Woman refused hysterectomy on age grounds

[Mittens67]

Apologies as I don't know how to link but have just read on the bbc app that a 26 year old woman who has lived with severe pain from endometriosis since puberty and even had sepsis is being refused the hysterectomy she wants in order to live any sort of pain free life because doctors insist she will want children later.
The irony when the nhs is perfectly happy to sterilise younger women and girls in the name of "transitioning" is mind blowing.
I had the same argument made to me by numerable condescending doctors when I wanted to be sterilised from age 30 instead of taking the pill which didn't suit me. I knew I didn't want children (and have known this all my life, now aged 57 still never wanted then) but doctors knew best because all women must want children.
I had thought progress would have been made over the decades but clearly not.

Womens healthcare is an absolute joke. My sister had 5 kids under 30 and they still wouldn't sterilise her until she was nearly mid 30's. I mean I'd think it was pretty obvious she didn't want more kids😅

Hysterectomy doesn’t completely solve pain in endometriosis. The key being that endo deposits are within the abdomen for example on surface of ovaries, bowel, urinary tract etc, which you obviously can’t remove.

This infuriates me. My boyfriend got a vasectomy after one child at 29. Typical questions asked (box ticking exercise) and that was that.

It's incredibly frustrating. I've been asking for a hysterectomy for years - I'm 40, childfree by choice, divorced, and absolutely ravaged by endo, fibroids and cysts. But apparently I might still change my mind.

Do they agree to do vasectomies at any age? I asked to be sterilised at 25 when I already had two DC and the doctors acted as though I was joking, really wasn’t though.

I'm sure I read about, or watched a video about, a woman in Australia claiming she was trans/non binary in order to get a hysterectomy she'd been wanting/needing for years. If ever I'm in a situation whereby I feel a hysterectomy would be beneficial to my health and I'm refused I will have no problem claiming to be trans in order to get it.
I know it's not the point though, we should need to do that in order to be provided with adequate health care.

I'm 40 and they're very reluctant to look at taking my uterus. They've agreed to fit a mirena while I'm under and if that doesn't work they'll remove it
I have stage 4 endo and adenomyosis

Sadly this has been the case for years. I started asking for a hysterectomy at 17 (I was being admitted to hospital every month for morphine due to endo pain) and I've been refused every time.

I have severe endo (and had adenomyosis), and I've had a hysterectomy as well as extensive excision surgery. I was in my thirties, so older than the woman in the article. She's right in that hysterectomy is the current definitive treatment for adenomyosis, but TBH this is a much more complicated issue than just fertility.

Women who have hysterectomies die younger, regardless of why they have it. Menopause starts earlier and if you have your ovaries removed young, the long term health risks don't make for fun reading. If you've got the added complication of endometriosis then it needs to be performed by an endo specialist, which it sounds like she doesn't have access to. Having this surgery carried out by a general gynae who isn't a specialist could turn out to be worse than not having it at all because she will most likely be left with the endo deposits and potentially so much scarring from the hysterectomy that treating the endo becomes very difficult. I feel like it's a surgery that's not really taken seriously and is talked about as if it's minor, when it's not.

There's also the fact that there's no guarantee that it will improve things and it could make them worse. I'm now dealing with surgical menopause and deep endo in the bowel which is deemed too risky to operate on, partly because of scarring and nerve damage from the surgery I've already had.

Do I think gynae care is good enough? Absolutely not. Women are definitely being short changed. Endo care is shockingly bad. But I don't think hysterectomy on demand is a good thing either.

A hysterectomy is major surgery a vasectomy is not, the two cannot be compared.

When I was 33 and had just had my second child I had a conversation with the nurse about contraception and included the option of sterilisation in the chat and the nurse said I wouldn’t qualify as too young.

The problem was that by then I had had 2 births and 2 PPHs and had been told by the doctor that if I had a third child that I was very likely to have another PPH. They didn’t quite say “so don’t have any more babies you muppet” but it wasn’t far off.

I didn’t push it as I was pretty happy with the mini pill (no periods!) plus I still harboured secret unrealistic dreams of a third but it did seem slightly surprising that it wasn’t even on the table as an option.

