. Another empowering woman brought her daughter. A couple of women had come from overseas. Lastly, we actually had a suing couple manage to bring their lawyer in with them!
It is this young couple that I will address first, though, their story is all too familiar. I suspect that you’ve heard this one before. You know, the one where, days after the surgery, everything falls out? Well, here’s the kicker. She has had a repair surgery using pig tissue! She couldn’t say enough good things about her urogynecologist who, she said, refuses to use the mesh as it can erode thru tissue. She said that her doctor uses the pig tissue to make vaginas for girls born without them. That the human tissue will grow and encompass it.
Now I know that this sounds crazy but I was, perhaps, more open to it than most. You see, I have a relative who has been tooling around with a pig heart valve for about 15 years now. If he didn’t smoke like a chimney stack, then I’d hold out more promise for his future; however, to date, I do have to allow the pig some credit.
In a private discussion with one of the saved intact women, Rita, she said that she maintains an organic diet. Prior to the organic diet, she’d had multiple female health issues but that, with her organic diet, she’d lost those problems and forty pounds to boot! I asked her if she was a member of Weston A. Price? She didn’t know about WAP but was glad that I told her about it.
The conference started off with Sybil’s presentation. My panel was up next and, alright, I admit it, I cried. Our stories were all so different and yet so same. (sigh) I spend a good bit of effort trying to “wall off’ what happened and, yet, every now and again, you have to let the beast out, you know? It is very cathartic.
Genevieve spoke next. She had written us a very thought provoking piece. Feeling no shame, I cornered her and asked her to email it to me for the purpose of sharing. She said that she would once she has tweaked it. She was interested in my remarks on the book, “The Social Responsibility of Obstetrics and Gynecology” to use in future writings. Briefly, the book is advocating for the gynecologist’s role in population control of what it terms “the second class human machine.” I gave her the addall.com address and told her that, if she couldn’t find it, I would somehow dig up my copy and mail it to her. Better for it to be used constructively than to lay in lost storage, eh? It is a negatively revealing book concerning gyns that should be quoted loudly and often.
Breaking for lunch, I joined my friend and her husband, and two of the other blessedly saved ones. Get this…they’d flown together to see a particular gynecologist. The lady next to me said that, in a seven hour procedure, he’d removed sixty fibroids from her. Each woman sang his praises. Hmm…it seems that this surgeon is now 78 years old. Is it possible that, when you get older, you get more compassionate? …. Or, more afraid of a coming judgment??
After lunch, attorney Bob Meyers spoke. I always love to hear Bob talk. It isn’t his fault that the news on pursuing a medmal claims isn’t better and is, apparently, ever getting worse. His message on so called “tort reform” is incredibly important…if only we could get the general population to hear it. Then again, the same lament goes to all things HERS.
In better news, he did relate that he has won his first ever punitive award in a hysterectomy case. A Federal judge, known for being quite the womanizer, surprised all with his strongly worded upbraid of a defendant surgeon’s actions.
Seems the defense then rushed to settle. Here, Nora and I were thinking alike as we both asked for a copy. Bob is going to get it for Nora and she said that she wants to post it on the HERS site.
As the gyn guest speaker, we’ll call him “M,” takes the podium, I’m thinking about the “Bigfoot” shoes that the anatomy professor has left for M to now try to fill. Know the saying that “the devil is in the details”? Ah, yes, and the anatomy professor brought that home in a wide ranging virtuoso solo performance.
Well, in a few moments that had me proud for him, M took a much more direct approach. He simply stated that the nerves severed at a total hysterectomy include those for bladder, bowel, clitoris, vagina, and external genitalia. He spoke of the often unnecessary removal of the cervix which sacrifices substantially more ligaments, blood and nerve supply, and shortens the vagina. Yes, Nora had him clarify that leaving a stump was not to be considered a desired compromise to unnecessary hysterectomy and that many women with stumps were no better off than those without. The best approach is always the conservative as opposed to the destructive.
Still, M’s message of conservation at every opportunity was a recurring and reassuring theme throughout his talk. I think that it was the young couple’s attorney who tactfully asked if M had suffered for “departing from the herd”? M replied by recounting a disturbing story from his residency.
