I've said it time and again... Hysterectomy is medical abuse of women. Over half a million women undergo hysterectomy each year in the U.S., yet only about 90% are medically unnecessary. Therefore, healthy organs are removed from women on a "routine'"basis. This is not acceptable! Unsuspecting women agree to hysterectomy because gynecologists do not tell them the truth about the consequences of removing their sex organs. In other words, they lie to women. There, I said it. They lie to women. There, I said it again.
They don't tell them that hysterectomy will place them at risk for bone loss, heart disease, brain diseases, various cancers, pelvic organ prolapse, serious eye problems, sexual dysfunction, etc. They don't tell them that by removing their ovaries, they are 'castrating' them. Although 'castration' is the correct medical term for removal of the ovaries, doctors purposely don't use it. They don't use it because they know that women know what 'castration' means. They know women would run. Hysterectomy is big business for gynecologists. Gynecologists know that women would not so readily agree to hysterectomy if they told them the truth about the life-long adverse consequences. Telling the truth would interfere with the gynecologist's biggest money-maker - hysterectomy.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled it constitutes "cruel and unusual" punishment to surgically castrate convicted sex offenders. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, even convicted sex offenders do not deserve to be treated less than human. "Requiring castration for rape means we have decided it is acceptable to treat prisoners less than human." Gynecologists evidently believe it's okay to treat women as less than human! Where is the outrage! There should be mutiny in the streets! Yet, there is silence. Only silence.
There are thousands upon thousands of innocent women living in a 'castrated state' via the barbaric and mutilating surgery called hysterectomy. The surgical castration of women in the U.S. absolutely constitutes "cruel and unusual" punishment! It's past time that we, as a civilized society, recognize that hysterectomy and castration is unethical, immoral and altogether wrong. It's past time that we recognize hysterectomy for what it is. It is cruel in most cases! Hysterectomy is a horrific injustice that's been inflicted upon women for far too long. It must end. I created a petition on Change.org regarding this issue. Please don't remain silent about the medical abuse of women. Sign my petition. (See link at bottom of page).
While testifying in Indiana regarding hysterectomy informed consent a few years ago, I met a woman from Michigan who was unnecessarily hysterectomized and castrated without being informed of any of the adverse consequences. Her name is Susan Urquhart and she wrote a book titled 'Uninformed Consent' which includes a chapter titled 'Violence in Medicine'. Following is an excerpt from that chapter in Susan's book:
"Victims of violence are often trusting of the person who commits the crime. Keynote speaker Dr. Lopa A. Meta's presentation at the 21st HERS Conference was about violence in medicine, specifically gynecologist's role in aiding and abetting it. She explained, "In India, there is much less gynecological intervention; and statistically women do just as well, maybe better." Those were strong words! I thought about the validity of her comments and how they particularly pertained to my own personal experience. It had taken all of this time for me to recognize the scope of all of my new limitations, disabilities and losses and to fully comprehend that I was victimized.
After listening to other victims of this violence, I began to see similarities in what they experienced after the crime and my reaction to discovering deliberate unnecessary surgery. We share a loss of status, a sense of betrayal, rage, the inability to move past the transgression and we are unable to forgive the perpetrator. I am convinced I am suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); I wonder if it may be the cause of my nightmares.
Be it a date-rape or a pedophile priest sexually abusing a child, the victims are often trusting of the person who commits the crime, making it even more difficult for the victim to sort out the reasons for the assault and betrayal. I can't help but see the parallels. I consider what happened to me to be analogous to the pedophile priest scandal in the Catholic Church. I see little difference to the harm done to the young victims of sexual abuse and women who are exploited by having had essential body parts unnecessarily removed for profit.
Like the young molested children, women - gynecologists' victims - can only begin the healing when this practice is exposed for what it is and the violators become contrite, apologize and step down. I cry out in the night from my nightmares. I am suffering still. (Susan wrote her book twelve years after her hysterectomy). These are horrible things that gynecologists do to women. Can you imagine removing a man's testicles, shortening his penis, removing nerve endings and a major blood supply to his genital area and expecting him to function sexually again, to feel that he is a man, even with supplemental male hormones!
Yet gynecologists do this to woman every day and send them home to sort it all out; to live the rest of their lives without experiencing orgasm, emotionally, physically and intellectually bankrupt. What makes this realization, the nightmares, the losses so incredulous to me is to see my former gynecologist resume this practice, unscathed. There was no justice!
Apparently, the doctors at my former gynecologist's hospital still view hysterectomy as the 'solution' to women's health problems. The doctors and the administrators at the hospital lent no credence to my complaint regarding the egregious treatment by my former gynecologist. How are women ever going to get the medical profession to change a standard of care that is so permissive to the gynecologist; one that absolves atrocities and critical acts performed upon women for profit.
Susan went on in the next chapter to say "What happened to me was like a date-rape! I was the victim of a violent act perpetuated by somebody I trusted. Since this unfortunate event, in order to make some sense of my life, I reached out to other women who were at risk of incurring the same violence. It was a direction in life I would not have chosen to follow but it was one which I now found I had no choice but to follow.
Like Susan, I would never have chosen the future that was chosen for me by my former gynecologist. I would never have chosen to spend my every waking moment talking about hysterectomy, writing about hysterectomy and, most of all, warning other women about hysterectomy. I feel as if I have no choice but to follow this new direction in my life. I am not the kind of person who can remain silent about injustice or unnecessary suffering... Hysterectomy has forever changed who I am, how I think, how I feel or more appropriately 'how I don't feel'. The woman I knew for forty-six years is gone. She died on the operating room table behind surgery doors at Mercy Hospital Anderson in Cincinnati Ohio on September 27, 2007.
