… only 1/3 of those women had gone ahead with it. Over 40% of the women in the study had no alternative treatments before undergoing the knife.
While medical records do not show if these women were given options for alternative treatments and refused them, the fact still remains that more women are having this surgery than they should.
Common Questions You Should Ask BEFORE Your Hysterectomy:
-What exactly is causing my pain? Sometimes, the reason will not be entirely clear to the doctor and if time and your insurance allows more research to be done, you should investigate it.
-Are there are other tests that can be done to make the diagnosis more apparent? The decision whether to have these tests or not should be yours and should be balanced with the side effects and cost of the tests.
-What are the consequences to my health if you do not have surgery, either at all, or at this time? For non life-threatening problems, one option is always to do nothing. However, doing nothing often means more frequent visits to your doctor to monitor your problem.
-What are the non-surgical alternative therapies available to treat my condition? For a vast number of conditions, there are usually alternatives of varying degrees of effectiveness.
-What is your experience doing the operation that has been proposed? Of course there will be referrals to a specialist or a team of specialists to do your procedure. Knowing the expertise of anyone who will potentially lead your surgery is important.
Whatever you decided, your main goal is to be informed. Stay in constant communication with your doctor and know your options, good bad or indifferent.