Hysterectomy with oophorectomy is the female equivalent to male castration and as such carries with it all the risks and associated hormone changes that one might expect when primary endocrine producing glands are removed. The precipitous drop in hormones, much like those experienced following childbirth, can and does have calamitous effects on mental health, not to mention physical health. Perhaps the only difference between male castration and female castration is the fact that female castration is performed regularly and without regard to the physiological and psychological side effects that ensue.
Thursday, March 1, 2018
Hysterectomy, Hormones and Suicide
It may seem like quite the leap from hysterectomy to suicide, but it really isn’t a leap at all. Hysterectomy with ovary removal induces what doctors refer to as “surgical menopause.” There’s really no such thing as “surgical” menopause.
Hysterectomy with oophorectomy is the female equivalent to male castration and as such carries with it all the risks and associated hormone changes that one might expect when primary endocrine producing glands are removed. The precipitous drop in hormones, much like those experienced following childbirth, can and does have calamitous effects on mental health, not to mention physical health. Perhaps the only difference between male castration and female castration is the fact that female castration is performed regularly and without regard to the physiological and psychological side effects that ensue.
Hysterectomy with oophorectomy is the female equivalent to male castration and as such carries with it all the risks and associated hormone changes that one might expect when primary endocrine producing glands are removed. The precipitous drop in hormones, much like those experienced following childbirth, can and does have calamitous effects on mental health, not to mention physical health. Perhaps the only difference between male castration and female castration is the fact that female castration is performed regularly and without regard to the physiological and psychological side effects that ensue.
I decided to write this post because I was castrated, against my will, without consent and have struggled with a myriad of health problems ever since. In the years since my ovaries were removed, I have worked hard to spread awareness about the devastating health consequences that this common surgery elicits.
Over those years, I have heard from hundreds of women who have experienced similar suffering“I was a bright light until a doctor murdered me on (she gives the “exact” date of her surgery). Only a woman with a complete hysterectomy can remember that date. I have had surgeries before, but I never remembered any of those dates. You will always remember when you went into have something done simply to stop heavy bleeding and going in as one person and then the doctor switching you with some kind of alien when you wake up. Within a year, I was 50 pounds overweight and my thyroid had a nodule on it that was cancerous. I had the worst fatigue and suicidal depression there could be.
I can’t believe I made it. I remember telling my 10 year old I didn’t want to live anymore and he kept saying “don’t say that momma, yes you do”. There is no one that could ever comprehend this hell unless they have been through it. I’m overweight with fibromyalgia and fatigue, talking myself out of suicide constantly. I have metabolic syndrome and I’m insulin resistant. I have constant lightheadedness, difficulty swallowing, broken out and dry skin. I have never even tried to go back to having sex simply because I stopped dating. I stopped being the happy, vivacious, beautiful woman I once was. I have been to 45 specialists in the last 10 years including Mayo Clinic to the point where I know I know more about hormones then they do!”
Another woman wrote to me recently stating she too was suicidal just thinking about the 1 year anniversary of her hysterectomy. She wrote:
“Exactly one year ago today, I was on an operating table being castrated and mutilated – the pain too much to bear. I wish I could stop this rapidly aging skin, body and hair loss. My body and soul are devastated. Shaking and in utter disbelief. The person I was before died the day of hysterectomy: my life, body, personality and every other aspect of the life I once knew is dead and over.
So, it is a rebirth of this hideous and painful existence of a stranger living inside a new broken body, soul, personality, etc. I very much relate to Frankenstein who was created in a laboratory unwillingly and without forewarning (informed consent) and awakened to a strange world he could not relate to nor understand. He was full of pain inside and out with all of those gory stitches, having to learn to walk, talk and the great torment he had of being here. Frankenstein is a fictitious character, but I can relate, for I, feel like a monster. I would give anything to be whole again. I know what I now am, and that is a “Castrati” and “Eunuch”.
More recently, a good friend that I came to know through my website committed suicide after years of struggling with post hysterectomy health issues. Before she died, Toni sent me her story in her own words and asked me if I’d post it on my site so other women could be warned about what life post-surgery is really like. She didn’t want what happened to her to be in vain. She wrote in part:
“I am a changed human being. I sometimes do not even want to get out of bed. My poor husband… he misses the woman and wife I was. She is gone. She was taken the day I had a hysterectomy. I am a “shell” of a woman now.”