Please click on the following link to sign my petition on Change.org http://www.change.org/petitions/help-stop-unnecessary-hysterectomy-and-castration
Sunday, December 30, 2012
The American Way of Hysterectomy
The following is an excerpt from 'The Hysterectomy Hoax' by Stanley West M.D. The title of this chapter in Dr. West's book is 'The American Way of Hysterectomy'. The title says a lot. America leads the entire world in performing hysterectomies. According to Dr. West, the high rate of hysterectomy in the U.S. tells us more about doctors than it does about disease.
"When I was a resident at a big teaching hospital in the Northeast, the chief of the department of gynecology (let's call him Dr. Smith) performed two or three hysterectomies a day, five days a week. I often assisted him and I can assure you that most of the women we operated on had absolutely nothing wrong with them. It was common knowledge in the hospital that many (if not most) of Dr. Smith's hysterectomies unnecessary. How did he get away with it?
Well, first of all, he was a powerful man, widely respected for his surgical - and political - skills. He had carved out a fiefdom for himself, which he ruled with unquestioned authority. He was also a man of great personal charm. His patients loved him for his warm manner and solicitude. He assiduously courted their goodwill and conveyed to each one the sense that she was a special case deserving of his individual attention. In that respect, he 'sold' hysterectomies as skillfully as he performed them. He made a lot of money.
Every year, over 600,000 American women undergo hysterectomy. At that rate, one out of every three women in this country will have had a hysterectomy by the time she reaches her sixtieth birthday. The very idea that one third of all the women in the United States will develop problems severe enough to warrant hysterectomy just doesn't make sense. If gynecological disorders were so widespread, surely we would see an equivalent rate of hysterectomy elsewhere in the world, but no other country comes close to matching the number of hysterectomies performed in the United States. And there certainly is no indication that women in other countries are worse off than American women because they do not have the benefit of so many hysterectomies.
I'm afraid that the American way of hysterectomy tells us a lot more about doctors than it does about disease. The surprisingly outdated attitudes doctors harbor toward female patients are a big part of the problem. Some very old-fashioned views remain embedded in medical training. It may take a few more decades and more medical consumerism on the part of women before the old attitudes give way to a more rational and scientific basis for hysterectomy."
For an in-depth look at the roots of gynecology and hysterectomy, please read 'Genocide: Hysterectomy, Capitalist Patriarchy and the Medical Abuse of Women'. Gynocide: Hysterectomy, Capitalist
"When I was a resident at a big teaching hospital in the Northeast, the chief of the department of gynecology (let's call him Dr. Smith) performed two or three hysterectomies a day, five days a week. I often assisted him and I can assure you that most of the women we operated on had absolutely nothing wrong with them. It was common knowledge in the hospital that many (if not most) of Dr. Smith's hysterectomies unnecessary. How did he get away with it?
Well, first of all, he was a powerful man, widely respected for his surgical - and political - skills. He had carved out a fiefdom for himself, which he ruled with unquestioned authority. He was also a man of great personal charm. His patients loved him for his warm manner and solicitude. He assiduously courted their goodwill and conveyed to each one the sense that she was a special case deserving of his individual attention. In that respect, he 'sold' hysterectomies as skillfully as he performed them. He made a lot of money.
Every year, over 600,000 American women undergo hysterectomy. At that rate, one out of every three women in this country will have had a hysterectomy by the time she reaches her sixtieth birthday. The very idea that one third of all the women in the United States will develop problems severe enough to warrant hysterectomy just doesn't make sense. If gynecological disorders were so widespread, surely we would see an equivalent rate of hysterectomy elsewhere in the world, but no other country comes close to matching the number of hysterectomies performed in the United States. And there certainly is no indication that women in other countries are worse off than American women because they do not have the benefit of so many hysterectomies.
I'm afraid that the American way of hysterectomy tells us a lot more about doctors than it does about disease. The surprisingly outdated attitudes doctors harbor toward female patients are a big part of the problem. Some very old-fashioned views remain embedded in medical training. It may take a few more decades and more medical consumerism on the part of women before the old attitudes give way to a more rational and scientific basis for hysterectomy."
For an in-depth look at the roots of gynecology and hysterectomy, please read 'Genocide: Hysterectomy, Capitalist Patriarchy and the Medical Abuse of Women'. Gynocide: Hysterectomy, Capitalist
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Today ~ A Tear Fell
I wrote the below poem out of my own pain; obviously. I decided to include it on my site on a separate page because I think it's critical for hysterectomized and/or castrated women to know that they are not alone.
I think perhaps the most devastating consequence of these surgeries is the loss of 'connection' we feel to all of those around us. The ugly truth is most of us suffer in silence..... Hopefully, there is coming a day when that won't be the case.
VERSED - Better Known as the Date-Rape Drug
As I've stated in other posts on my site, Versed was used (against my will) to knock me out so a total hysterectomy could be performed without my consent. Versed is also known as the 'date-rape' drug. It is used to make a person 'compliant' and induces 'conscious sedation'. It causes a person to 'not remember'. Versed rapes a person of their memory. It's a dangerous drug which is not in the best interest of patients.
Before you agree to hysterectomy or any surgery, you need to research this drug. I ran across a very informative blog about Versed shortly after my surgery in 2007 which I highly recommend you visit. The link for that site is www.nomidazolam.blogspot.com
You might also want to visit www.askapatient.com to read more about Versed. Ask-A-Patient is a site where patients write reviews about medications they've taken and they rate them based on their personal experience. My story is posted on the site along with many many others. I met a woman via this site who had a similar experience as me with Versed being administered prior to surgery without consent. Below is her story in her words.
