Medical Consequences of Hysterectomy
"A comprehensive look at hysterectomy:
The Ultimate Rape" by Elizabeth Plourde
hosted by Sue Spataro, RN, BSN
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Too many hysterectomies?
Depression

Medical Consequences of Hysterectomy

Sue:
Your book is very passionate and straightforward.  Through your own experience you really have developed a crusade for women.  How has your life changed since your hysterectomy?

Elizabeth:
My life has changed drastically.

Hormone imbalance influences the entire body, physically, emotionally, and mentally.

My daughter, who was 9 when I had my surgery, told me after she grew up: "When you came home from the hospital, you weren't 'My Mom' anymore."  This is a phrase I have heard repeated by the husbands and families of hysterectomized women with whom I have spoken.

Just hysterectomies, alone, shut down the ovaries in approximately 20% of women,
and lead to early shut down in many others.  Women whose ovaries are removed are sent into immediate surgical menopause, which the studies prove creates symptoms that are many times worse than natural menopause.  I am totally dependent on hormone pellet implants that have to be surgically implanted every four months.  Without them, I go into the symptoms of menopause: crying on a daily basis; hot flushes; osteoarthritis; excruciating fibromyalgia symptoms; and become totally asexual, with no sexual feelings or ability to respond.  My own proof that all of these are hormonally related is that during the periods of being unable to obtain the pellets I am in the throes of all these symptoms, which all disappear completely within 2 weeks of pellet implantation.

When a hormone regimen that my body could absorb enabled me to re-enter the world of the living again, and my research proved that at least 30% of the hysterectomized women are affected the way I was, I knew I had to write a book to warn women this is a "major surgery" that has the potential to change their lives, in many ways that are not for the better. I describe in my book the uterus and ovaries produce chemicals that help maintain a balanced blood pressure.

High Blood Pressure:
I know the high blood pressure I have experienced since my hysterectomy has made me a walking time bomb for a stroke, yet the side-effects I experience with blood pressure medications are so extreme, I will not use them.  I use the practice of the Chinese acupressure technique of Jin Shin Do on a continual basis to keep my blood pressure close to normal.  However, under times of stress it skyrockets out of control.

Bone loss:
Even though I have taken diligent care of my teeth, I am currently in a desperate fight to save 3 of my principal grinding teeth due to lost jaw bone, partly created by the years that I was unable to obtain hormone replacement my body could absorb.  Laboratory animals lose their jaw bone when their ovaries are removed.   So, I do not understand why the medical community does not realize that this also happens to women when their ovaries are removed.

Since all of these consequences result from the loss of women's precious-to-life reproductive organs, both my husband and I are devoting 100% of our lives to getting this information out to women everywhere.  In short, the answer to your question is: "Everything in my life has changed!"

Sue:
The title of your book The Ultimate Rape is very visceral what made you decide on this title?

Elizabeth:
It makes me very sad to use such a title, but after realizing that the symptoms I experienced after my hysterectomy have been documented throughout the entire century of literature on the subject, I felt there was no other appropriate title.  In the 1890's, the symptoms of insanity that developed in 10% of the women were blamed on doctors' techniques, and women were accused of being insane prior, rather than fully investigating whether there might be legitimate reasons for their reactions.

Today, the scientific literature totally backs up that loss of the chemicals and hormones manufactured by the uterus and ovaries accounts for the many and varied symptoms women experience, yet the rate of these surgeries reflects that this is still not being recognized. Additionally, this surgery has many parallels with rape, including violation of bodily boundaries and vaginal pain afterward.  Furthermore,  women who, like me, awaken from anesthesia without their organs, without having given their consent to have them removed, have described their surgery as "worse than rape".

Women are being stripped of vital life-preserving organs, which perform functions that cannot be fully replaced with current medical technology.  Since they are "our" sexual organs, many women also lose their ability to enjoy sex they way they could prior.  Women are left attempting to function without parts that were integral to their entire health and well-being, and many no longer  have the ability to enjoy sex to its fullest.  They are not warned of these possibilities beforehand.   When women attempt to file a claim, they cannot sue because these procedures are protected under the banner of "standard medical practice", so, they are left with no recourse within our current medical or judicial systems. Our entire society is impacted.

Since approximately 30% of women are adversely affected, with 21 million having undergone a hysterectomy in the U.S. just since 1965, 6.3 million women have and are suffering with serious consequences.  The truth has to be told about the full impact these surgeries have on women's bodies, ultimately on their lives, those of their families, our medical systems, and eventually Medicare, because some of the conditions do not surface until these women reach Medicare age.

see the book excerpt from the Ultimate Rape

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