This shouldn’t happen. Young women should not be castrated and then thrust into a world of ill-health and darkness. Hysterectomy, especially when the ovaries are removed too, should be an option of last resort, not something cavalierly recommended to young women, nowhere near menopause.
I wrote this post for the women who have lost their ovaries, lost their health, their vitality, their sex lives and their hope. I am not sure that I can give you hope, but I can give you a voice until you can find your own voice and together we can stop this practice and prevent other women from suffering.
Natural menopause. It is important to talk briefly about the effects of “natural” menopause in order to better understand the effects of hysterectomy and castration. Even natural menopause is a “game-changer” for most women with some of the more commonly discussed symptoms being hot flashes, mood swings and dry vagina. ACOG lists over twenty adverse effects of menopause in their Menopause Patient Information Pamphlet including but not limited to: hot flashes, insomnia, dry/thin vagina, increased risk of urinary and bladder infections, increased bone loss and risk for fracture, loss of heart protection and increased risk of heart attack and stroke, emotional changes such as nervousness, irritability and fatigue, loss of libido and difficulty achieving orgasm. There are more symptoms not specifically listed, but these are enough to take your breath away. It is important to keep in mind that these symptoms develop gradually over years during the natural process of endocrine senescence or aging. The process is complicated and researchers still don’t understand the full spectrum of changes that happen when women age. Some hormones decline, others increase to compensate, immune factors are involved and the entire body changes to adapt to the new reality. The experience of menopause in each woman differs with some experiencing very few symptoms and others experiencing great difficulties. The key points are that menopause is gradual and complicated. It is not just the removal of estrogens and progesterone. Many other hormone systems recalibrate.
Hysterectomy without Oophorectomy. Hysterectomy without ovary removal is common. The thought is that if the ovaries are left in place, vital hormones will continue to be produced and circulated. To some extent that is true and women who retain their ovaries seem to fair better than those who do not. However, hormones work through feedback loops, the uterus contains many important hormone receptors that communicate with the ovaries. When the uterus and cervix are removed, those receptors are removed too. Without those receptors, communication ceases and the ovarian production of hormones will cease as well; more gradually than if the ovaries had been removed, but more rapidly than in natural menopause.
Castration. When the ovaries are removed, we call this castration. It is no different than removing a man’s testicles. Oophorectomy precipitates a radical change in hormones overnight. Symptoms hit within a matter of hours rather than years. Ovary removal is akin to a ‘cold turkey’ full throttle withdrawal from very strong drugs, the complexity of which we still don’t fully understand.
Concentrations of the estrogens and progesterone drop to nearly nothing, almost immediately, while testosterone concentrations decrease by half. In natural menopause, the adrenals can pick up some of the slack and produce more estrogens and other hormones, but with oophorectomy there is no time, just an immediate crash; a crash that most women, their families or their physicians are not prepared for, because nowhere in the literature given to the patients is this discussed.
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) calls female castrations ‘surgical menopause’ and although they recognize the severity of hormone changes in their professional literature: “The effects of surgical menopause are severe due to hormone levels decreasing all at once,” the severity of the hormone dysregulation initiated by surgical menopause is not even mentioned in their patient literature: ACOG’s Hysterectomy Patient Information Pamphlet. In fact, the term “surgical menopause” is not even used. Instead, the pamphlet says
“Depending on your age, if your ovaries are removed during hysterectomy, you will have signs and symptoms caused by a lack of estrogen, which include hot flashes, vaginal dryness and sleep problems. You also may be at risk of a fracture caused by osteoporosis at an earlier age than women who go through natural menopause. Most women who have these intense symptoms can be treated with estrogen.”
There’s no mention of castration or even the more benign term surgical menopause. If these terms were mentioned, some women might think to look for a pamphlet about those topics. In other words, they’d connect the dots. As things stand now, there are no dots to connect. The severity of the side effects are downplayed considerably.
