Hysterectomy Information and Resources

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Weight Gain During Menstruation: Myths & Realities

Posted on July 13, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Like stomach cramps and mood swings, weight gain during menstruation is another complaint of many women during that time of the month. It appears to be caused by various factors revolving around hormonal production. At the same time, some women also report having intense cravings before the start of the menstrual week. However, experts in this field have advised people not to believe these myths. As people of the 21st century, it is best to believe in events that have scientific explanations rather than mere speculations.

Why do women report gaining weight in the course of their menstrual cycle? Here are a couple of things that are said to contribute to the phenomenon.

Cravings

This is more experiential than scientific. All of us have cravings. But it is said that the people with the strongest cravings are those who are undergoing hormonal changes. Women who are undergoing the menstruation process have a lot of cravings. It is their body’s way of coping with the hormonal changes inside them. Experts in this field say that women during their menstruation are prone to suffering from low blood sugar. With this, the automatic response of the body is to create cravings that will provide enough sugar to restore the normal blood sugar levels in the body.

Then again, when nutritionists measured how much weight was gained because of this one week craving, they found it to be insignificant. A 63 kilogram woman reported a two pound weight gain after her menstrual week and eventually lost it in the succeeding days. This prompted nutritionists to focus on another weight gain catalyst.

Water Retention/Edema

A lot of women will notice that during menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause, they added a couple of pounds to their weight. A good deal of these additional pounds is not really fat. In fact, it is primarily water weight. At times when hormones are erratic and are not at their normal levels, swelling (a.k.a. edema) occurs. Thus, a woman stores more water in certain areas such as the arms, legs, and tummy. The breasts also swell which may cause physical discomfort to the woman.

Experts observed women who were undergoing ovulation and eventually menstruation. After making sure that they did not consume any additional food apart from their usual diet, weight was measured and compared. The experts deduced that the swelling and water weight was the main contributory factor in the actual weight gain among women. And thus, it led nutritionists to developing a diet plan that would help control bloating and weight gain in the duration of the menstrual week.

A word of advice: weight gain during menstruation is perfectly normal. It happens to all women, though it varies as to how much water weight is gained by any particular person. For as long as the process ends and the symptoms are alleviated right after menstruating, gaining water weight is not a problem. With the proper diet plan, water weight will be controlled and lost right after menstruating. It should not be too bothersome for any woman experiencing this because eventually it resolves on its own.

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Hysterectomy Pain

Posted on January 11, 2010 | 1 Comment

Just as with any surgical patient, women who undergo hysterectomy are bound to experience post-op hysterectomy pain. This scares off a lot of people, but it would help to know that there are ways to manage the pain. However, keep in mind that these methods for managing hysterectomy pain are not meant to completely eradicate the pain but to make the discomfort caused by the pain tolerable.

Hysterectomy Pain – A Management Plan

If you’re about to undergo hysterectomy, it’s advised that you also discuss and plan the post-operative pain management with your doctor. You need to determine how your doctor plans to handle the hysterectomy pain you are expected to experience after the surgery, and what they would do if this doesn’t work out. You should also ask what your doctor’s alternatives are for dealing with your hysterectomy pain. In addition, you should discuss when you can start the medication; what type of medication you’ll undergo when you go home; and what you can do if you run out of medication.

Hysterectomy Pain – Immediate Post-operative Pain Management

The following are some ways of dealing with hysterectomy pain right after the surgery:

On-Q. This is a pain management system where local anesthesia is administered to the area of the surgery through a tiny tube that is inserted through the incision.

Morphine pump. This is attached to the patient’s IV. The patient can get a controlled dosage of morphine whenever she needs it by pressing a mechanism.

Post-op epidural. A catheter is inserted in the patient’s back where low dose pain medication is infused to provide localized anesthesia to the surgical site. The patient will be able to ambulate and require less oral pain medications.

These pain management systems are usually given to the patient for one to two days after the surgery.

Hysterectomy Pain – Pain Management at Home

Pain management at home consists of oral medication. Narcotic pain medication is usually taken every four to six hours and can be supplemented with anti-inflammatory agents every eight hours.

Hysterectomy Pain – Refill and Addiction

It is seldom that a patient would need a refill of the medicines being taken because the pain usually eases a month after the surgery. Because of the short period of medication as well as its controlled use, there is no risk of getting addicted to the pain killers. In addition, these medicines are taken to relieve pain and not for the sensations they provide, which help further in preventing addiction.

However, if you would really need a refill then you should consult your doctor. Your doctor can make the necessary arrangements for this.

Hysterectomy Care

Posted on January 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Hysterectomy is a major operation where the uterus of a woman is removed. In this procedure, even the cervix, fallopian tubes, and the ovaries may be removed if necessary. Although the risk of complications for this type of surgery is low, it’s still important for a woman who has undergone hysterectomy to get proper hysterectomy care. This will not only help in a faster recovery, but it will also help in preventing complications, resulting overall in a comfortable experience for the patient.

Hysterectomy Care Before the Surgery

Before you undergo a hysterectomy surgery, it’s important that you get ample hysterectomy care to reduce the risk of complications.

• Have a fiber-rich diet before the hysterectomy in order to counter the constipation that post-operative medication causes.
• Eat a light meal like a salad on the night prior to the surgery, but don’t eat or drink anything after midnight.
• Get a lot of sleep.
• Exercise in order to relieve some stress.

