Weight/Diagnostic Hysteroscopy/Hysterectomy & Arousal Article

[Guest guest]

Fibroids and Weight

I believe there is statistical evidence out there that overweight women are

more likely to have fibroids.

That, however, doesn’t mean that being overweight causes the fibroids.

There might be some other factor that causes both

Or – many of us have wondered whether the fibroids play a role in the weight

gain.

If nothing else, fibroids restrict activity for many of us & make us anemic.

Anemia makes me lethargic and ravenously hungry. Prior to treatment,

every time I did engage in physical exercise, I’d start to bleed like crazy

- so I didn't do anything physically strenuous. Those factors combined to

result in a lot of sitting on the couch eating everything in sight. A sure

recipe for weight gain.

Immediately post vag-myo I lost nearly 40 pounds – effortlessly. While my

weight fluctuates & is a constant battle – that 40 pounds has never returned

– hasn’t’ even threatened to return.

* * *

That said, there is no doubt in my mind that the healthier you are – the

healthier you are. If you can maintain a reasonable weight, eat right, get

adequate exercise, etc – you WILL feel better – whether you have fibroids or

not. Feeling a couple of degrees better is always nice – regardless of any

other health problems.

*******************************

Jean and Hysterescopic Diagnosis:

Jean, so nice to hear from you on-line. Glad you found the MeetUp helpful &

hope to see you & more ladies in April. I can’t answer your hysteroscopy

question from personal experience. However, hysteroscopy can be and

sometimes is used as a diagnostic tool for fibroids (or other things) inside

the uterine cavity.

I hope some ladies who have experienced diagnostic hysteroscopy will chime

in and let you know about their experiences with it. – and, I hope you’ll

keep us all informed of your adventures in fibroid-land.

* * * * * * * *>

Article re: Hysterectomy & Sexual Arousal

Okay – I admit I’m not paying for the full text article & this is a real

“quick-study.” But from the abstract it appears that a very small group of

fibroid women – some post-hysterectomy, others not – got on treadmills and

watched porno flicks in an attempt to get sexually excited. Excitement was

based on a measurement of “vaginal pulse amplitude” and self-reporting. The

results apparently were that the non-hysterectomy women got partially more

excited than the hysterectomy women (which apparently means the ones who

didn’t use the treadmill had higher vaginal pulse amplitudes – but it

doesn’t say what any of those women self-reported).

First, it sounds like too small a study to be very meaningful – 32 women, 15

post-hysterectomy, 17 not.

Second, (personal mind-warp here I admit) - I can’t help but wonder how they

measure “vaginal pulse amplitude” – and whether the device that does that

might – well – have something to do with / or interfere with the arousal. I

don't even know if vaginal pulse amplitude is a valid measure of arousal.

Maybe I'm just uninformed and that's something I don't know.

Third, I rarely get on a treadmill or watch porno flicks to get aroused –

I don’t know about the rest of you. I’m really not sure that’s a

particularly valid measure of getting aroused. I mean, if that’s how you do

it normally, I guess it might be meaningful for you.

Fourth, AROUSAL is only a small part of the game. People keep studying

female arousal as if that's all that counted. -- Sort of the " as long as

she wants me, who cares if she enjoys it herself . . . " attitude. How about

being able to carry through – without pain – with pleasure ??? – How about

orgasm – did the women who no longer had uteri get to orgasm as well – as

completely - with as much pleasure? Did they miss uterine contractions at

orgasm?? -- Were they women who did or did not experience that pre-surgery?

---- Personally, I think being able to get excited and then NOT being

able to enjoy and/or not being able to reach the big O might be pretty darn

hellish – especially if it were a regular thing -- probably even worse than

not getting aroused in the first place. They don't seem to have even

considered pleasure or orgasm.

Fifth, a problem with hysterectomy is that there’s no way to predict WHICH

women will suffer side effects in advance (in this case which ones will have

lower vaginal pulse amplitude if they don’t get on a treadmill and do watch

porno flicks – or something like that). Hysterectomy is irreversible. So,

when a woman turns out to be one of the people who does have negative

side-effects, there’s no going back.

I do believe that hysterectomy can have devestating effects on a woman's

sexual function -- and we don't know in advance for which women -- but I

don't think this study would particularly sway me one way or the other.

See also post #13911 -- in the archives.

Best,

Pat

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