You can find directions how to get here on the following link: http://www.bsuh.nhs.uk/hospitals/our-hospitals/royal-sussex-county-hospital/ . This includes details about parking and also bus routes. There is also parking in the streets around the hospital which is Pay and Display until 8pm.

January is famously the time to get colds and bugs too (when you are in the Western Hemisphere at least) so it’s essential to wrap up warm if you go out and to avoid anyone who happens to be suffering – especially if you are recovering from surgery.  Perhaps now is the time to think about catching up on all those books you were planning to read or the films you wanted to watch.

Our Latest News

• DHEA Hormone may help to ease menopause symptoms and improve sex lives - Researchers in Italy have found that supplementation with DHEA may help to ease menopausal symptoms and improve sexual function.
• Early mothering affected by the trauma of emergency hysterectomy - Researchers in Australia have found, perhaps unsurprisingly, that mothers who have undergone the trauma of an emergency hysterectomy following severe postpartum haemorrhage experience trauma.
• Prima Magazine features Hysterectomy Association founder Linda Parkinson-Hardman - The February edition of Prima Magazine (out now) has a two page article about the founder of The Hysterectomy Association, Linda Parkinson-Hardman in it.  The article charts Linda’s journey from endometriosis sufferer to Hysterectomy Association founder.
• Jenny’s Hysterectomy Story – Jenny had a hysterectomy at 51 and talks about how she felt following the surgical menopause which she then started.

Special Offers

It’s that time of year again … you know the one with the January sales! It’s no different here at the Hysterectomy Association where you can find bargain books and other items in our online store.

You can visit the shop here: shop.hysterectomy-association.org.uk

Events Coming Up

• Cervical Cancer Prevention Week starts on 22 January 2012
• February is National Heart Month. There are about 2.6 million people in the UK living with Coronary Heart Disease (CHD).
• 3 February 2012 marks Stress Down Day organised by the Samaritans.
• 4 February 2012 is World Cancer Day. The day was first organised by the International Union Against Cancer in 2005.
• National Think About Sex day is on 14 February 2012

If you have any events that are relevant to women and their health, then why not let us know and we’ll post them on the website and in our newsletters too.

What’s Happening on the Social Web?

One of the members of our Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/HysterectomyUK) has been diagnosed with Complex Atypical Hyperplasia last week . Do you have any words of advice or suggestions to help her?

Are you on Twitter? Do you have Endometriosis? Then you might find our Twitter list of relevant endometriosis Twitter accounts helpful for further information and support.  You can find the list at @HysterectomyUK/endometriosis and help us shape the conversations that count.

A total hysterectomy was preformed on me at 51years of age. I had wanted to keep my ovaries and discussed this with my gynaecologist and we came to an agreement – should he find anything nasty while operating he would remove them … there was nothing wrong with them (“unremarkable” was the term used in my medical report) but he took them anyway. I have since learned that even if my ovaries were left in blood supply to them may have been hampered causing them to atrophy so who’s to know if that was a good or not so good thing to do.

Post operation was a nightmare – 2 weeks after I went into full menopause, dreadful sweats, hot flushes (several an hour!) headaches, foggy head, balance problems … toughed it all out without medication ( I tried over the counter products to no avail)

A complication caused by the actual operation (keyhole) has been peripheral nerve damage  to my upper left thigh which manifests as slight numbness to the touch and occasionally a little weakness - I am only vaguely aware of it now.

Five  months on I feel better especially in the lower back tummy region, have more energy but the head feelings are still a bother … better if I get good sleeps.

Some nights I have had to resort to a sleeping tablet as symptoms have overwhelmed me but I take each day as it comes and pay more attention to my emotional and physical needs.

I am a bit of a nervous nelly and had post- natal depression with my first son (24 years ago but not with my other 2 sons). These symptoms have returned but as I recognise them for what they are (hormonally induced) I can cope better now.