I asked my surgeon 3 weeks before the surgery if I could have the Foley catheter placed while I was awake- he agreed. On the day of my surgery, I asked him again- he agreed. I asked the OR nurses if I could have the cath placed while awake- they all agreed, and one said she'd be the one to do it- it was fine with her.
The anesthesiologist was very snappy with me because I asked if I could keep my tongue jewelry in. She bossed me very rudely " Take it out now!" and the nurse explained that I wanted to keep it in until the very LAST possible moment (because tongue piercings can close very quickly). She said "The tongue ring comes out NOW!"
When the anesthesiologist said "I'll go get the goodies" and left the OR Prep room to get medication, another nurse asked me if I understood that one of the medications they would issue would cause amnesia- I asked if they could hold off on all medications until the catheter was placed- that I wanted to remember it. Every nurse in the room agreed. However, no one explained to me AT THAT TIME, that the medication would cause RETROGRADE amnesia. I don't even know if this is true.
When the anesethesiologist came back, the other nurses told her that I'd like to hold off on all medication until after the catheter was in. She walked behind me and started fiddling around with "something", as she rudely agreed to wait on the meds. She said in a way that frightened me "That is very unusual". I asked her if I had upset her and she said "No! Let's go! Let's do this!" very rudely.
I was immediately wheeled out of the room. Very quickly I started getting drowsy. I don't remember the trip to the OR. I have short snippets of memory- the feeling of being wheeled, waking up with my gown up and my legs open, the pain of the catheter insertion. I remember talking at times throughout this duration- trying to say that I shouldn't be feeling sleepy yet, asking why I was feeling drowsy.
However, I could not see straight, just bodies moving to the right of me and at my head, arms reaching toward me, people grabbing my legs etc. I kept drifting in and out of conciousness, I don't recall anyone answering my questions and my last memory is rolling my head to the right and giving up.
The next thing I remember is waking up (if you could call it that) in recovery, shivering, trying to sit up and talk. There were people talking around me, removing the EKG wires from my chest etc. I was trying to ask questions, and once again, I don't recall anyone responding to me.
They wheeled me to a regular hospital room. When I was able to see the clock, I noted the time, and asked for my husband who was in the waiting room. The nurse came back a while later and said that my husband was not in the waiting room. I began to cry for the next hour, confused and drowsy. Two more nurses who noticed said they'd try to find him.
Finally he came in an hour or an hour and a half later and said he'd been in the waiting room the entire time-asking about me at the desk. It turns out that they just didn't have my paperwork there yet, so my husbands name was never on the "To Page" list.
My surgeon didn't see me for 2 more days. I asked him why I wasn't awake for the cath insertion and he said that I was. He said he was there, I was awake, and talking. As the days go by, I realize that I am completely disappointed in my surgeon-who I really liked. I'm now realizing that he lied to me as well.
He told me that the Versed caused retrograde amnesia-implying that the drug wasn't administered until after the cath insertion, and I just didn't remember it because the amnesia was RETROGRADE. This is an obvious lie, as I REMEMBER fighting sleep, trying to talk, not being able to see straight, and waking up periodically during my move to the OR and the cath insertion. Why would I have an immediate realization that I was getting sleepy, if I wasn't even drugged yet?!
I requested the operative report, which stated that I was placed in a lateral decubitous with low lithotomy position. I am distressed by this as I did not know my legs would be open. I also did not know that they would "prep" my perenium before surgery.
My surgeon failed to tell me that he DEFINATELY WOULD be performing a cystoscopy (a camera up the urethra to view the bladder). I signed a paper that gave consent to perform one- but as I signed it, my surgeon told me that he would only do one in the event that he could not place the stent through the the incisions "sometimes it's difficult that way".
According to the operative report, he WAS able to place the stent through the incisions. He performed the cystoscopy to check the position of the stent after everything else was done. Why then, did he omit the fact that he would check the stent that way? Why do doctors try to hide what they do? I signed the freakin consent...why then not inform me about things happening TO me?!
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
'An Intact Woman' by Stanley West M.D.
You don't need a hysterectomy.
It can do you more harm than good.
Those are strong words but the fact is that more than 90 percent of hysterectomies are unnecessary. Worse, the surgery can have long-lasting physical, emotional, and sexual consequences that may undermine your health and well-being. 'Hysterectomy Hoax' is about hysterectomy, the unacceptable risks it poses, and the alternatives available to treat the vast majority of disorders that can lead to surgery.
Hysterectomy is, by definition, the removal of a vital female organ, the uterus. About 40 percent of the time, the ovaries are also removed in the course of surgery. (It's very likely that this percentage is much higher today..). Considering the importance of both these organs, you would assume that a disorder would have to be very serious to justify removing them. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Most of the "female problems" that lead to hysterectomy are medically trivial. They can be uncomfortable. Untreated, some can make your life miserable. But they will not kill you. Why have major surgery to remove an organ (your uterus) or organs (uterus and ovaries) that define you as a woman and are essential to your physical, emotional, and sexual well-being unless your life is in danger? No man would agree to have his sexual and reproductive organs removed for anything short of a life-threatening illness. And no doctor would suggest such a radical course of action.except when the alternative is certain death. It is time for women to recognize hysterectomy for the threat it is and to refuse to have the surgery except when there lives are at stake.
At this point, you must be wondering who I am and why I am so opposed to hysterectomy. I am a gynecologist, a specialist in the treatment of infertility and chief of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at St. Vincent's Hospital, one of New York city's most prestigious medical institutions. In addition to my infertility practice, I have helped hundreds of women avoid hysterectomy. (It is very likely that the number of women Dr. West has helped is far greater today..).
