Why Hysterectomy is so popular if has such negative effects in the long term time over woman life?

Hello forum girls!. I cannot say i am new since i joined the site since 2012 but it is until now that i know what has been bothering me about the hysterectomy proposal.

I am 42 no child active woman with large fibroids, delaying my hysterectomy because i am not ready mentally for it.

Recently did read about the long term effects of such procedure in the quality of life of an elderly woman such as "pelvic organ prolapse, urinary incontinence, anal incontinence, bowel dysfunction, pelvic organ fistula and renal cell carcinoma".
(Read it in the Medscape site:Long-term Effects of Hysterectomy A Focus on the Aging Patient)

Why in your experience this procedure remain so popular and basically not "studied" in deep for the future of the patient?

I feel my doctor basically just tries to get rid of the "problem" without taking in consideration what is in exchange for it, a relatively quick fix with a lifetime consequences.

Have you ever feel that most doubts are crazy and stubborn ideas from the woman side?.

In my case the effect of the fibroid is heavy bleeding on my period, which has not stopped from my daily life how ever i do take special care of changing tampons/ pads on time, etc. i do take iron supplement and an iron rich diet still i keep struggling with my blood level month to month, i workout 3-5 days a week, etc.

when i think about if my life can improve from this procedure, so far i think i can live with the changing pads/tampons and not with the idea of not having uterus.

I know i am not lonely because there are far too many women in this community and acquaintances around that claim "it was far better than what was expected". But for sure it is a personal fight and choice to endure a lifetime span.

Thank you for your inputs and sharing your ideas.
Hugs to all brave women going through this!

Personally I don't think there is an easy answer or even one right answer to this question. I felt very much like I wasn't given any other option in the beginning. My pain was annoying and occasionally kept me home, but I was willing to deal with it as long as I knew I was healthy. I think as women we need to be given better answers as to why to have the surgery. I was originally told to do it because my growth was "not normal", not an acceptable reason in my book. I was also told since I was done having kids I didn't need it anymore, an answer I find condescending and extremely sexist! Had I been told upfront the possible health concerns of cancer and/or endometriosis I would been able to trust my doctor to take care of me. But how can you trust someone who is so flippant and nonchalant about your loss of a body part? Cancer was only brought up to me as a scare tactic when he realized I was not on board with the surgery, something that could have cost me my life had it been cancer and I waited.

We have such a long history of accepting the female reproductive organs as only fulfilling one purpose and that women are "crazy" because of them that we can't even be taken seriously in our own care. The word hysterical comes from ancient times used to describe how surgical menopause affected women after a hysterectomy.


A change in the medical community is needed to be more compassionate and to validate women's feelings of loss. To more appropriately explain the medicine behind the decision. To be more open minded to first trying other options. To accept that each person has a different level of pain and discomfort that they are willing to deal with and that it's okay for things to not be "normal" and still be considered healthy. Plus more research so things like endometriosis and cancer can more accurately be diagnosed before surgery. Right now, they don't know how bad it is until they get in there, which puts the patient in a tough spot of having to trust her surgeon to do the right thing, for some of us that's a hard thing to do.

Good for you for posing this question. I fought against a hysterectomy and did tons of my own research. Some of the statistics that I read showed that there was a significantly higher rate of doctors recommending hyst to women in the U.S. than in other countries.

Also, the doctors that I talked to basically ignored the issue of any long-term health and quality of life impacts. I got handed the same stupid pamphlet multiple times that said something like "many women report hysterectomy improves their quality of life and sexual satisfaction." If I had not done my own research, I would have gone into the decision totally uninformed. I also didn't realize how very little research there was on long-term impact from the surgery...they just don't know many of the answers, and don't tell you they don't know. Heck, up until not too long ago, they thought is was a good idea to always chop out a woman's ovaries.

I ended up deciding to have a hyst - my fibroids were huge and I was bleeding almost constantly. However, I would have undergone other alternatives first if I had not though the US healthcare system/economy was sliding into the abyss, and had been worried about access care in the future.

That being said, I didn't want to have any parts of my anatomy that were healthy chopped out. I had to fight to keep my cervix intact.

