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accessHealthNews.net
September 2024
Volume 10 | Issue No. 88
"Hormones affect both brain and other body systems, having
an altered hormonal profile could impact the trajectory of
cognitive aging and could create different health risks."
- Stephanie Koebele, ASU psychology graduate student, study
author, and National Institute on Aging fellow.
POST HYSTERECTOMY MEMORY LOSS AND
COGNITIVE DIFFICULTIES NOW REALIZED BY
MEDICAL COMMUNITY
For some women, life after a hysterectomy
is pure bliss. For others, it's like traversing
through dense fog with very limited
visibility. If that sounds familiar, don't lose
heart. You are not losing your mind. Those
cognitive shortcomings, like difficulty with
word recall and memory loss, are because
the brain is functioning in a body that no
longer houses a uterus.
What's in the Name? A Look Back.
Hysteria is derived from the Greek root
hystera, meaning uterus. It was believed
that hysteria symptoms resulted from a
defective womb. This premise concluded
that only women could become hysterical
(etymonline.com). Wikipedia's colloquial
definition of hysteria is "ungovernable
emotional excess." The belief was a
woman's hysteria was exhibited by bouts
of anxiety, shortness of breath, fainting,
insomnia, irritability, nervousness, and
other conditions. Today, we know these
are telltale signs of menopause. The
Greeks also believed the uterus moved
throughout a woman's body, eventually
strangling her and inducing disease
(wikipedia.com).
The Early Days
The first abdominal hysterectomy was
performed in 1843 by Charles Clayton
in Manchester, England. The patient,
who was misdiagnosed, died during
post-op. In those days, hysterectomies
were ripe for complications, leaving
patients with a 30% survival rate. Early
hysterectomies were performed without
anesthesia and antibiotics, and patients
usually died from sepsis. As the procedure
evolved, anesthesia was administered
prior to surgery, antibiotic and antisepsis
medications became routine protocols
during post-op, and mortality rates
deceased.
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