I didn't set out to crusade against hysterectomy. In medical school, I believed what I was taught: that hysterectomy is good for women. Then, and now, prevailing medical wisdom holds that the uterus is a disposable organ that serves no useful purpose once a woman has all the children she wants. What's more, it is regarded as something of a nuisance. Until menopause, a woman with a uterus will have to concern herself with birth control and contend with the discomforts and messiness of menstruation. And, regardless of age, if she is so inclined, she will worry about the remote risk of developing uterine cancer. Hysterectomy will certainly eliminate the nuisance factor of having a uterus. Some doctors emphasize freedom from menstruation and contraception as selling points when they recommend the surgery. But they do not talk about the negative consequences.
It is no secret that many women develop serious health problems after hysterectomy. Depression, fatigue, urinary disorders, joint aches and pains, and unwelcome changes in sexual desire and response are the most common complaints.No one knows for sure why removing the uterus should bring on certain of these problems, and because we have no medical answers - and no useful help - to offer patients, their complaints often are dismissed as psychological. Indeed, medical students are taught that women who attribute symptoms to hysterectomy must be neurotic, hysterical, or obsessed with their uterus. But, as you will see, these problems are very real and have absolutely nothing to do with a woman's mental stability.
You don't need a hysterectomy.
It can do you more harm than good.
Those are strong words but the fact is that more than 90 percent of hysterectomies are unnecessary. Worse, the surgery can have long-lasting physical, emotional, and sexual consequences that may undermine your health and well-being. 'Hysterectomy Hoax' is about hysterectomy, the unacceptable risks it poses, and the alternatives available to treat the vast majority of disorders that can lead to surgery.
Hysterectomy is, by definition, the removal of a vital female organ, the uterus. About 40 percent of the time, the ovaries are also removed in the course of surgery. (It's very likely that this percentage is much higher today..). Considering the importance of both these organs, you would assume that a disorder would have to be very serious to justify removing them. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Most of the "female problems" that lead to hysterectomy are medically trivial. They can be uncomfortable. Untreated, some can make your life miserable. But they will not kill you. Why have major surgery to remove an organ (your uterus) or organs (uterus and ovaries) that define you as a woman and are essential to your physical, emotional, and sexual well-being unless your life is in danger? No man would agree to have his sexual and reproductive organs removed for anything short of a life-threatening illness. And no doctor would suggest such a radical course of action.except when the alternative is certain death. It is time for women to recognize hysterectomy for the threat it is and to refuse to have the surgery except when there lives are at stake.
At this point, you must be wondering who I am and why I am so opposed to hysterectomy. I am a gynecologist, a specialist in the treatment of infertility and chief of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at St. Vincent's Hospital, one of New York city's most prestigious medical institutions. In addition to my infertility practice, I have helped hundreds of women avoid hysterectomy. (It is very likely that the number of women Dr. West has helped is far greater today..).
I didn't set out to crusade against hysterectomy. In medical school, I believed what I was taught: that hysterectomy is good for women. Then, and now, prevailing medical wisdom holds that the uterus is a disposable organ that serves no useful purpose once a woman has all the children she wants. What's more, it is regarded as something of a nuisance. Until menopause, a woman with a uterus will have to concern herself with birth control and contend with the discomforts and messiness of menstruation. And, regardless of age, if she is so inclined, she will worry about the remote risk of developing uterine cancer. Hysterectomy will certainly eliminate the nuisance factor of having a uterus. Some doctors emphasize freedom from menstruation and contraception as selling points when they recommend the surgery. But they do not talk about the negative consequences.
It is no secret that many women develop serious health problems after hysterectomy. Depression, fatigue, urinary disorders, joint aches and pains, and unwelcome changes in sexual desire and response are the most common complaints.No one knows for sure why removing the uterus should bring on certain of these problems, and because we have no medical answers - and no useful help - to offer patients, their complaints often are dismissed as psychological. Indeed, medical students are taught that women who attribute symptoms to hysterectomy must be neurotic, hysterical, or obsessed with their uterus. But, as you will see, these problems are very real and have absolutely nothing to do with a woman's mental stability.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Guest Post – Keep Your Midlife Sex Organs!
Dear Midlife Lady,
I was so taken by Robin Karr’s comments on our guest post on October 27th I asked Robin if she would personally write a guest blog for Sensibly Selfish about menopause and women’s sex organs. Her response is so important and the message so clear I have decided to print it here just as she wrote it. Here is the email she sent me…
"Hi Kay,
I was thinking off and on today about what I should write about hysterectomy; about the removal of a woman’s SEX organs. My thoughts ran far and wide… I kept coming back to what my 23 year old son wrote though. He’s the one who connected the dots for me regarding the reproductive organs being SEX organs that aren’t disposable.
The truth is my own son taught me that my SEX organs were removed. It was as if a light had been switched on. For the first time, I fully realized just how much I’d lost via hysterectomy – via the removal of my SEX organs.
I falsely believed that my ‘reproductive’ organs had been removed. I believed this because I’d been taught to believe this. Additionally, the gynecologist who removed my SEX organs assured me I didn’t need them since I was no longer reproducing. My son helped me to understand and realize that nothing could be further from the truth – nothing.
Of course, I realize this more and more five years post-surgery as my health and sexuality continually decline. Women desperately need to think of their sex organs as their SEX organs because that is what they are. They are SEX organs which are used for the purpose of reproduction (or not) for a period of time. Once women are able to think of their SEX organs in this way, there will be complete understanding that they’re necessary for life; not just until middle-age.
