Before you go for that Vasectomy...

It seems that everywhere I look, people I care about are having surgery. I stay away from conventional medicine as much as possible, myself, but there are some procedures that I hope so much you will stay away from, too. I have an idea for an article entitled "6 Medical Procedures You Might Want to Avoid at All Costs". Headlines, hey. Here is an outline:

Circumcision, evidently. The practice is absolutely disgusting, abusive, and wrong, and there is strong scientific evidence that the experience *does* affect the emotional well-being of baby boys, as well as creating lifelong damage to the victim's sexuality. Those who attribute a decrease in rates of HIV among circumcised men are looking at skewed numbers, and faulty reasoning. First, do no harm. There is a reason why most uncircumcised men do NOT eventually choose to have the ends of their penises cut off--it's barbaric. For the small minority who do, the practice should be available--for adults only. But please, leave your innocent child alone. 

I could create a list of dozens if I included all the unnecessary and dangerous procedures surrounding childbirth, but I'll stick to ultrasound and caesarean in this category. I wouldn't be surprised if, in the coming years, the ubiquitous use of ultrasound we see today, will come to be viewed as evidence of our lack of awareness of its significant risks, just as smoking was at one point seen to be benign. Scientific proof exists that ultrasound is potentially dangerous, and that it does change brain cells. Unfortunately, the practice is a money-maker for the manufacturers of medical technology, as well as for clinics and doctors. Pregnant women are rarely ever presented with balanced information on the risks, or the fact that there is a lack of proof that ultrasound provides any benefit whatsoever. 

In New Brunswick, the caesarean section rate is a whopping [almost] 30% of all births, rather than the 2% rate that responsible holistic birth attendants feel would reflect the actual necessity. The other day I read another blog post by a woman whose highly medically managed pregnancy ended in c-section after she was induced, put in a pitocin drip, and still, *still*! the baby didn't want to come out at 39.5 weeks. Fancy that. Despite how c-section is presented to women by the medical community, it has nonetheless been proven to be *more* risky and dangerous for both mother and baby for a number of reasons, and can result in long-term damage to a woman's bladder.

It seems as though tonsillectomies have recently gone out of favour, and I really applaud this.  Evidence shows that the procedure doesn't actually work to reduce infection rates, and I suppose I remain fundamentally against the surgical removal of a body part if there is any alternative treatment available.  Rather than surgically removing the tonsils, I think most kids would benefit from nutritional therapy, stress reduction, and holistic help, rather than extraction.  

While most of my younger friends are having babies now (late twenties, early thirties), I have another group of friends, finished with childbearing, who are having, or encouraging their male partners to have, vasectomy. This is a big one, and a sensitive topic, but a topic which I feel is desperately in need of some awareness. It seems that there are few men who really realize the incredible risks. In fact, there is a high number of men who receive this operation and then deeply regret it, or end up pursuing a reversal procedure which is also fraught with potential problems, not to mention being very expensive. The negative side-effects of vasectomy include pain during sex and ejaculation, which can (and often does) last for years, or forever, as well as high rates of impotence, a progressively lowered sex drive, and even auto-immune issues resulting from a backup of sperm (which even a sterilized man still produces but which has no, er, outlet after vasectomy) which can cause a range of debilitating symptoms. I find it incredibly surprising that any man would consent to be sterilized. Philosophically, it seems like a strange message to be sending about one's self. But when it comes to personal philosophy, of course, to each his own. But I think if men were given a more complete view of the potential lifelong harm of vasectomy, fewer men would want to play russian roulette with his sexuality, especially during the prime of their lives. And perhaps if there were fewer vasectomies performed, there would be less need for medications like viagra. Just a thought. I am fairly sure that if the risks were fully explained, more men and women would feel that the inconveniences of non-invasive birth control pale in comparison to the often-irreversible harm that vasectomy can do to individuals, and to relationships.

And finally, hyterectomy. Like vasectomy for men, I believe that hysterectomy is a tragic outcome for a woman, especially as the procedure essentially removes the locus of a woman's...womanhood. Luckily, more and more doctors are realizing that in most cases, hysterectomy is not in fact necessary and should be avoided at all costs. The side effects of hysterectomy include the following: weight gain, depression, anxiety, irritability, headaches, fatigue, low sex drive, vaginal dryness, painful intercourse, urinary problems, hair loss, osteoporosis. I recently heard of someone having a hysterectomy on account of uterine prolapse. It is so sad to me that any doctor would suggest the surgical removal of the hormonal centre of a woman's femaleness, rather than recommending that she make the lifestyle changes (exercise and diet) that could remedy many problems of the uterus holistically. 

Anyway. My central point is that I think most surgery is undertaken rather lightly. Please research thoroughly whatever medical procedure has been recommended to you. Many cannot be undone.