To make matters worse, many castrated women are left with no way of supplementing the hormones they’ve lost. They’re simply sent on their way. Others are prescribed a “one size fits all” hormone therapy such as Premarin which is derived from the urine of pregnant mares. While it may work for some women, it comes with serious side effects and doesn’t seem to work for women who have been castrated, likely because the ovaries produce more than just the estrogens and synthetic hormones are not capable of replacing what the body produces on its own.
“I am a 46 old and had a hysterectomy for which my uterus, cervix and both ovaries were taken in 2011. This was due to having endometriosis since I was 22 and having it laparoscopically removed three times, for which my doctor had advised to just have total hysterectomy instead of surgeries. I, however, wanted to hold on to my ovaries. That day did come that I agreed to have all removed, and can I say that I count that as the last day of my life. I have been living in a life just short of a Stephen King novel. I decided after surgery to wing it with no HRT at all and done that for a whole year. In 2012, I decided to try Premarin at the suggestion of my doctor. This was because of the night and day sweats, intense cold spells, horrific mood swings, insomnia, drastic weight gain, memory loss and forgetfulness and loss of libido to name a few symptoms that had gotten to me severely. The hormones worked for 1 month. Then all symptoms came back with a vengeance! My doctor wanted to double my dosage of premarin, but my scare of cancer quickly stopped that. I am now holding on day by day. I have lost half of my hair since coming off HRT. Every day, suicidal thoughts are in my mind, I mean it is all so hopeless to me. Just wish I could reverse the surgery, but that is not possible. HELP”
Sadly, many doctors even prescribe psychotropic drugs, as if they could somehow replace a woman’s own natural hormones.
Depression is a very common problem for women who’ve been castrated, but one that is rarely acknowledged appropriately. Given the vast biochemical changes a woman’s body is thrust into, it seems likely that she could be propelled into a severe depression and should be warned accordingly, before the surgery.
To better understand how traumatic castration can be, consider a few things we now know about women going through “natural” menopause: 1) women going through natural menopause are three times more likely to be diagnosed with depression than the general population 2) this is true even when there is no prior history of depression and maybe most surprising 3) natural menopause is a time in a woman’s life when she is most likely to commit suicide. Of course, women who’ve been castrated are at the highest risk of all due to the immediate drop in hormones and the severity of symptoms. Add this to the fact that a castrated woman’s adrenal glands are suddenly placed under the extreme stress of taking over for missing ovaries and other organs throughout the body become likewise stressed. All of this additional stress on the body’s organs and systems can, of course, lead to diabetes, autoimmune diseases, heart disease, brain diseases, cancer, etc.
Depression brought on by castration is unique in that it only happens to women undergoing this certain type of life change – this specific surgery. It’s much more than just a bout of the blues. It isn’t a weakness or flaw in character, nor is it something that you can simply “snap out” of. No – this type of depression may require long-term treatment. Stanley West MD, author of “Hysterectomy Hoax”, wrote “…this is much more than the blues; it is serious enough to require hospitalization for some women, lengthy counseling and drug treatment.” The chemical imbalances brought on by castration can lead to a woman becoming clinically depressed. And if the depression continues, then suicide becomes a genuine risk factor.
So, where exactly does a castrated woman turn for help? Since this type of depression stems from an imbalance of hormones that includes the loss of vital estrogens, progesterone, and androgens, hormone therapy becomes all the more important since it raises those levels again to some extent. However, castrated women may also require a wide range of hormone supplements. Combinations of estradiol and estriol may be necessary and these should be balanced with progesterone and sometimes testosterone. DHEA might need to be added too. Because sex hormones are important to so many other hormone systems in the body, a woman who has undergone castration may also need supplements to help with her thyroid and adrenal glands.
Castration requires close follow-up care. And yet, very few doctors seem to be seriously engaged in helping castrated women regain their health and vitality. This is yet another reason women become depressed. There’s really nowhere to turn for help. Instead, most women find out very quickly that all of their post-surgery “complaints” will be dismissed as a mental problem of some sort. ACOG mentions only one reason for “emotional changes” post-hysterectomy: “Some women feel depressed because they can no longer have children.” Personally, I’ve not heard from one woman who said they felt depressed for this reason. The women I hear from tell me they’re often made to feel that nothing is “really” wrong with them – that it must all be in their head. In short, they’re made to feel “crazy”. But the issues are real. Read any of the stories below and there is no doubt that the suffering is legitimate. Hormones impact brain chemistry as well as every other physiological system in the body. Remove a primary source for those hormones and there will be problems. How can there not be?
