Fibroids

Body: 

Hi all,

A friend of mine just mentioned to me today that after her 40th Birthday coming up soon, she will be undergoing a hysterectomy to remove only her uterus to take care of recurring serious fibroids on her uterus. She said that other treatment options have already been done, but the fibroids keep coming back. I don't know any other details, and I'm not knowledgeable about fibroids myself, but I did want her to investigate this site and any alternative options before having surgery. She is a nurse herself so I'm sure she feels that all options have been covered. But I sent her links to various pages on this site to give her additional info she may not be aware of.

Is hysterectomy the answer for treating a serious fibroid condition? If not, what is one to do who struggles with fibroids? Thank you.

Hi Cecilly - Most of what I know about hysterectomy and fibroids comes from Christine's interview with Nora Coffey of HERS (I suggest you and your friend both watch it) and also from reading Nora's book, The "H" Word. Any woman reading that book would be stopped in her tracks if she was considering hysterectomy for fibroids, or for anything else not life-threatening for that matter.

Fibroids shrink at menopause, and if they are causing problems, can be removed in a myomectomy (sp?) which is something not all doctors do. Hysterectomy, on the other hand, comes with a whole host of additional potential side effects, virtually none of them good.

What other treatments has she had? Is she aware that leaving the ovaries is no guarantee they will not eventually cease to function due to loss of nerve and blood supply?

Go the Resources page, then to Videos, and watch that interview. - Surviving

You have done about all you can do. Women in the medical field 'often enough' wear blinkers that prevent them from looking at anything that is not absolutely main stream medically.

Yes, I too have been told of a woman who has booked for an hysterectomy, and is unstoppable in her zeal and determined that this is the right move for her. All you can do in these situations is to give the woman the gift of resources that might fill her in the gaps in her current information about hysterectomy and its effects.

After that it really is her responsibility to ensure that she has taken in all the information pertinent to her decision, and she is the only person who can make the right decision for her. You can't make her read what you have given her.

Sadly, that is all you can do. You have done that. If it all goes pear-shaped for her you will know that you didn't contribute to that situation, and that you did attempt to give her information that might have prevented an unsatisfactory result. Hopefully she will be OK. You never know. She may join the Forums, and find out a lot of new stuff, like so many of us have done. I hope so.

Christiane Northrup, a gynaecologist who has endorsed Saving the Whole Woman, has some things to say about the presence of, and treatment of fibroids in Women's Health Women's Wisdom, and in The Wisdom of Menopause, her two books. You might be able to borrow either or both from a Library. Sure, her gyn may have explored all the other treatment options, but how many is that? How open minded is the gyn? You still don't know what treatments she has had, but you can't assume anything either. Good luck.

Louise