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

Terri,

At the risk of offending some of those who suffered from bad experiences, I would like to tell you that I have a very good, longtime friend who will tell you that having a hysterectomy (and she had her ovaries out as well) was the best thing she had ever done. She had multiple issues with bleeding and fibroids, and her mother died of ovarian cancer. It has been a relief to her physically and mentally as well. She was on HRT afterward for a few years and then slowly weaned off of it when it seemed the time was right. She's happy and healthy and knows it was the right decision for her.

This is not to tell you that your decision (either way) is the right one or the wrong one. It's to say that every woman is an individual, and her health issues are hers alone, in the end. You must have a doctor that you trust. You must be able to do some research for yourself (of which you are doing an admirable job). You must be able to then be confident that the decision you are making with your body and your research and your doctor is the correct one --- for YOU.

In a perfect world, all our organs would function correctly and we'd be living healthy lives with good nutrition, low stress, few if any illnesses or diseases, and a vital outlook. But we aren't there yet. This conversation is hugely important and the passion that writers bring to it is fabulous. It's only through discussions like this that an issue gets furthered. But demonizing one side or the other isn't the solution, I don't think. Information, and tons of it, is.

The endocrine system regulates a woman's bodily function and emotions through all of the human hormone receptors. I am convinced hiding the endocrine system from women through routine gynecological exams is vital to the gynecologists female iatrogenic illness contribution to the medical industry. The Gynecologist surgeons are "handing chronically ill woman (via: sex organ, endocrine organ amputation) to the medical industry for a life-time of various CAUSED (iatrogenic) HEALTH CARE PROBLEMS"...This is what the Gynecologists are doing to women. The negligence of not informing women of the known medical facts regarding the amputation of the female sex organs including the endocrine system (ovaries) by deceit must be eradicated immediately. The known gynecological iatrogenic illness epidemic is embarrassing for the entire medical industry at this point and is "THE MOST HEINOUS ACT OF MEDICAL DECEIT RECORDED IN HISTORY-FEMALE SEX ORGAN AMPUTATION/CASTRATION BY MEDICAL DECEIT FOR PROFIT". I believe every branch of medicine would be positively affected if the biggest "best kept secret" in medical history "female sex organ amputation/castration by medical deceit for profit" is brought "out" and ended by law. Sign the HERS Foundation-Petition to add informed consent to the gynecological consent form.

Ok, folks, now it is time for me to “Let the dogs out!” Anyone having any doubt about any of this: spaying and neutering are medically the same thing being done to animals as are hysterectomy and ovary removal for women! And one of the main reasons that this is done to animals? To “calm” them down! Think stallion to gelding. And what happens to animals afterwards? A few looks around your neighborhood’s backyards will show you that “fixed” animals become fat and lazy and lack motivation. Page thru some pet magazines and you can find ads for animal hrt, too. So, why does the medical profession continue to insist that women are somehow different from every other animal on the planet? Well, if it they admitted it, then they’d have to stop, now wouldn’t they?

Terry, I know there are a lot of long posts with a lot of information, and I'm sure it must be overwhelming, but to make it simple, fibroids can be removed, it's called myomectomy. That is what you need done, and then you do not have to worry about any of this. Ask yourself why your doctor would suggest a hysterectomy, when your fibroid could just be removed? If you had a tumor on your kidney, do you think they'd remove your kidney? Of course not, they would remove the tumor and leave the kidney intact.

If I was you, I would contact the Hers Foundation and see if I could get a referral to a doctor who specializes in removing fibroids. Many gynecologists will not remove the fibroids because they only get paid about $300 and it takes more time than to remove the uterus which they get paid five times that amount. If you just get a second opinion from a random doctor, you could get the same opinion to remove your uterus when there is no need for that.

As far as looking for opinions of women saying that it's great, be very careful. I know women who told me that it was the best thing they ever did, only to find out after the fact that they were having sexual dysfunction and all kinds of other problems. Since your uterus is a hormone responsive sex organ, it only makes logical sense that it would have a negative effect on your sexual response. Please look at all the pictures on the HERS website and look at all the nerves and blood supply that's severed when the uterus is amputated. It is really a mutilating damaging surgery, and there's no need when you just have a fibroid or ovarian cysts. Both can be removed.

Terri,

I am afraid that I cannot tell you anything good about hysterectomy except that it opened my eyes to the medical profession's all too often shabby treatment of patients. I can tell you that I had women around me who said zip, nada, zilch against it before my surgery, but were quick enough to agree with me about it afterwards.
One book that I read explained that from primitive times onward women had to depend on men for their and their children's very survival. This put women in the position of always competing against other women. The book was suggesting that this primal instinct to "best" another woman is still within us. I'd feel better if I could discount it, but I can't.
As to the breast cancer, this month's AARP has an article, "The Anticaner Lifestyle," about an up and coming, ambitious physician and neuroscience researcher who just coincidentally filled in for a no show at a project only to have a brain scan unexpectedly reveal a cancerous brain tumor. Estimates gave him only a few years to live...that was 16 years ago.
He has used his advanced training to stave off the cancer and he has written a book about how he is doing it. The book is "Anticancer: A New Way of Life" by David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD. He is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Univ. of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Here is my favorite quote from the article, "The first thing that I learned is that we all carry cancer cells in us, even if only a few. But we also have natural defenses that usually prevent these cells from becoming an aggressive disease. These defenses include our immune system; the bodily functions that control inflammation; foods that reduce the growth of blood vessels needed by tumors.
More than one third of Americans will develop detectable cancer. But nearly two thirds will not; their natural defenses will have kept the disease from taking hold. To survive my brain cancer, I knew, I'd need to learn how to strengthen my own protective systems."
I hope that this in some small way helps you. I have said a prayer for you.

I am overwhelmed by so much information! Thank you for your passionate responses. You've given me much to think about.

I have to ask, however, isn't there anybody out there who hasn't had a bad experience? I would still really, really like to hear from those ladies. If all I hear are the negatives, I'm unable to weigh the pros and cons. It causes me to dig in my heals a little bit because I have nothing to compare this information to. It's not stubbornness, I just need some balance. Does that make sense?

After reading all of this, of one thing I'm certain - I will get a second opinion. I don't want to risk losing my ability to feel things, sexual or otherwise; to feel joyful, maternal.

Right now I'm being treated for breast cancer so there won't be any surgery for at least 4 months. That'll give me ample time to research alternatives. Thanks again.

Terri