I’m so proud of my son for having the courage to face what I initially could not face for myself. Please click here to read what my son wrote about hysterectomy after attending a 10-hour hysterectomy conference in New York, with me."
I thank Robin for having the courage to tell her story. Please leave your comments in the boxes below and I will make sure Robin receives them.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Hysterectomy: Contributing Factor to Pelvic Organ Prolapse
Women often undergo a hysterectomy in order to eliminate fibroid tumors, heavy bleeding or as the result of severe symptoms of Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP). Unfortunately, a hysterectomy can also contribute to pelvic organ prolapse. In fact, more than 10 percent of women with hysterectomies eventually experience some form of POP. This is because pelvic organs and tissues work together to provide support in the pelvic cavity. When the uterus is removed, it has a notable effect on surrounding organs and tissues.
In mild cases, little or no treatment is needed. However, women who have more severe prolapse may require surgical intervention.
The organs and tissues in the pelvis are interconnected. Special connective tissues support this group of organs, attaching them to the pelvic bone structure and the sacrum. When something is removed from the group, such as the uterus, it disrupts the structure. Slowly, weakening tissues begin to pull away from the pelvic structure. Other organs, such as the cervix, bladder, urethra or rectum, can begin to collapse into the vagina.
As many as 1 in 9 women who have had hysterectomies will begin to experience a specific type of POP called vaginal vault prolapse. In this type of prolapse, the top portion of the vagina — called the vaginal vault — begins to collapse onto itself. In severe cases, the vagina can literally begin to turn itself inside out, and a woman will be able to feel or see her vaginal vault at the entrance of her vagina.
Often, doctors recommend surgery to correct vaginal vault prolapse. The most common surgery involves the use of transvaginal mesh. This product can have many negative effects on women, such as mesh erosion, infection, and vaginal scarring. However, there are less invasive treatments that can help women with mild to moderate vaginal vault prolapse avoid risky surgical alternatives, especially those requiring the use of a high-risk medical device called transvaginal mesh.
Non-invasive Treatment for Pelvic Organ Prolapse
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) recommends that, in most cases, women with mild to moderate cases of POP should exhaust conservative methods of treatment before attempting more invasive methods such as surgery.
•Lifestyle. Excessive lifting, coughing or straining can exacerbate the symptoms of POP. By eating well, exercising to maintain a healthy weight, and quitting unhealthy habits such as smoking, women can mitigate POP symptoms.
•Exercises. There are specific exercises that work to strengthen the pelvic floor and upper vaginal muscles. The most famous of these are Kegel exercises, however, women should discuss other exercises that work on specific pelvic tissues with their doctor or physical therapist.
•Physical Therapy. There are physical therapists who specialize in pelvic physical therapy. They work with women to treat their specific symptoms using exercises, advice on posture, as well as electrical stimulation and biofeedback techniques.
•Vaginal Pessaries. When properly fitted and inserted, women can use a vaginal pessary to provide support for their pelvic floor and upper vagina. Pessaries are especially beneficial to women experiencing vaginal vault prolapse. They can also prevent incontinence.
Non-invasive treatments are preferred over surgical treatments because of the complications involved with some of the surgical methods. Many women have suffered from surgery with vaginal mesh and have sought compensation though the filings of transvaginal mesh lawsuits against mesh manufacturers. When surgical intervention is needed to treat POP, women should discuss surgical options with their doctor to find the safest and most effective treatment for their symptoms.
Elizabeth Carrollton writes to inform the general public about defective medical devices and dangerous drugs for Drugwatch.com.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Mothers Who Have Lost...
Mothers who have lost a child/children endure gut-wrenching pain. Pain can be ennobling and inspiring. There are times when pain can cause us to mature in character. At least; this is what I kept telling myself after my two babies (ages one and two) were taken from me in 1998 via their father. (They never came home by the way and are 14 and 15 today).
I still think of them as the precious babies I dedicated to God just before they were taken from me. It takes my breath away to think of them as teenagers... I simply can't. I have two baby books filled with empty pages; pages that were meant to be filled with so many memories and milestones; like their first smile, their first tooth, their first word, their first step, their first day in school, etc.
I wanted the pain I felt physically, mentally and spiritually to help me to mature in character. That was my desire. That would be a good thing I kept telling myself if that were indeed the end result of this horrific tragedy. I wanted so much to be inspired somehow by what happened and to inspire others... I wanted to help other moms who had lost a child/children to know it is possible to go on in the midst of unspeakable pain.
However, this process of maturing via pain is not easy; not easy at all. Since the taking of my children, I do not feel mature in character at times. In fact, I feel less mature in character much of the time. I often do not feel generous in spirit as I once did. I feel cheated and want to hold onto whatever I have left to hold on to. I do not feel hopeful and full of faith as I once did. To be honest, I feel self-centered at times. I feel impoverished physically, mentally and spiriturally at times too. The truth is that pain can make us tired and weak. It can make us depressed, anxious and fearful. Pain can and does make us feel many of the emotions I have expressed above.
Nobody says this really. Nobody wants to say this, but it is true. For women, I do not believe there is any greater pain we can experience than losing a child/children; a precious child/children we carried inside our own bodies. Only God who created and 'knew' our precious babies before they were even formed in our wombs can mend our utterly broken hearts. David said in Psalms "When my heart overwhelms me; lead me to the rock that is higher than I". There is no other place to turn in my opinion.
To every mother who has lost a child in any way, I want to tell you I understand your deep pain and I encourage you to look to God for help to heal day by day by day. Healing is a very slow process and one that does not come easily. I try to focus on the fact that God says he is the author and finisher of my faith. To that end, I have to believe that he has not allowed anything (no matter how terrible or tragic) to happen in my life that will 'ultimately' destroy me or his purpose for my life.