Hysterectomy Care After the Surgery

Although you are bound to experience some pain and discomfort after your hysterectomy procedure, see this as a time for you to rest and relax. You won’t have to go to work for some weeks, and you won’t have to do any house chores either, so take this time to just regain your energies and have fun doing the things you don’t normally get to do.

• Dress in loose-fitting and comfortable clothes.
• Have a list of emergency phone numbers handy. These can include numbers of your family, friends, and doctors who can provide hysterectomy care.
• Gather all the books you never had the time to read.
• Be sure to have a TV and DVD player in your room for your viewing pleasure.
• Have a music player nearby should you want to give your eyes a rest.
• Eat healthy. This is not just a hysterectomy care tip, but something you should always do.
• Take painkillers as prescribed by your doctor.
• Have enough sanitary pads. Avoid using tampons.
• Use heating pads, but don’t let these come in direct contact with your skin.
• Do not lift heavy things. Ask the help of friends and family.
• Ask others to prepare your meal for you, or to drive you somewhere.
• Do not drink alcohol.

Above all make sure you keep and maintain all doctor follow-up appointments so that you can get the best hysterectomy care possible.

Hysterectomy Risks

Posted on January 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Hysterectomy is one of the most commonly performed surgeries, and one of the safest surgeries, too. This may be attributed to doctors gaining more expertise from performing the procedure on a regular basis. In addition, most of the women who undergo hysterectomy are generally healthy, which helps ward off the complications.

Occurrences of hysterectomy risks are relatively low, with only ten percent of hysterectomy patients experiencing any kind of complication. Because open or abdominal hysterectomy is usually the technique used for difficult cases, it is the type of hysterectomy that comes with the most risks.

Hysterectomy Risks – What You Can Expect

Hysterectomy risks include the risks that come with all types of surgeries, as well as risks that are caused by the use of anesthesia. However, the following are the risks that are particular to a hysterectomy surgery:

• Bleeding after the surgery that lasts until the recovery period
• Bleeding during surgery, which may call for blood transfusion
• Damage to the tube (ureter) that connects the bladder and the kidney
• Damage to organs close to the uterus
• A bruise or collection of blood (hematoma) around the area where the surgery was performed
• Inability to urinate after the hysterectomy
• Wound separation
• Blood clot in legs (DVT)

Hysterectomy Risks – What You Should Know

Before undergoing the procedure, it helps for you to be aware of the risks of hysterectomy. It is then important for you to have a dialog with your doctor about the consequences of hysterectomy. Here are some things you should ask your doctor:

• What you can do to minimize the chances of hysterectomy risks?
• If there are tests you must take in order to determine problems that may cause complications
• If you will keep your ovaries
• If you should take antibiotics to prevent the complications from occurring
• How many hysterectomies the surgeon has performed?
• How many of the hysterectomies performed led to complications?
• The type of hysterectomy that the surgeon recommends
• The procedure with the least hysterectomy risks
• If there are hysterectomy techniques that cause more or less complications than the others

When making a decision on whether to go through with the hysterectomy or not, it’s important to be aware of the different risks of hysterectomy, so that you can determine if the benefits from the surgery outweigh the risks that come with it.

Hysterectomy Surgery

Posted on January 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Known as the most commonly performed surgery among women, hysterectomy surgery is the removal of the uterus in order to treat diseases and conditions that can no longer be treated using more conventional means such as medication, therapies, or other types of surgeries. Depending on the medical condition and its severity, other parts of the reproductive system may also be removed such as the cervix, vagina, ovaries, or the fallopian tubes.

Some of the general effects of hysterectomy surgery include the inability to conceive, and the beginning of menopause if the woman isn’t in the menopause stage yet.

When to Undergo Hysterectomy Surgery

Hysterectomy may become necessary if other medical treatments and procedures fail to cure the medical condition, or if the condition is deteriorating the patient’s quality of life. The following are some of these conditions:

• Hemorrhage
• Uterine prolapse
• Chronic pain
• Chronic bleeding
• Cancer
• Endometriosis
• Fibroids

Types of Hysterectomy Surgery

There are different types of hysterectomy surgery, and these are based on the reproductive parts that are removed. There are also different techniques for performing the surgery.

The following are the types of hysterectomy surgery:

Subtotal or partial hysterectomy. In this type of hysterectomy, the ovaries and cervix are kept, and only a part of the uterus is removed.

Total hysterectomy. This hysterectomy surgery is when both the cervix and the uterus are removed. The ovaries can either remain or be removed as well.

Radical hysterectomy. This type of hysterectomy is performed when the cervix, uterus, ovaries, and even the vagina need to be removed.

On the other hand, the techniques for performing a hysterectomy surgery are the following:

Abdominal hysterectomy. In this hysterectomy surgery, an incision is made on the abdomen. The incision can either be horizontal across the bikini line or vertical from the pubic bone to the belly button.

Vaginal hysterectomy. This technique is when the uterus is removed by incising the vagina.

Laparoscopic assisted hysterectomy. This technique is used for delicate cases where the surgeon would need to look inside the woman’s abdomen with a camera during the surgery. In this technique, a laparoscope is used with a vaginal hysterectomy.

Recovery from Hysterectomy Surgery

Recovery from hysterectomy surgery usually takes some time, with one to four days of hospital stay.

Recovery from a vaginal or laparoscopic hysterectomy takes 1 to 2 weeks, while recovery from abdominal hysterectomy takes around 4 to 8 weeks.

A woman who underwent hysterectomy can resume sexual activity and take tub baths after 6 weeks.