This is what women who have been castrated say about their lives post-surgery. Let me warn you: it’s not pretty. Please note that some comments have been edited for brevity. It’s the same story over and over and over again. Only the names change.
“I have not been the same woman since my hysterectomy. Within one week of surgical menopause, at age 42, I became clinically depressed. It went downhill from there — no sex drive, weight gain, anxiety plus depression, bone loss and energy loss. Basically, I’ve felt like I was falling apart. I have been on the estradiol patch and an antidepressant since my hysterectomy. I would have kept my ovaries if I had known what would happen.”
“I had a hysterectomy 2 years ago. Since then, I have had nothing but trouble. The surgeon took away my ovaries, so I have no estrogen in my body – only testosterone. This makes me very angry all the time. I refuse to take HRT because my mother had breast cancer. I have no interest in sex whatsoever, and am on anti-depressants all the time. Hysterectomy has ruined my life, and if I could go back, I would not have had it done. I would have just put up with the fibroids. My advice to anyone contemplating this is to think long and hard. If there is an alternative route you can take, do so! I would not wish this on my worst enemy!”
“I will be turning 40 this year and 3 years ago I had my hysterectomy. Ever since then, I have not been the same. I’ve gained weight, have hot flashes, aches and pains everywhere and am moody. If I had to do it over, I would never have a complete hysterectomy. I used to be full of life and now all I want to do is hate the world or cry over everything.”
“When I woke up in ICU almost 24 hrs later with a tube in my throat I motioned for a pen and wrote the word hysterectomy with a question mark. I don’t know how I knew, I just did. After the doctor carelessly punctured my uterine artery he decided that the best way to fix his mistake was to take out everything that made me a woman. He nearly killed me. They had to give me 15 units of blood while they frantically carved out more and more. He never even came to see me after he butchered me to explain what happened or why he ruined my life and my families’ future. I have never seen him again. I am 35yrs old in surgical menopause. Some days I wonder if my young husband will leave me for a woman that can still have children. I have never posted a comment on any site about anything. I read your story and felt that you were the first person that knew what I was feeling.”
Sadly, there are more similar hysterectomy comments and stories on my website which I refer to as “hysterectomy hell”. You can read those stories here and here. There are forums and blogs all over the Internet too where women gather and pour out their inner-most feelings about their lives after surgery. Most women can’t sleep, so they reach out during the night for help, seek answers for what’s happened to them and otherwise just try to fill the void.
One adult child wrote about her mother’s hysterectomy:
“After we moved to a ranch house in an exclusive residential suburb of Minneapolis when I was 8, my mother stopped singing. That wasn’t the only change in her during the summer of our elevation from middle- to upper-middle class. Her hair seemed to turn white very suddenly and her personality altered just as drastically.
I learned to test the air when I got home from school, trying to discover what mood she was in that day: playful, full of games and secrets, or grim and tight-lipped, on the edge of tears.
Later, I discovered from old medical records that Mother had had a hysterectomy during the summer of our move, when she was only 38. Being plunged into early menopause could explain her mood swings, I now realize, the tearful scenes, the tranquilizers, but then my 8-year-old mind developed a theory that my sweet, raven-haired mother had somehow been kidnapped and replaced by a white-haired virago who resembled her. I remember poring over the family photographs in the mahogany sideboard, trying to determine when the substitution had taken place. Mother never sang to us again after that summer and when we asked her to, she replied that her voice was gone: ‘I’m too old to sing’.”