May God bless every mother who has lost a child/children; especially as they 'remember' on Mother's Day.
I also want to say to all women, who like myself, have been robbed of their precious womb and other vital sex organs... I understand the trauma and pain you endure on every level every day. I always thought the worst pain I would ever know would be the pain of having my precious babies taken from me.
Then, I met a gynecologist who changed my life forever and in ways I could never have imagined. I lost many years with my youngest babies only to have a sociopath gynecologist sterilize me without my consent; ensuring I could never pursue the happiness of becoming pregnant and giving birth again. There are no words... The loss is so great. My heart is overwhelmed; overwhelmed for me and for so many women like me.
So... I look to God; the author and finisher of my faith. I know that he is angry with the doctors who rob women of their God-given wombs and I know God will repay. He says he will. I do want to add as a final note that there is one bright light in my life and that light is my oldest son. Raising him gave me the will to go on when I didn't have it. He is a precious young man and I'm so proud of him. I'm so thankful for him. Mother's Day is bitter-sweet. Although much is bitter and deeply hurtful for me; I am thankful for the sweet - my oldest son.
I still think of them as the precious babies I dedicated to God just before they were taken from me. It takes my breath away to think of them as teenagers... I simply can't. I have two baby books filled with empty pages; pages that were meant to be filled with so many memories and milestones; like their first smile, their first tooth, their first word, their first step, their first day in school, etc.
I wanted the pain I felt physically, mentally and spiritually to help me to mature in character. That was my desire. That would be a good thing I kept telling myself if that were indeed the end result of this horrific tragedy. I wanted so much to be inspired somehow by what happened and to inspire others... I wanted to help other moms who had lost a child/children to know it is possible to go on in the midst of unspeakable pain.
However, this process of maturing via pain is not easy; not easy at all. Since the taking of my children, I do not feel mature in character at times. In fact, I feel less mature in character much of the time. I often do not feel generous in spirit as I once did. I feel cheated and want to hold onto whatever I have left to hold on to. I do not feel hopeful and full of faith as I once did. To be honest, I feel self-centered at times. I feel impoverished physically, mentally and spiriturally at times too. The truth is that pain can make us tired and weak. It can make us depressed, anxious and fearful. Pain can and does make us feel many of the emotions I have expressed above.
Nobody says this really. Nobody wants to say this, but it is true. For women, I do not believe there is any greater pain we can experience than losing a child/children; a precious child/children we carried inside our own bodies. Only God who created and 'knew' our precious babies before they were even formed in our wombs can mend our utterly broken hearts. David said in Psalms "When my heart overwhelms me; lead me to the rock that is higher than I". There is no other place to turn in my opinion.
To every mother who has lost a child in any way, I want to tell you I understand your deep pain and I encourage you to look to God for help to heal day by day by day. Healing is a very slow process and one that does not come easily. I try to focus on the fact that God says he is the author and finisher of my faith. To that end, I have to believe that he has not allowed anything (no matter how terrible or tragic) to happen in my life that will 'ultimately' destroy me or his purpose for my life.
May God bless every mother who has lost a child/children; especially as they 'remember' on Mother's Day.
I also want to say to all women, who like myself, have been robbed of their precious womb and other vital sex organs... I understand the trauma and pain you endure on every level every day. I always thought the worst pain I would ever know would be the pain of having my precious babies taken from me.
Then, I met a gynecologist who changed my life forever and in ways I could never have imagined. I lost many years with my youngest babies only to have a sociopath gynecologist sterilize me without my consent; ensuring I could never pursue the happiness of becoming pregnant and giving birth again. There are no words... The loss is so great. My heart is overwhelmed; overwhelmed for me and for so many women like me.
So... I look to God; the author and finisher of my faith. I know that he is angry with the doctors who rob women of their God-given wombs and I know God will repay. He says he will. I do want to add as a final note that there is one bright light in my life and that light is my oldest son. Raising him gave me the will to go on when I didn't have it. He is a precious young man and I'm so proud of him. I'm so thankful for him. Mother's Day is bitter-sweet. Although much is bitter and deeply hurtful for me; I am thankful for the sweet - my oldest son.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Little Ethics in Modern Medicine
The barbaric and mutilating hysterectomy I endured without my consent in September 2007 has necessarily motivated me to re-think my beliefs about the field of medicine and also about the way doctors view and treat their patients. I used to believe that doctors were ethical and that they went into the field of medicine because they cared about helping heal the sick; whether physical or mental. At one time I believe this may have been true of most doctors. I now believe, based on overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that most doctors practice medicine for money and power and have little regard for their patients.
The doctors I speak of are not ethical and do not truly care about their patients. These doctors are the same people who tell you to vaccinate your children; to treat your cancer with chemotherapy; to take statin drugs and to staple your stomach in order to lose weight. These are the same doctors who amputate women's life-sustaining sex organs for no medical reason and often without their consent. I'm talking about millions of men, women and children who are betrayed by their own doctors. When over half a million women each year leave hospitals and clinics without their sex organs; something is terribly terribly wrong.
These are the monsters of our medical system; the ethically deficient and criminally-minded 'medical molesters'. They commit heinous acts of what can only be called medical violence against their patients. They are surgeons who, without consent, 'practice' various types of unwarranted exams on unconscious men and women who are under their 'care'. They remove organs that are not diseased for profit.
This is what goes on behind closed doors in hospitals across the country, under the surgical blankets and behind the screens in our hospitals and clinics. Innocent patients are sodomized, victimized and violated by their health care providers whom they trust. Sadly, this is how medical students are being trained as part of their medical education.