He was to assist a high profile surgeon whom he said was a former ranking official of the Fertility Society. Here, M injected that infertility is very rarely solved by surgical means and is, usually, hormonally based. Seems this man would open women up only to exclaim that they had fibroids– when none were visible! He would then proceed to gouge out pieces of the woman’s uterus and to puncture holes in her ovaries.
Afterwards, M questioned his chief resident if he had missed something? The reply was that he only had to assist him this first year. That as a second year resident he would be spared the maniacal. M said that, “No, he would not be assisting in this treatment again.” Which quickly brought him a summons to his superior. Appearing with a large stack of documentation to show that Maniac 1 was doing things un sustained by pathology reports, his boss quickly dismissed the stack of papers by saying that, “If he wanted to complete his residency , he would have to get over his moral hang ups.” And, the boss? Well, he was supposed to be a medical ethicist!
In the end, M was able to avoid assisting again. I have spent the past week haunted by exactly what messages the high profile surgeon sought to teach. His actions reek of hatred, disdain, duplicity, and a mind numbing superiority. The ethicist? One cannot afford to dismiss him as merely cowardly for, in truth, his stance is the foundation upon which all else is built. Is the eye blind …or, winking?
M spoke about the medical world’s complete denial of what is obvious to you and I. He said that baby boys being circumcised were denied numbing prior to the procedure because, “babies don’t feel.” That is what they are taught and, therefore, it becomes an unassailable truth. My son once recounted helping his friend, a vet tech, one day. The vet was “docking” puppy tails and, despite their pitiful yelps, nothing was given as “they can’t feel it!”
The prevalence of HPV, now estimated at as much as 50%, was discussed. M allowed that HPV should be treated conservatively as usually the body can resolve the virus much as it does a cold. He mentioned that taking cervical sections can lead to cervical incompetence. On the matter of the HPV vaccine, he is still withholding judgment as he fears long term consequences. Nora brought up that it has been found that HPV can live and be transmitted from hot tubs, underwear, etc.
M confirmed again that there is no such thing as an impossible myomectomy. He said that the extended time involved and the normal reimbursement of $1,700 versus $5,200’s for a twenty to thirty minute hysterectomy had more to do with any perceived impossibility than any anatomic structure. A lady with fibroids, trying to avoid hysterectomy, took this op to ask M about her fibroids that had, at menopause, shrank, but were now “dangerously,” according to her gyn, “growing again.” Her gyn said that her HRT could not be the cause, “Is that true?” Shaking his head, Mitch then explained estrogen’s growth role. Going back to Sybil’s mention of her role in the DES suits, he opined that DES/estrogen is now being widely put in our food and with alarming consequence. He gave the example of one in nine American women getting breast cancer. He said that other countries do not have such high rates. He mentioned a young woman that, after undergoing three rounds of IVF, now has endometrial cancer. He shook his head when he said that the fertility doctors declare the cancer unrelated to their treatments.
At this juncture, I was thinking upon healthy –and intact!– Rita.
Concluding, the Round Table discussion answered questions and focused on the future. Rick said that he had written a piece for a health industry magazine noting how 17 billion could be saved yearly were the industry to stop unnecessary hysterectomies. Two months later, there was no trace to be found on the net of Rick’s article. Rick and Nora noted that they fear many hysterectomies are now being done without being counted. It seems that surgeries done in a doctor’s office, in a military hospital, or on a reservation are not counted.
Bob said he didn’t believe that surgeons would give up on unnecessary hysterectomy. He cited the example of a group of hand surgery specialists who had done amazing work, but, that, now, their referrals were down by half. Why? Well, it seems that, in this soured economy, the general surgeons are now keeping the work for themselves.
Perhaps, the second brightest news of the conference came in the announcement that Nora and Rick have almost finished their book. It is to be titled, “The H Word” and should be available in February.
The first brightest news? That Nora and Rick have no intention of giving up.
