Psycho-social problems of women who had undergone hysterectomy

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Manju said that since she was very young at the time of hysterectomy, everyone,especially her husband, had advised her to opt for HRT. In retrospect, in spite ofsome recent studies which reported increased morbidity associated with long termuse of HRT, Manju feels that opting for HRT treatment was the right thing to do inher case.Interpretation of findings and discussionAlthough the four women who were interviewed for the case study were differentin many respects, certain factors emerge common to all the cases. All of themsuffered from various physical and psychological problems both before and afterthe hysterectomy. In the first three cases, severe, prolonged and irregular bleedinghad interfered with the daily functioning of those women forcing them to opt forhysterectomy. The common complaints during the post-hysterectomy period werehot flushes, irritability, mood swing and weight gain. Other problems varied fromperson to person. In terms of sexual life, responses varied from loss of libido toincrease in sexual pleasure after the operation.It was seen that even in those cases where heavy and painful bleeding led to thehysterectomy, the women undergoing the surgery had mixed feelings about it.While they accepted the hysterectomy as necessary and expressed relief frompainful symptoms after the hysterectomy, they had approached surgery withvarious apprehensions. Such apprehensions had its origin in a) inadequateinformation given to the women by the doctor, and b) accounts of other peopleregarding what to expect after the hysterectomy. It was seen that the accounts ofpost-hysterectomy life passed on to women who are to undergo hysterectomy byfriends, relatives and acquaintances are mostly of a negative character. Suchaccounts make the patients apprehensive and anxious. In addition, the informationgiven by the health care providers to the women undergoing hysterectomy wasfound to be inadequate. In most cases, doctors did not discuss the posthysterectomyproblems or its treatment with these women.
A change was found in the intensity and frequency of problems during the posthysterectomyperiod. All four women reported that the first 12 to 18 months afterthe surgery were the most difficult to cope with. This was especially true in thecase of hot flushes and mood swings. With passing of time the hot flushesdecreased in intensity and frequency and in some cases disappeared after four tofive years. The irritability and mood swing too was reported to be controllablewithin a year of the hysterectomy.It was found that there are marked differences in the cases where the ovaries areremoved along with the uterus. Such women face more difficulties in terms ofboth physical and psychological problems. The woman who took HRT treatmentafter the oophorectomy reported far less severity of such problems.Supportive behaviour from the husband was found to be of vital importance indetermining the post-hysterectomy adjustment of these women. Those womenwho enjoyed a close and supportive relationship with their spouse were able tocope with the post-op stress better. Social support in the form of family, friendsand coworkers also had a positive impact on post-hysterectomy recovery.Conclusions and suggestionsWomen who undergo hysterectomy face a multitude of physical, psychologicaland emotional problems both before and after the hysterectomy. The major factorscontributing to these problems are lack of proper information, lack of support andcounselling and fears and apprehensions born out of wrong information. Sincedoctors, especially gynaecologists, have a heavy work load it is both practical andbeneficial to appoint qualified counsellors in the hospitals in order to interact withthe hysterectomy patients and their families. The aim of such interaction should beensuring that the patient copes better with the hysterectomy and post-hysterectomyscenario by lessening the psychosocial problems faced by the hysterectomypatients.
Page 1 and 2: ABSTRACTTitle - Psychosocial Proble
Page 3 and 4: PSYCHOSOCIAL PROBLEMS OF WOMEN WHO
Page 5 and 6: Dysfunctional uterus bleeding (DUB)
Page 7 and 8: Vaginal hysterectomy is prefered wh
Page 9 and 10: Vaginal bleeding—this should dimi
Page 11 and 12: hospital reported 1547 hysterectomi
Page 13 and 14: ) The study also gathered first han
Page 15 and 16: and found no evidence of hormone di
Page 17 and 18: Any kind of surgical intervention o
Page 19 and 20: esulting absence of ovarian estroge
Page 21 and 22: penetration during intercourse, and
Page 23 and 24: heavy, prolonged and irregular blee
Page 25 and 26: hysterectomy. She complained of wei
Page 27 and 28: Case no: 2Nirmala is 42 years old a
Page 29 and 30: She did not perceive it as a “los
Page 31 and 32: esult of her hysterectomy. She was
Page 33: miscarriage following tubular pregn
Page 37 and 38: Depression in the patient before su

Psycho-social problems of women who had undergone hysterectomy

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?