Totally agree. A hysterectomy can be part of the treatment plan but it absolutely isn’t the miracle fix it that people on here think it is. As you said, endo deposits can be found even as far as the chest wall and the brain. You need a skilled excision surgeon to remove what is on the ovaries, bowel, bladder etc, but even then some areas are too risky to remove from. Treatmenta with progesterone via the Mirena coil and oral progesterone containing pills seem to provide a lot of relief.

But this is still a choice that adults with capacity should be able to make.

You can’t demand any treatment on the NHS just because you have mental capacity. It is still done by clinical indication, decided by the medical team.

I had to argue very hard for sterilisation aged 35 after 2 children and a broken body as a result.
It was only when I said “Does this pelvic floor look like it could carry another baby?” the surgeon conceded.
I got all the usual pish about “what if you get divorced?” , “what if one of your children dies?” ( oh yes I’ll just pop out another as a replacement 🙄🙄🙄)
It was incredibly insensitive and patronising- poor little woman she doesn’t know her own mind. I was not amused!

@YourProudBiscuit definitely

I was at the doctors a decade ago saying could this be endo? I didn't want the pill so they did nothing and sent me away

I changed doctors and my endo is so severe it was diagnosed off an ultrasound as my ovaries are kissing. Waiting for an MDT meeting now and then surgery but the waist are ridiculous

And I had to argue to get morphine for pain relief

@Mebebecat but there's a careful path to be walked here, and consent is blurry when you're very ill and desperate. Hysterectomy is so final. It can't be undone.

I would just be aware that her doctor is bound by confidentiality and so can't reply to these allegations. Whenever I've seen one of these in the press and I have known the other side, it has never been as straightforward as it appears.......I do think that anyone talking to the press about their health should have to waive confidentiality so their doctor can respond to the criticism.

The pill (containing progesterone) is the first line treatment for endometriosis. I don’t think they offered you nothing. It stops progression of disease and as I said is the first line treatment.

FWIW I think it's @Mittens67 who said 'hysterectomy she wants in order to live any sort of pain free life' and wanted to say that if you have severe endo, a hysterectomy alone will not give you a pain free life. It might reduce your pain levels if you're lucky. But you will not by any stretch of the imagination be pain free. I've had a hyst, and I have sobbing on the toilet levels of pain.

I know someone who ended up doing a gofundme to pay privately. The Dr's logic was that she might still want children one day. When my friend pointed out that she was a happily married lesbian, and therefore in the absolutely unlikely scenario that they changed their minds about having children her wife could carry the child, the Dr said "but you and your wife might get a divorce and you marry a man".

Mind you, my brother apparently can't have a vasectomy as the Dr said he might want more DC one day. He's the only man I've ever known to be turned down. (And he doesn't really want one, so will use any excuse he can)

Yes I have endo and didn't take it for years and years as it didn't agree with me, but several months ago I was desperate for the flooding to slow down and bought the POP over the counter, and that version seems to agree with me extremely well so I'm very luckily able to not cry in bed for a week every month now, but I still can't have sex as it's too painful. An improvement in pain (rather than total elimination) is a good outcome for anyone when they're in agony, I think.

I always thought the pill was a general fob off (and I think to some extent it is) because I've even been offered it for depression. Maybe if doctors want women to realise the pill might actually help, those doctors need to reflect on WHY women don't believe them when it's pushed on us for literally every issue we have.

I think it would be a bit suspect if we could just have organs removed on our own say-so, but the reasons doctors give are pathetic and insult our intelligence. They should be saying "you won't be producing enough oestrogen so may need HRT for a long time to try to prevent osteoporosis" etc instead of "You've got 22 kids but what if you're 47 and want another baby?"

even had sepsis is being refused the hysterectomy she wants in order to live any sort of pain free life because doctors insist she will want children later.

It's fairly well known that a hysterectomy for any kind of pelvic pain doesn't have very good results. It often doesn't take the pain away.

Are doctors declining to do hysterectomies to protect fertility or because the uterus and ovaries are vital organs and removing them can have lifelong implications for a woman’s health?

hysterectomies can change women’s lives, but not always for the better. Once they are done there is no going back.

people treat this surgery far too casually and I believe that is actually the bigger feminist issue.

@LadyGabriella but I hadn't even been diagnosed at that point
It was just "well it could be, but if you don't want the pill there's nothing else we can do and no point in referring"
If I had been referred at that point they could have excised the endo

Now it's everywhere and needs a colorectal surgeon as well as an endo specialist and I'm just left in agony until they can operate