Make no mistake..... I'm not talking about a rogue pervert physician here and there. Rather, I'm talking about an institutionalized psychopathic power trip that hints at the way conventional medicine is carried out across the United States and the world. It reminds me of the Milgram experiments where students were very easily trained to apply deadly levels of electroshock jolts to innocent victims merely because they were ordered to do so by an instructor.
Those experiments served to substantiate that 70 percent of people will torture other human beings if encouraged to do so by someone in an apparent position of authority. Think about that...... Search for information about the Milgram experiments (beginning in 1961) via the Internet to learn about how easily a person can be influenced to harm, torture and even kill another person/persons for the sole reason that someone in authority told them to do so.
My warning to anyone who ever undergoes surgery and wakes up with a throbbing rectum or obvious physical abuse of other body parts or body parts missing altogether; it's probably not just in your head nor are you 'crazy' for wondering if something more happened to you in surgery than what you were told or consented to. You may have been violated by medical students or physicians who think there's absolutely nothing wrong with exploiting your body for their own purposes while you're unconscious. I believe these doctors obviously maintain the attitude that what the patient doesn't know won't hurt them.
Sadly, your disease is their treatment experiment. Your suffering is their 'amusement'. Your rectum or vagina is their training aid. You are there essentially to be treated like an unconscious rag doll by medical staff and medical students who have lost any and all sense of the meaning behind the term 'healthcare'. These are despicable people and the fact that they are tomorrow's doctors helps explain why health care is such an utter failure on every level: physical, ethical and especially spiritual.
Having said all of the above, I must also say that not all conventional doctors are psychopaths. There are good doctors among the bad ones and there are even conventional doctors who actually have ethics and would never even think of violating patients in such a way. Some doctors even manage to make it through medical school without losing their moral compass and we should respect those who do. In fact, those are the doctors we must seek out.
Many doctors deserve tremendous credit for their miraculous work in emergency rooms, saving lives and treating acute injuries with remarkable skill and efficiency. Conventional medicine has an important role in society and there are times when rectal exams and vaginal exams are medically necessary. However, when conducted, they should always be done with consent unless special circumstances exist such as an unconscious gunshot victim requiring acute emergency care that requires immediate action on the part of doctors and surgeons.
I have to admit that I get extremely depressed when I think about the horror of all of this. I refuse to believe that things will remain this way. Hopefully, we will soon see the era of Big-Pharma medicine crumble. The mythology behind vaccines is increasingly being exposed as quackery and fraud. The insanity of harmful mammograms and unnecessary surgical procedures is also being increasingly reported and exposed. Times are changing and conventional medicine is resorting to outright desperation to keep itself in business at a time when most people are heading in the direction of holistic medicine based on patient compassion and understanding.
I doubt you would see naturopathic doctors (N.D.s) violating their patients in the way that conventional doctors often do. N.D.s, homeopaths, herbalists and massage therapists are usually compassionate and caring individuals who respect their patients as real human beings. I've encountered many such N.D.'s and homeopath doctors since being harmed by hysterectomy. These doctors tend to honor your boundaries and they practice the healing arts with a genuine sense of ethics that's too often lacking in the world of conventional medicine.
Before deciding to see an N.D. or a homeopath doctor, I actually had one conventional doctor throw my medical chart at me as he scolded me for opting to take bioidentical hormones rather than the synthetic kind that have proven to harm and even kill women. This doctor told me outright that he would no longer agree to see me if I continued to go 'outside' the standard practice of medicine. I left his office in tears..... I felt so small and helpless and so powerless.
You and I do have power in all this though. When faced with any kind of health or medical situation, you and I always have a choice of where to spend our money. We have a choice of what doctor we allow to treat us. I encourage you to avoid choosing conventional doctors and their superbug-infested hospitals and clinics. Whenever possible, I encourage you to choose naturopathic health care offered by compassionate and sensitive health professionals who treat you like a valued human being and respect your boundaries.
I wish what I am telling you about today's conventional doctors was fictional but it's reality. Conventional medicine does much damage to children with psychiatric drugs and to cancer patients via chemotherapy poisons. The widespread vaccination of children with utterly horrifying chemical ingredients that are injected into their bodies is yet another example of the harm routinely caused by conventional medicine.
The hope that keeps me going is that I believe this era of medical violence against children and adults is crumbling by the day and I believe there will come a day in the near future when Big-Pharma CEOs spend their days in prison, when organ-raping surgeons are convicted of their crimes and when vaccines are rejected by the vast majority of people who come to realize the truth about how harmful they really are.
There are those, even within my own family, who think I should just 'get over' what happened to me and keep my mouth shut. I can assure anyone reading this blog that as long as I have one breath left in me; I will never keep quiet about the horrors of modern/conventional medicine I have come to know so personally. If I refuse to talk about what's really happening behind closed doors in our hospitals and clinics, then I fail to prevent it from happening to other victims in the future. I cannot do anything about what was done to me. I can never get my organs or life and health back. My life has forever been altered in ways I could never have imagined in my worst nightmares. But.... I can warn others and I intend to do so until I'm dead.
The doctors I speak of are not ethical and do not truly care about their patients. These doctors are the same people who tell you to vaccinate your children; to treat your cancer with chemotherapy; to take statin drugs and to staple your stomach in order to lose weight. These are the same doctors who amputate women's life-sustaining sex organs for no medical reason and often without their consent. I'm talking about millions of men, women and children who are betrayed by their own doctors. When over half a million women each year leave hospitals and clinics without their sex organs; something is terribly terribly wrong.