The criminal who did this to me only told me one thing. He said that I could be totally recovered within 2 weeks (from an abdominal hysterectomy). A hysterectomy was being pushed on me because of an ovarian cyst and because none of it made sense to me, I said no. I thought I had the right to refuse a surgery, yet when I awoke from anesthesia, I learned that my ovaries, uterus, and cervix had been amputated without my consent (informed or uninformed) and against my will. To say it is devastating would be an understatement. The description of the sexual dysfunction in the above post says it all. The beautiful intense sensation I had is forever gone. I can barely climax and even if I do, it’s very weak and only lasts 1-2 seconds and there is now no such thing as multiple orgasms, when before I could have 3-8 on a regular basis. I cannot bear to have intercourse after trying once and almost having a nervous breakdown from the pain and devastation.
This was such a powerful post by Maggie Lee on a feminist blog that I’m reposting it here:
This year in the UK there will be approximately 40,000 hysterectomies performed on the NHS. For private operations, the figure is not so well-known and estimates vary from 20,000 to 50,000. So, in total, between 60,000 and 90,000 hysterectomies are performed each year in the UK. The woman undergoing a hysterectomy is, statistically, likely to be in her early 40s. She’ll have had a total abdominal hysterectomy – uterus and cervix amputated – as a ‘sub total’ is rarely performed. If the ovaries are kept, and increasingly in most cases they are not, they will fail within five years.
By the age of 55, one woman in five will be wombless. In the USA the ratio is a mind-numbing one in three. These statistics are shocking and this pattern has remained for at least a decade. It’s hard to countenance that these latest figures show a fall in the number of hysterectomies performed.
Hysterectomy is a euphemistic term that describes the amputation of the uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes and ovaries. These are often described as the internal reproductive organs of a woman. As far as medicine is concerned, these organs are geared towards getting the woman pregnant and bringing a baby to term; you don’t need a vagina to give birth to a baby. Once a woman has done this procedure, usually twice in her reproductive life span, the uterus and cervix are considered by many to be useless.
An orgasm is no longer an expression of blissful pleasure, either shared or not. There is no climax as such, but an abrupt deflation of the build up of pleasurable feelings which used to explode into a glorious burst of ecstasy.
‘A useless organ’ that will bleed and therefore hamper unbridled sexual access Some of a woman’s best sex may happen during her period.
‘A useless organ’ that will harbour cancer and kill Only 10% of hysterectomies are performed for life-saving procedures.
‘A useless organ’ that will prolapse and cause incontinence A hysterectomy compromises pelvic muscle strength, causes displacement of the remaining pelvic organs and is more likely to lead to bladder problems. The most common prolapse post-hysterectomy is an enterocele. This is a piece of small bowel pushing against the vaginal walls. After a hysterectomy the small bowel moves down and rests either on top of the cervical stump or more likely, the vaginal cuff.
‘A useless organ’ that contributes nothing to a woman’s hormonal production
Ovarian health is sustained via the uterine arteries. These are severed during any type of hysterectomy. Within five years the ovaries fail.
The uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes and ovaries are sex organs. They contract during an orgasm providing powerful waves of pleasure. I should know. My perfectly healthy sex organs were amputated, and now I have an orgasm only to maintain pelvic health and it is dreaded.
For me, an orgasm is no longer an expression of blissful pleasure, either shared or not. Instead my vaginal cuff contracts weakly, and I’m physically reminded of what is missing. There is no climax as such, but an abrupt deflation of the build up of pleasurable feelings which used to explode into a glorious burst of ecstasy.
I liken it to a geyser. Before my sexually disfiguring operation, the geyser burst upwards in all its sparkly directions, holding firm for many very long, very glorious seconds. I would also have several other orgasms for dessert after.
The operation revealed that I had no outward signs of this disease. Nevertheless my useless, no longer needed ‘reproductive organs’ were amputated. I’m suing the doctors.
Now the geyser just about makes it out of the spout and dribbles along the ground. It stutters to life for several times after. ‘Old faithful’ has more life in it than me. The result is deep dissatisfaction and pain. It’s all I’ve got now though, so I guess I have no option. I can only remember the last orgasm I had when heavily pregnant with my third child. I remember feeling the powerful but pleasurable wave of contractions just under my sternum. I remember the feeling that my uterus was bear-hugging my baby.
