I hear you on that - I know several folks (men and women) who wanted to go the surgical sterilization route and were told no because they weren’t married and/or didn’t have kids.
I dunno if there any men’s health issues that surgical sterilization might fix, but I’m not even talking about not wanting to have children (I desperately want children and have for the last 9 years) I’m talking about the constant agony of endometriosis, PMDD or other severe reproductive health issues which seem to be considered subordinate to child-bearing. Both my mother and grandmother required hysterectomies due to endometriosis and fibroids and neither of them could get a doctor to sign off until it was clear child-bearing was out of the question – my mother didn’t get the OK until she point-blank told the doctor, in complete (in my opinion, justified) seriousness, she would kill herself if he didn’t remove it. The surgeon found severe endometriosis and potentially cancerous growths and could only save one of her ovaries, and in post-op he reflected surprise that he actually found a problem there.
My pain is a fraction as bad as what she went through and I’d have it out today if I could.
Wow, at 33 you can’t find a doctor to remove your uterus.
[QUOTE=Spice Weasel]
My pain is a fraction as bad as what she went through and I’d have it out today if I could.
[/QUOTE]
Have you actually had a doctor tell you they wouldn’t perform a hysterectomy until you had a child?
By the way, my doctor is great. Her office has called twice since the surgery to check on me. I haven’t had to take a pain pill today, but I am feeling more tired than usual, which the nurse said was normal until my metabolic something hit homeostasis. Maybe some DoperDoc can explain that.
I’m also not hungry. It’s like my hunger signal has been turned off. I’ve eaten regular meals since the surgery, but more because I know I should rather than I’m hungry. My son is running out to a deli to bring back dinner and all I can think is “meh.”
My post was supposed to end with a question mark. Sorry.
Are you really that shocked?
There’s a real mentality out there that Female Fertility Must Be Preserved!!!
(To some extent men’s, too, but it’s more intense for women.)
I’ve heard that same lament from quite a few people over the years.
Especially for someone who wants kids and hasn’t done it yet. But - there are also doctors out there that will do it if health issues are serious enough. It just takes some searching.
It’s honestly not my top priority right now because I’m recovering from three grand mal seizures and a diagnosis of epilepsy and all the new meds and shit that come with that. I’ve been on continuous BC for a while now after trying everything under the fucking sun, and it worked really well until i went off it and got pregnant. I was pregnant and had a miscarriage and for some reason after that it’s not working as well to regulate PMDD and endo. I’m also worried there may be some hormonal relationship with the seizures, I dunno.
I don’t think childbirth is a realistic option for me any more, for a lot of reasons, but the anti-convulsant meds pretty much slammed the door on that one for good AFAIC. I don’t know if a doctor would change their tune about a hysterectomy but it’s worth checking out especially if my BC continues to fail to do its job.