“minor” surgeries

How many times have you heard women say that surgery was their only option?

Frankly I don’t even want to look up the stats, but if you were to ask, the number of women who’ve experienced pathologies like endometriosis, fibroids, or cysts is 6 feet high and rising — and they are generally told their best option is surgery.

Or to get pregnant and then “maybe it’ll get better after that.”

And to all of that I have two main thoughts:

1) What if there truly are other options that aren’t being offered? (PS, there are.)

2) Will the benefits of surgery outweigh the long term effect of cutting through and damaging the fascia?

Our bodies have a continuous and interrelated webbing of connective tissue that surrounds, encapsulates, protects, and supports every muscle, nerve, and cell of our entire being. Every single time there is an incision into our physical body, we disrupt this interwoven webbing and create tension and damage to the tissues that then puts us at risk for further pain and discomfort.

Surgeries such as laparoscopies, though considered “minor”, come with inherent risks women are often not fully aware of or able to consent to while (actually) completely informed.

Common side effects of laparoscopies include things like extreme pain in the abdomen, bowel irregularity, adhesions (bands of internal scar tissue that cause neighboring organs to stick together), incisional hernias, nerve damage that results in chronic pain, burning, or numbness. I’ve even heard of “simple” surgeries like this leading to extreme discomfort during sex. And remember, our fascia is one unitary system — like snipping pieces of a web, when one part is broken, everything else is affected in one way or another — disrupting it’s integrity and forcing other strands to compensate and take on weight they weren’t designed to hold.

The same is true of our bodies.

Only it’s not all the time that women are having these procedures done and then associating the symptoms that eventually follow back to that event.

What I see happening for women is a cycle something like this: years of pain in their menstrual cycle, getting ignored or offered pharmaceutical meds by their care providers, more years of pain and often confusion, and then eventually finding a medical doctor that offers them surgery that “could potentially solve this issue” and women feeling at their wits end, willing to try anything if it may help.

What we really need to include in these conversations are the benefit to risk ratios — but when we’re not given a full picture of what the risks are, or what other options we have, it isn’t possible to consider this properly and advocate for ourselves well.

Of course there are times when the benefits of surgery do outweigh the long and short term risks that come with it. These are the times and situations when surgery and skilled, experienced surgeons are a blessing to have available.

When the risks do not outweigh the benefits of making incisions into the single unitary system that is our fascia, women need to know that there are many roads they can choose from versus being coerced down a path that may cause long term damage that is not easily reversed.

Every single situation is individual.

So my question is, if you are someone who’s been on the merry-go-round of the medical system in hopes of alleviating pain and discomfort in your menstrual cycle — Would you be willing to dedicate 3 months to another option before choosing to opt for surgery? If someone were to help you identify steps toward balancing your cycle, without invasive and expensive procedures, could you commit to trying it?

So far, of all of the women I’ve gotten to work with, not a single one hasn’t seen improvement in their cycles when incorporating steam therapy into their self-care practice.

Three months is a a change of a season. A quarter of a year. A complete cycle of life and death of the red blood cells.

A beautiful length of time to create a shift into better, more vibrant health.

Considering the average length of time it takes for women to be taken seriously in the medical industry for menstrual cycle discomforts and struggles, three months is but the bat of an eye in comparison.

This is the intent of my womb care consults — to prevent unnecessary procedures and the damage they cause, help women connect with the messages of their body, and offer the tools and wisdom that will supply them with what they need in order to sustain health through all life brings.

What are your questions? I’d love to hear them and start the conversation.

xoxo,

G