Product Description

Combining personal stories of women's surgical experiences with the most recent medical data, this book offers a unique exploration into the issues surrounding hysterectomy, ovary removal, and hormone replacement. This book provides much needed information to clarify the confusion around HRT since the WHI study was released in July 2002. Women do not need to suffer needlessly. Well-documented with scientific references, it argues against the common belief that women's reproductive organs are dispensable after their childbearing years and looks at the full impact of reproductive organ removal on women's health. Detailed information on the side effects that can arise from these surgeries is provided, including high blood pressure, heart disease, osteoporosis, depression, fibromyalgia, sexual dysfunction, and bladder and bowel problems.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #633595 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
"A serious wake-up call and a must-read for any woman considering a hysterectomy." -- Stephen Sinatra, MD,FACC, Author: HeartSense

"Authoritative and well referenced--All Women should read this book!" -- Joseph C. Gambone, D.O., M.P.H. Assoc. Prof. Obstetrics & Gynecology, UCLA

"This book is very valuable and an easy to read story for any woman contemplating these procedures." -- Seth Herbst, MD,FACOG

A serious wake-up call and a must-read for any woman considering a hysterectomy. --Stephen Sinatra, MD, FACC

Authoritative and well referenced--All Women should read this book! This book is very valuable and an easy to read story for any woman contemplating these procedures. --Joseph C. Gambone, D.O., M.P.H.

We keep this important book in our waiting room and recommend it highly to our patients. --Jennifer Berman, MD and Laura Berman, PhD

About the Author
Elizabeth Plourde is a licensed Clinical Laboratory Scientist, with a B.S. in Biological Science, M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology. This training in the fields of both medicine and psychology is augmented by invaluable experience gained while working with cutting-edge medical research laboratories for over a decade. The author's well-rounded education and professional expertise provided the background necessary to research the 100-year history of medical literature encompassing these operations, and enabled Elizabeth to compile the information in an easily understandable format for all women. Her 20-years of research and expertise in the field of womens health have resulted in her appearances on ABC's 20/20, Berman & Berman: For Women Only, Good Morning America, The Gary Null Show, and numerous network news programs and radio shows across the country.

Customer Reviews

I want these hormones, Doc!
I want these hormones!..And I held up Suzanne Somers' The Sexy Years book. My ob/gyn smiled, ran tests for three months, and insisted upon surgery, instead. The accumulated billing:$5500. I released her to her tennis match.

Hemorrhaging for nine months taught me how feeble the world felt at below 7.2 hemoglobin. Sometimes before rush hour it was crucial to cover the driver's seat with a plastic garbage bag. On one occasion, gross clotting deposited what appeared to be a hatchling from Alien onto the floor of Macy's Department Store. I carried an extra change of clothing, always.

Prior go our first visit, my present M.D. suggested reading Elizabeht Plourde's Gruide book. I quickly began flowering into an informed patient. The authors knowledge, experience, presentation, and easy writing style fascinated and motivated the me to begin making better choices. My first visit with my new M.D. became less costly and more productive as a result.

Two months of topical bioidentical progesterone-$10 per month from Womens International Pharmacy-and I returned to my tennis loving ob/gyn for a recheck. The hemorrhaging and hair loss had ceased, but the fringe benefits made me the office marvel. The left ovariean cyst was gone, the septation on the right ovarian cyst disappeared, the right ovary need not be removed , and uterine fibroids showed a marked size reduction, as did my distended abdomen.

Good information, good questions, courage and carefully chosen doctors and healthcare providers create miracles. Sharing creates a marvelous network of supportive individuals. I share Elizabeth Plourde's Guide book with belly dancers, divas, vitamin specialists, health food stores, attorneys, physicians, and husbands of affected women.

A needed corrective
I agree with previous reviews that this book is largely anti-hysterectomy, but the book is a needed corrective to the unfortunate trend of unneeded hysterectomy. I appreciated the honesty of the book and it helped me to make my decision to have my hysterectomy. I never felt the author was against the procedure, only against unneeded surgery. The book might have been more careful about establishing the fact that hysterectomy is indeed necessary sometimes and perhaps it could have been more respectful of women's choices and fears; at the same time, "Your Guide" does show that hysterectomy is no "walk in the park." It's tough and no one should undergo the procedure unless she needs to. If a woman is told she needs a hysterectomy, she needs to do her homework and, if necessary, get another opinion. Hysterectomy is not a simple operation, it is major surgery, and it is a life-changing surgery. This book is very clear about that. Readers need to put the book into the context of their own experience, and if they do that, they will likely find the book useful.

Me thinks....
Me thinks thou protests too much, GYNECOLOGIST.
As one who has experienced years of painful periods due to endo, I finally had a hysterectomy and bilateral oophorectomy at age 45. I would gladly go back to that. At least I knew what to expect every month--pain. Since the hysterectomy my health has gotten WORSE, not better. I never knew that there were consequences of hysterectomy accept loss of periods. Had I known what was in this book, had I read it beforehand, I might have made a different choice. No doctor ever gave me a balanced view of what a hysterectomy might do. Women must be given adequate information in order to make intelligent choices.