Female Speaker: Hi Dr. Lisa, in operating on women with large fibroids, would you leave the uterus intact or is there a risk of the women losing her uterus or too much blood?
Dr. Lisa: It all depends on your age. So, we look at you should have an operative consult with your gynecologist. They are going to tell you the best option whether it's from insurance, your money needs what is the best for your health, and it depends on your age, it depends on if you have previous surgery, it depends on if you want future fertility. But if you have a really large fibroid and your heading towards menopause, then yes you want to have hysterectomy. The reason being a hysterectomy, a lot of women, lot of people get this confused is just taking out the uterus. A lot of women believe it's taking out the ovaries as well which will put them in menopause early and no it's not true.
Why not a myomectomy or just taking out the fibroids. Again, because yes it can cause bleeding. When we take just the fibroids out, we have to keep all the blood vessels intact. So, more bleeding can occur than if we cut those blood vessels as we take the uterus out, because when we take the uterus out, we cut all the blood vessels, it is almost a bloodless procedure. When it is that large, say it is as large which I think I am seeing with you. Are you having heavy bleeding too?
Female Speaker: Sometimes yes.
Dr. Lisa: What you have to remember and I don't know your incidence. If you are having heavy bleeding, sometimes women can bleed so much that they can lose half of their blood volume in a very short amount of time and it can be life threatening. Sometimes a hysterectomy is what you need for your quality of life, even though it is very scary, is that you are scared of surgery or you are scared of losing your uterus.
Female Speaker: No my uterus is like the essence of who I am. Like it's very important to me.
Dr. Lisa: I know, you know what, I hear that from women all the time. You don't want to lose a part of you, especially when you feel like it is woman part of you, but it is only useful there for having a baby and I know what you think but you just have to think about it as losing something that causing - that's weight in there. That is sheer weight, that's not fat and it's weighing you down. It's' not bringing you forward. It's weighing you down. It's keeping from doing things that you really love.
You have to be cautious because there will be some people who will promise you the moon. Okay, as far as just taking something out, knowing that they will also consent you for hysterectomy, if in a case of emergency, knowing that probably you are going to end up with the hysterectomy. So, you do need to be very careful with who you have surgery with. Thank you so much for every thing. Thanks everybody for all of your questions.
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