‘I want my womb removed but doctors say I’m too young’

13 comments

1. Respectfully, this is a mental illness. Clear as day.

2. My mother has had to have a hysterectomy and the knock on effects for her have been quite considerable. 

   Surely there is a doctor somewhere in this case who is trying to make a more holistic decision based on something more than theoretical future children? No major surgery where important organs are removed is without immediate and long term risks and I would be very surprised if these weren’t part of the doctor’s considerations as well as they try to make the right decision 

3. This is quite a complex case about the role of the different stakeholders in the decision-making of an individual’s health and the role of bodily autonomy in that process. The latter idea includes the request for as well as the refusal of medical interventions in line with a patient’s preferences. It is also emblematic of the poor quality provision of women’s health services and the political shenanigans that take place as clinicians and politicians try to retain an interest in this decision-making.

4. I have endo and I definitely empathise with her. Thankfully I’m not quite at the stage where I would wish to remove my womb but believe me there have been days so agonisingly bad that I had considered it. Not only that but you’ll find a lot of doctors just don’t know how to manage endo. So many doctors have just tried to throw the contraceptive pill at me despite the fact that it does not work for me, and they they get arsey when you tell them you want a better medical plan. Believe me, any woman with severe endo is not requesting a procedure like this just for the sake of it. It’s often last chance saloon because nothing else has worked. The concept of future potential children is just not a priority when you’re spending every day in debilitating pain.

5. As someone who has suffered from endo and adenomyosis, I can categorically say my life had become intolerable just before I had my hysterectomy. I was bleeding through maternity pads in under 20 mins, and my womb lining was 24 mm when it should have been 7mm max. It’s was miserable and so painful. Giving birth was easy in comparison. I would collapse, vomit, and be bed bound for days at a time.

   This poor girl needs to have the treatment she needs, it’s as simple as that, most people with endo have trouble getting pregnant, so using that as a reason for her to not get the care she needs is unacceptable.

6. In her position I would seek private care in India

7. Nobody ever says ‘but you might change your mind later’ when someone has a kid. Children are just as permanent as a hysterectomy.

   And so what if she did regret it later? We can’t live our lives never doing anything we might later regret. It’s infantilising to take the choice away because you think you know better than she does about whether she wants children, especially since you’re not the one who has to deal with the pain of having endometriosis.

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9. Doctors are scared that if she regrets it later then could get sued, simple as. You would think that a thorough discussion and consent documented properly would be enough , but even then it might not stand up to the amount of scrutiny they’d be under if she DID regret it later.

   My wife suffers from the same condition, albeit not as bad, and this is something I always point to as one of the many examples where the climate of fear within our medical professions results in subpar care and unnecessary suffering.

10. It’s not just this; even medications “you too young these medications not good if you want children” I don’t want children I want to be able to walk, why would I have kids when I can’t even hold a baby? It’s our body’s why are doctors still questioning us.

11. I have suspected endometriosis. I’m in my late 20s. They’ve approved my hysterectomy ONLY BECAUSE I’ve had a stroke so they can’t treat me with birth control anymore. Shame it has to come to that extreme measures beforehand. My periods are so bad it feels like I almost go into shock sometimes. Shivery, sweaty, cold, lips go blue. Always on iron medicine. Tired of it. Work are understanding thankfully but I have to miss a few days on the first few days of my period because I am WRITHING on the floor in agony. No one can reach me.

12. Unfortunately, the rates of regret for a woman having a hysterectomy at that age are very high. The evidence shows that young women are more likely to regret both having the surgery and the loss of fertility.

    I don’t doubt her quality of life is awful given her diagnosis, but also doctors are only following the evidence when they are cautious about removing wombs in young women. 

13. A friend of mine is a Trans man and he’s just been given an appointment for his hysterectomy, I’m really happy for him. It causes him so much mental and mental physical anguish I know he will be 100% better off after the Op. So why isn’t this woman and other women granted the same amount of agency over their own bodies, it’s obscene.

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