Due to have a hysterectomy but am scared to death after viewing a video about side effects!

Terri, Hello,

I know you are wanting to hear from women who have not had "serious side effects' after a Hyst.,
but I continue to implore you not to have one. Take 'Anonymous' who recently posted who had her
Hyst. in March of this year. She is still in the phase of not realizing all the other "side effects"
which come after a Hyst., and the swelling is a start of what will be many other bad side effects afterwards. See, she is still in 'recovery' mode. I wish I could give her help for the swelling. My
advice is to put her hands in cold water, and let sit for several minutes to alleviate the swelling
and pain. It has worked for me with swelling in my feet.

Terri, I am here to help you, and I am on the firm side to state to any woman to not have a Hyst., as it only leads to the adverse and dibilitating horrible physical effects one will realize afterwards. You may hear from women who state their Hyst. went fine, and do not suffer with problems with a surgery of this magnitude. I say - One - some women are not being forthright with the complications they 'bear' afterwards. Two - some women may experience less complications than others, and feel this may be part of having to live with the aftermath of a surgery. Three - some women are the lucky few who do feel better. I was hoping for this with having this Hyst., and how fooled I was and dismayed. My entire life has been changed. See, I was told I had two small fibroids in my uterus; thus, this caused heavy bleeding, and led to anemia. My GYN said I MUST have a Hyst., and right away to take care of this, and I got pushed into having one. I was never given any alternatives, told about possible "serious side effects" which may occur by having a Hyst.; and in other words, not given any alternatives to look at to save myself from having this major surgery, remove my uterus, and told of these possibilities that women do realize (as I do now) with living with and do suffer by having a Hyst., removing ovaries, etc., and suffer suffer horrific complications, life altering complications by having a Hyst.. I would go back in a 'heartbeat' to not have had this Hyst., and why did my GYN not advise me of alternatives, tell me of the possibilities I may suffer with after a Hyst., etc., etc., and this is what angers me; among so many other things, Terri. This was a doctor I put full faith into, and trusted him. This is what I just do not want to see happen to you, and every other female on our earth. Listen to all who respond to your questions with, but remember this... make sure you have made your decision by being truly informed, listened to all alternatives, and remember - there is no going back. This is not a leg fracture, which afterwards can be treated with alternatives in the aftermath. A doctor cannot put your uterus back, your ovaries, your cervix, your bowels back in the same place, etc.. What is done - is done.

I would rather have lived with the pain of those bleeding periods due to those fibroids in me, and countered the anemia with iron shots, and such; rather than all that I suffer with now. I have suffered, my family has suffered, and friends who love me. How could a doctor not inform me I might have to face many physical complications by having this surgery done? Well, I know the answer to this now. It was self thinking of him for greed, power, and money in his pocket. Please do not have a Hyst., and search for those alternatives out there. They are there. Sadly, doctors do not want to inform you of these...

Terri, you take care. Have the Hers Foundation help you even further with any questions you may have.
They are not one sided at all. They are informative, and truly for the concept of saving women from being mutilated/castrated for no reason. Please, oh please, heed my words here.

Again, I know you are wanting to hear from women who have come out fine after this kind of surgery,
but understand I would not be taking the time to type all this to you if it was not of such great importance to help another woman. I wish I would have received a response/reply as this before I had my Hyst. - oh, how I wish...

Is there anybody else out there who hasn't experienced serious side effects from a hysterectomy?

If this is a repeat question, I apologise and would appreciate being directed to the answer. I underwent an uneventful full hysterectomy operation on March 24 and have not encountered any debilitating after effects yet, except for hot flashes. I'm taking Macafem, a non-phytoestrogenic supplement and I guess it will be a while before I see the benefits if any. Some 3 weeks ago however, my finger joints swelled so that I cannot wear my wedding band and they feel really painful, especially when I wake up in the mornings. It takes the greater part of the day before the pain lessens and the fingers become more flexible. Does anyone have any answers for me?

Angela

Thank you.

To learn more abut female anatomy and how the female organs function, including their sexual function, read the new book "The H Word" at www.hersfoundation.org/hword

I would like to congratulate Nora Coffee and HERS Foundation on being awarded the 2009, Women's Way.org, "Powerful Voice Award". http://www.womensway.org/events-annual.asp?year=2009
I would also like to thank all of the women on this forum for being helpful to me by sharing information and support. It is long overdue to pass legislation to end hysterectomy/castration by deceit for profit in the U.S.A. This is an "All IN OUR HANDS" not "all in our heads" issue. "The pen is mightier than the scalpel".

I asked one of my doctor's about a vaccine for cancer and she said that it was for younger women, not me (age 54). Could this the same one you're referring to?

Terri

Neaveh, your comments are all too accurate. I now want to comment on HPV. Did you know that several decades ago the HPV cervical cancer link was well established--with studies showing HPV in more than 98% of cervical cancers and suggesting that the small remainder was more a failure to detect the HPV than its' absence? Wouldn't you think that a true medical advocacy would require cautioning women as to this link? Wouldn't you think that medical advocacy would require that an HPV test would be routinely done before removing a uterus for fear of cancer? I have to ask, "Why was this kept from us?"
Only with big pharma's HPV vaccine and, thus, a new revenue stream are we seeing partial info. go public. And, folks, again unemployed housewife here, but, if one virus can cause cancer, don't you think that there might be others? Btw, a speaker at the HERS conference said he was withholding judgement on the HPV vaccine as he felt there was insufficient data on it, and, that, like your body's immune system can defeat a cold virus, that, normally, it can defeat HPV.
And I want to go back to my earlier comments about how deceptive doctor and hospital sites can be. The HERS Foundation site has several great pieces on this if anyone is interested in reading more on it. Again, group, don't think that there are not plenty of so called experts with very deep pockets who wouldn't love to shut the door on all this bad press. You see, they just have one tiny problem: you can't sue for someone's telling the truth.
While we are recommending books, Cutler's "Before and After Hysterectomy" is, by today's standards, old, but, has some nuggets as well. I feel that she said as much as she could get by with at the time. Btw, I understand that she is married to a gyn which I think gives her more insight than most. She talks about how a supposed "math error" led to a grossly inflated rate of ovarian cancer--and, hence, a greatly heightened push for more female castrations. Something else that Cutler talks about: the huge importance of pheromones. You know, she won a Nobel prize for her research on pheromones. Hmm, the distinct "female scent" is from cervical secretions. (sigh) I remember crying the whole time I was reading her book-- but knowing was still better than not knowing. If I'd bought it, my surgeon's, "all in your head," would've been a sure ticket to insanity.