Re: In Defense of Hystersisters.com

[Guest guest]

> " ...why spend time trying to convince a woman she needs a hysterectomy

> when you can simply point her to hystersisters.com where other women

> will do the job for you? "

wrote:

> I would just like to say that hystersisters has provided me with a

> lot of good information and support post hysterectomy. I would

> highly recommend the website for any woman needing more information

> about hysterectomy or in need of support. As with all research, you

> must consider the source that you are recieving the data from and

> what their motivation and expertise level is.

,

You don't need to defend hystersisters to me as I know full well it

has helped many, many women needing support. I even believe the site

has gotten better, with time, in offering more " balanced " support and

help. It still has a ways to go in how it handles newbies looking

into alternatives and asking questions about the necessity of their

own hysterectomy recommendation and could honestly stand a bit of a

reality check on that " Road Less Travelled " -- which isn't such a

lonely road at all, it would seem. But, all in all, the site does

offer support to a great many women.

My point about how it is perceived by many gynecologists still stands,

however. It IS being viewed as a pro-hysterectomy site that WILL

convince women hysterectomy is the way to go and the comment I quoted

was one of the tamer ones I've actually heard. It actually gets much,

much worse, in terms of how SOME (not all) docs view that site and how

they can manipulate it to their advantage with patients who are

uncertain about hysterectomy.

And, there was my own myomectomy. The day before surgery, a Blue

Shield nurse called me up to try and convince me to choose

hysterectomy instead...and in her spiel towards the push for

hysterectomy, she HIGHLY recommended the hystersisters.com website as

a place that would calm me in my selection process and show me that

hysterectomy would be a better choice than myomectomy. I'm still

outraged by it all -- and even more so knowing that even my own

insurance provider would stoop to using hystersisters.com as a way to

convince me to undergo hysterectomy. Clearly, both docs and

" industry " alike are choosing to use that site for manipulative

purposes. Why would they do this if they didn't honestly think it

might work?

Kathy has worked hard to help women who have undergone

hysterectomy -- but even she has seen the need to broaded the horizon

on reflecting towards alternatives, if available. She has a lot of

work ahead of her to find neutral territory for that messaging board

and shake free of the doc/insurance perspective that it's a dandy tool

for them to use in convincing women to choose hysterectomy. And

believe me, I truly wish her luck and hope she's able to pull it off

because women need as many objective messaging boards founded well in

the science online as can be created for reproductive health.

Carla Dionne