Penetration is also a problem. I have four inches of vagina and this is considered normal. I’m assured my vagina has not been shortened. It has a large scar at the top sexily termed the vaginal cuff. Scars don’t stretch. My partner has eight inches of erection. It doesn’t take a physicist to work out that this is a scenario that will not reap success. I’ve never known pelvic pain on intercourse until I had sex after my hysterectomy. I’ve researched the pain and it seems similar to that suffered by those with severe endometriosis. To counteract the fact that full penetration is no longer possible, I imagine I’m in a porn film. I really don’t know how long I can keep up this scenario.
Most distressing of all is the relationship between me and my three children. I feel as if an invisible, but powerful bond has been severed. I know this is hard to quantify in actual physical terms, but it is real nonetheless. I now feel as if they are my dearly adored and much loved nephew and nieces. There is nothing I can do to recover this. I try to think of them when I was pregnant and have searched through the photos of me and my large, glorious bumps but there is nothing. I look at the grinning me holding the tiny, just born bundles and there is nothing. Quite honestly, never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen. This is, for me, the most devastating iatrogenic effect I’ve suffered.
I no longer trust doctors. I had a CT scan, an MRI and a pelvic exam under anaesthetic. I was told that I had a recurrent disease (a low malignant tumour). The operation revealed that I had no outward signs of this disease. Nevertheless my useless, no longer needed ‘reproductive organs’ were amputated. I’m suing the doctors.
However, I don’t want any more women to suffer. I’ve written this as a warning. I hope it’s heeded.
Maggie Lee is 47 years old. When living in Ireland, she helped in the campaign to get a ‘yes’ vote on the referendum for divorce. She has always been interested in women’s issues. She had three children after privately undergoing ‘fertility sparing’ surgery 19 years ago for the treatment of a low malignant ovarian tumour. She had a small seeding recurrence taken from the old scar three years ago. A year ago, a ‘large invasive ovarian tumour’ was seen on MRI and CT scans and ‘felt’ during a pelvic exam under anaesthetic. She did discuss that if there was any possibility of saving the uterus. There was no tumour and nothing seen on pathology. Her remaining ovary, fallopian tube, uterus and cervix were nevertheless amputated. She currently uses a vaginal ring as HRT
I was told only that my endometriosis would be “cured” and that I would take HRT that would keep all my menopausal symptoms at bay. Oh, and I would not be able to have children (I was childless and 33 years old). No brainer. I was told by other women that it was the best thing they ever did and how much more energy I would have.
I was NOT told about possible scar tissue and more endometriosis and more surgeries I would and did need. I was NOT told that hormone balance after having ovaries removed and still being at your prime would be extremely difficult if not impossible, that my sex drive even with testosterone replacement would be nothing like before and my vagina would be like dead meat. I was NOT told about the continuous yeast infections that I now struggle with and NEVER had before my hysterectomy, about the chemical changes in your vaginal flora from lack of hormones there, and the loss of control of my emotions/moods and weight and endocrine functioning. I was not told that I would be diagnosed with osteoporosis at 34. And I was not told that the frightening loss of control over my body due to lack of needed hormones and endocrine disruption would retrigger my battle with anorexia nervosa and severe depression all over again, both of which I am in treatment for. On top of seeing hormone specialists, fibromyalgia specialists, various ob/gyns and surgeons, pelvic pain specialists, naturopathic docs, and the list goes on. I am so broke it is ridiculous. I am literally fighting for my life. It is a much bigger deal than just having “useless and troublesome organs” removed.
I was told NOTHING about the consequences of the surgery, ONLY that everything would be great, nothing would change and getting rid of my period would be wonderful! SOUND GREAT, RIGHT! That is why the doctor talked me into having my uterus, ovaries and cervix removed all for a pea-sized fibroid.
Why would a doctor ever hand the DVD ‘Female Anatomy’ to women? If they did, most women would never have the surgery and doctors wouldn’t be making $$$. They will only do this if there is a law passed to force them. If they have the time to tell you how great this surgery is, then they have the time to hand you this DVD.
I now have the problems stated above plus a dozen more. There are no benefits to this surgery unless you have CONFIRMED cancer.
I want to thank Nora and the HERS Foundation for their help and for educating women of the damages caused by this surgery. Doctors are not going to tell you and why would they.
We all need to support the HERS Foundation so this barbaric act against women and young girls stop NOW!