These are the monsters of our medical system; the ethically deficient and criminally-minded 'medical molesters'. They commit heinous acts of what can only be called medical violence against their patients. They are surgeons who, without consent, 'practice' various types of unwarranted exams on unconscious men and women who are under their 'care'. They remove organs that are not diseased for profit.
This is what goes on behind closed doors in hospitals across the country, under the surgical blankets and behind the screens in our hospitals and clinics. Innocent patients are sodomized, victimized and violated by their health care providers whom they trust. Sadly, this is how medical students are being trained as part of their medical education.
Make no mistake..... I'm not talking about a rogue pervert physician here and there. Rather, I'm talking about an institutionalized psychopathic power trip that hints at the way conventional medicine is carried out across the United States and the world. It reminds me of the Milgram experiments where students were very easily trained to apply deadly levels of electroshock jolts to innocent victims merely because they were ordered to do so by an instructor.
Those experiments served to substantiate that 70 percent of people will torture other human beings if encouraged to do so by someone in an apparent position of authority. Think about that...... Search for information about the Milgram experiments (beginning in 1961) via the Internet to learn about how easily a person can be influenced to harm, torture and even kill another person/persons for the sole reason that someone in authority told them to do so.
My warning to anyone who ever undergoes surgery and wakes up with a throbbing rectum or obvious physical abuse of other body parts or body parts missing altogether; it's probably not just in your head nor are you 'crazy' for wondering if something more happened to you in surgery than what you were told or consented to. You may have been violated by medical students or physicians who think there's absolutely nothing wrong with exploiting your body for their own purposes while you're unconscious. I believe these doctors obviously maintain the attitude that what the patient doesn't know won't hurt them.
Sadly, your disease is their treatment experiment. Your suffering is their 'amusement'. Your rectum or vagina is their training aid. You are there essentially to be treated like an unconscious rag doll by medical staff and medical students who have lost any and all sense of the meaning behind the term 'healthcare'. These are despicable people and the fact that they are tomorrow's doctors helps explain why health care is such an utter failure on every level: physical, ethical and especially spiritual.
Having said all of the above, I must also say that not all conventional doctors are psychopaths. There are good doctors among the bad ones and there are even conventional doctors who actually have ethics and would never even think of violating patients in such a way. Some doctors even manage to make it through medical school without losing their moral compass and we should respect those who do. In fact, those are the doctors we must seek out.
Many doctors deserve tremendous credit for their miraculous work in emergency rooms, saving lives and treating acute injuries with remarkable skill and efficiency. Conventional medicine has an important role in society and there are times when rectal exams and vaginal exams are medically necessary. However, when conducted, they should always be done with consent unless special circumstances exist such as an unconscious gunshot victim requiring acute emergency care that requires immediate action on the part of doctors and surgeons.
I have to admit that I get extremely depressed when I think about the horror of all of this. I refuse to believe that things will remain this way. Hopefully, we will soon see the era of Big-Pharma medicine crumble. The mythology behind vaccines is increasingly being exposed as quackery and fraud. The insanity of harmful mammograms and unnecessary surgical procedures is also being increasingly reported and exposed. Times are changing and conventional medicine is resorting to outright desperation to keep itself in business at a time when most people are heading in the direction of holistic medicine based on patient compassion and understanding.
I doubt you would see naturopathic doctors (N.D.s) violating their patients in the way that conventional doctors often do. N.D.s, homeopaths, herbalists and massage therapists are usually compassionate and caring individuals who respect their patients as real human beings. I've encountered many such N.D.'s and homeopath doctors since being harmed by hysterectomy. These doctors tend to honor your boundaries and they practice the healing arts with a genuine sense of ethics that's too often lacking in the world of conventional medicine.
Before deciding to see an N.D. or a homeopath doctor, I actually had one conventional doctor throw my medical chart at me as he scolded me for opting to take bioidentical hormones rather than the synthetic kind that have proven to harm and even kill women. This doctor told me outright that he would no longer agree to see me if I continued to go 'outside' the standard practice of medicine. I left his office in tears..... I felt so small and helpless and so powerless.
You and I do have power in all this though. When faced with any kind of health or medical situation, you and I always have a choice of where to spend our money. We have a choice of what doctor we allow to treat us. I encourage you to avoid choosing conventional doctors and their superbug-infested hospitals and clinics. Whenever possible, I encourage you to choose naturopathic health care offered by compassionate and sensitive health professionals who treat you like a valued human being and respect your boundaries.
I wish what I am telling you about today's conventional doctors was fictional but it's reality. Conventional medicine does much damage to children with psychiatric drugs and to cancer patients via chemotherapy poisons. The widespread vaccination of children with utterly horrifying chemical ingredients that are injected into their bodies is yet another example of the harm routinely caused by conventional medicine.
The hope that keeps me going is that I believe this era of medical violence against children and adults is crumbling by the day and I believe there will come a day in the near future when Big-Pharma CEOs spend their days in prison, when organ-raping surgeons are convicted of their crimes and when vaccines are rejected by the vast majority of people who come to realize the truth about how harmful they really are.
There are those, even within my own family, who think I should just 'get over' what happened to me and keep my mouth shut. I can assure anyone reading this blog that as long as I have one breath left in me; I will never keep quiet about the horrors of modern/conventional medicine I have come to know so personally. If I refuse to talk about what's really happening behind closed doors in our hospitals and clinics, then I fail to prevent it from happening to other victims in the future. I cannot do anything about what was done to me. I can never get my organs or life and health back. My life has forever been altered in ways I could never have imagined in my worst nightmares. But.... I can warn others and I intend to do so until I'm dead.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)