Maybe it originated as a gender bias when most doctors were male? No one says to men...well, since we're in there, let's chop out all of your sexual organs! Or, perhaps it is a financial issue. My gyn's medical group made a lot more money doing surgery than other options.

At least this site is available to help start the education process. Maybe we can help other women and start moving the trend in the other direction.

Thank you for your input HysterSisters and i am glad to read that you feel secure on your ground after doing your very own research in order to take the best option in your situation!
Agreed that it seems the trend is now to at least do a bit more research on the complete function as a whole and not as just an isolated "make babies app".
Scary to read so many recent articles on the effects in the long therm and even though they seem "weak" due the lack of amount of data (though call on history background data since the ancient Greeks for the hysterectomy by itself).
Still my guess for many of us the decision to face surgery is posted in a very "close" minded scenario and with very little resources at hand.
Another reason might be that the consequences of the hysterectomy later fall in different medical specialties which makes only harder the gathering of a strong build up of women data.
Thank you for encouraging research and for sure the ultimate goal is to feel at peace with the consequences of our choices being the out come we get to deal with at the end.
Hugs and wishing you an even more empowered daily life!

Thank you so much for posing this question. I am currently facing this decision and have sought several opinions- even being made to feel like I was wrong for doing so by one very smug doctor. I am 42 and have one fundal fibroid that has caused heavy bleeding to the point of anemia. I am not comfortable with the loss of my uterus just because "I'm not using it anymore". This seems such a condescending remark made by several doctors. Would they like to lose their testicles after their families are complete because they "aren't using them anymore"????

I am now considering myomectomy with a doctor i found locally who believes that all women should be able to keep their uterus regardless of age or reproductive status. He does them laparoscopically- up to 20 cm and mine is 10. So i am very hopeful.

	Quote:
Originally Posted by Beth0810 Thank you so much for posing this question. I am currently facing this decision and have sought several opinions- even being made to feel like I was wrong for doing so by one very smug doctor. I am 42 and have one fundal fibroid that has caused heavy bleeding to the point of anemia. I am not comfortable with the loss of my uterus just because "I'm not using it anymore". This seems such a condescending remark made by several doctors. Would they like to lose their testicles after their families are complete because they "aren't using them anymore"???? I am now considering myomectomy with a doctor i found locally who believes that all women should be able to keep their uterus regardless of age or reproductive status. He does them laparoscopically- up to 20 cm and mine is 10. So i am very hopeful.

Good for you!! I would like to keep my uterus as well and so many well meaning family members keep telling me to just take it out as though it is having a tooth pulled . ; /.

I'm 34 and just had a partial hysterectomy done 2 weeks ago I only had my uterus removed my doctor was against removing anything else since everything else was fine. I had no choice in having it removed my sex life was over due to the pain I felt everytime I had an orgaism and then I had the biopsy done and omg the pain from that had me in tears I even passed out twice during it so my doctor knew something was wrong. We all have our own opinions about having a hysterectomy done some of us have no choice and some do to each their own I'm looking forward to having a sex life again. I hope you do what's best for you. Good luck

Beth0810, i am very happy for you to have a medical option where you can feel comfortable and i am sure the outcome will be perfect for you!. I am hopeful too!.

Let me get clear, i am not against hysterectomy if its necessary for any personal reasons, by all means if the problem is getting out of hands and risking your own well being in any aspects of your life then it is the best option and happily the "easiest" one at hand.
My confusion comes when "taking an informed decision" falls in the short of literature, studies, data, etc than can really build a strong based choice and basically go blind folded into it.

WendyK33. girl! hope it comes soon!!! seems you are on the path of a healthier life and please do keep taking good care of your self! sounds exciting future!

LoreneKM, a tooth pull! ooouch! i do get you! i do also find people saying so easily: "so what are you waiting for?...heck just do it already".

i would rather not use radical words but for sure i personally feel we get really bullied about this uterus issue around, i think as all many other bullying issues in the world for the lack of knowledge/empathy.
Where would we be if we did not question any thing?.

Thank you for sharing your shine and strong will!
wishing you a peaceful night!.
Hugs!

Thanks I'm doing my best well trying to anyways