Overall menopause for me (surgically induced) has meant like a kind of death but with sites like yours (which have helped tremendously in verbalising how we all feel) and mentoring with friends, there is life on the other side of it and I can see it as a renewal or perhaps a stock -take of how to move forward.

I was completely naive of menopause and it was like my first period and having my first baby – shocking … but I have gotten used to it like all great changes in our female life!!

Thank you so much for all the information you have provided and to all the women that have shared their experiences.

The researchers worked with 21 women who had experience postpartum haemorrhage and who subsequently had a hysterectomy have concluded that they need much greater recognition of their specific needs following childbirth. This should include providing them with opportunities to talk about their experience and to ask questions which can help them to reconcile their feelings.

Also, giving them the opportunity to have their babies in intensive care unit with them whilst they recover at the same time as receiving ongoing emotional support and guidance, may also be useful approaches in assisting women during this difficult and traumatic time.

DHEA is not currently licensed for use in the UK and the study was too small to provide anything other than evidence to support the necessity for further, larger studies.

The researchers found that:

• Women receiving DHEA or HRT had a greater average score on the sexual function questionnaire. These DHEA and HRT average scores were greater than the women who received vitamin D. Women taking tibolone also had an increased score, though the difference from baseline was not significant.
• There was no difference in a relationship score in any of the groups.
• Frequency of sex in the past four weeks increased in the women treated with DHEA, HRT and tibolone. The increases in these three groups were comparable. The frequency of having sex was greater in the three hormone groups compared to the vitamin D group.

However, although the women using the three drug interventions did see improvements in  their sexual function it is important to note that they had a healthy sexual function when the study commenced and therefore no conclusion can be drawn as to whether such interventions will be helpful to women with more sexual dysfunction.

In conclusion the researchers have stated that those participants who received one year of oral DHEA therapy at a daily dose of 10mg improved their symptoms to a similar extent to women receiving HRT or tibolone.

References:

A. R. Genazzani, N. Pluchino; DHEA therapy in postmenopausal women: the need to move forward beyond the lack of evidence; Climacteric Aug 2010, Vol. 13, No. 4, Pages 314-316: 314-316.
Click here for a summary of the paper.

http://www.tipslimited.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=202:tipse-newsletter25&catid=51:newsletter&Itemid=436#forum

For those of you who are, or are about to be, recovering from surgery.  Christmas is a time to have the family round and perhaps this time they could do all the work instead of you!

Our Latest News

It’s been a very quiet month as far as news goes and we have little to report at the moment.  However, we do have a new novel on our hands that is burning a hole through the fingers and if you’d like to grab a copy from our distributors at Lulu (it’s not on Amazon yet or in our shop) then you’ll be supporting us as £1 from each copy sold will go directly to The Hysterectomy Association.

• Woman on the Edge of Reality – by Linda Parkinson-Hardman
• Julie’s Endometriosis Story
• Hazel’s story

Special Offers

We are still offering everyone the chance to grab a free copy of the eBook, A Diva’s Guide to the Menopause. Every purchase made in the shop by the end of December will get a free copy automatically delivered to their inbox – enjoy!

If you’d like to find out more about what it is first – it’s a story full of information rather than a factual book – then you can read about it here: http://shop.hysterectomy-association.org.uk/a-divas-guide-to-the-menopause/

You can visit the shop here: shop.hysterectomy-association.org.uk

Events Coming Up

• Cervical Cancer Prevention Week starts on 22 January 2012
• National Think About Sex day is on 14 February 2012

If you have any events that are relevant to women and their health, then why not let us know and we’ll post them on the website and in our newsletters too.

What’s Happening on the Social Web?

Our Facebook page is also where you’ll find lots of other lovely ladies regularly sharing their experiences as well as on our forums.  You can find it at www.facebook.com/HysterectomyUK and there are currently discussions going on about how long it takes to recover and what to wear for a Christmas lunch – could you help out with your experiences too?

Are you on Twitter? If so, why not come and follow the Hysterectomy Association’s account@HysterectomyUK and help us shape the conversations that count.