HYSTERECTOMY: PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

May 8th, 2009 by admin

Psychological factors. For reasons that are unclear, women who are scheduled for hysterectomy are more than twice as likely as average to be distressed as indicated by psychological tests. It may be that symptoms such as chronic pain and heavy bleeding, and uncertainty about the future, have produced this psychological distress. Or else, an underlying psychological condition may have reduced tolerance of minor symptoms. Whatever the truth of the matter, improvement in gynaecological complaints, however this is achieved, tends to result in a marked reduction in psychological symptoms. On rare occasions such women may ask about, or be advised to have, a hysterectomy.

Post-pregnancy complications. Emergency hysterectomy may be the only option when uterine bleeding is uncontrollable. This is a rare occurrence after childbirth and may be caused by rupture of the uterus or damage to major blood vessels. Other situations that may give rise to hysterectomy include life-threatening infection of the endometrium (a very occasional complication of abortion), or the removal of an ectopic pregnancy in a woman who has finished her family.