I could share so many more heart-wrenching comments and messages like these, but I feel I’ve shared enough to substantiate that women who undergo hysterectomy and castration, especially when uniformed, misinformed or not informed at all, suffer beyond words really and so do the families. There’s certainly no shortage of post-hysterectomy horror stories. Maybe woman who undergo hysterectomy and castration to save their life are better able to cope. I don’t know. What I do know is that far too many hysterectomies are performed for other reasons and many of those women feel extremely betrayed. They never get over it as the many comments here suggest. In the case where there’s no consent, hysterectomy and castration is considered assault and battery. That’s criminal and that’s a very big deal. Women who’ve been surgically “assaulted” have even more trauma to come to terms with. There’s not much a woman in this situation can do other than file a medical malpractice suit against her doctor. Maneuvering and enduring the legal system is yet another nightmare all its own and isn’t a reality for most women (“victims” in the case of unconsented surgery).
There can be no question that so many women are experiencing profound depression. This is not something we can continue to ignore. This is a very real problem everybody should take seriously. After all, we’re talking about over half a million women going through this every year just in the United States alone. From a public health point of view, depression is a substantial illness with significant morbidity for patients (and their families). If the depression continues, then suicide absolutely becomes a genuine risk factor. It is so important for families of women who’ve undergone hysterectomy and castration to realize how serious the resulting depression can be and what it can lead to.
Personally, I’d love to see a huge drop in the number of women undergoing these mostly “unnecessary” and “elective” surgeries. Until such time, we’ve no choice but to begin this discussion in hopes of saving precious lives. Depression can be managed only when we talk about it openly – when there is no shame. Managing depression may include: hormone replacement therapy, talk therapy, proper diet, exercise, meditation (including prayer of course) and medication too if necessary. While I’m no psychologist, I can tell you what has helped me survive post-hysterectomy depression. I’ve learned that it is critical to fix what’s fixable. Restore balance back by doing what you’re still able to do – whatever that is; it will be different for every woman. Like the “Prayer of Serenity” change what you can, deal with the rest. We all only have so much energy left after such a life-altering surgery, so we need to learn to focus and use our energy on things we can change. This is by no means easy to do.
To be completely honest, I still struggle with depression since my unconsented hysterectomy. I guess I always will. And yes, I’ve been suicidal at times too. And while there may not be a “cure” for this type of depression, it helps a lot for women to know and understand they are not “crazy” or alone. Before social media and personal computers, women mostly suffered in silence. There’s no need for that today though. A doctor from Australia who specializes in menopause and hormones once told me not to waste what I’ve suffered and so I’m trying to follow his advice. Specifically, he said“You can’t waste what you have suffered. Others need not just to know, but to understand the depth of that hole, and how hard it was for you not just to climb out of it, but how hard it was to even have the energy or will to turn around as you plummeted to the bottom. And more than anything, they need to know that you can!”
So, we absolutely must start talking about the hysterectomy hole. We must share our stories so that others do not suffer as we have. And doctors too must stand up and speak out.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Violence in Medicine
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
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
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 Patriarchy, and the ...
"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.
Today ~ A Tear Fell
I woke up in my same body today
and I just happened to look in the mirror.
For a moment, I saw myself as I had for years. However, that vision did not last for long.
and I just happened to look in the mirror.
For a moment, I saw myself as I had for years. However, that vision did not last for long.
Soon I remembered all of my female sexual organs are gone; the me I always knew was gone.
Just when I thought I was doing so well,
Before I knew it ~ a tear fell.
Just when I thought I was doing so well,
Before I knew it ~ a tear fell.
I pretend to be ok; to be ‘normal’ and ‘intact’.
Yet, the truth is there is nothing ‘intact’ about me.
I am no longer ‘normal’
My very core has been taken and I see through a once brilliantly lit glass darkly.
People all think I'm doing well;
They don't know today ~ a tear fell.
They don't know today ~ a tear fell.
When I am reminded of what might have been,
when life catches me off guard,
That's when I seem to be hit so hard.
It seems all thoughts lead back to a simpler time.
when life catches me off guard,
That's when I seem to be hit so hard.
It seems all thoughts lead back to a simpler time.
A time when I took all I was and meant to be for granted.
A time when I trusted my doctor “to do no harm”
Those days are forever gone.
Will I ever be able to trust another living soul as I once did?
For now I cannot tell;
I only know today ~ a tear fell.
I only know today ~ a tear fell.
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.
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