Endometriosis ~ Abdominal Pain ~ Endo ~ Scar Tissue ~ Adhesions ~ Infertility ~ Hysterectomy

Friday, May 02, 2014

Response to Dr.Drew

First Harry Reich Award presented at EFA’s Blossom Ball

First Harry Reich Award presented at EFA’s Blossom Ball 
8 MARCH 2014
Professors Linda Giudice and Liselotte Mettler were honoured at EFA’s 6th Annual Blossom Ball with the inaugural Harry Reich Award.

Yesterday evening, the Endometriosis Foundation of America (EFA) awarded the inaugural Harry Reich Award to recognise two extraordinary healthcare professionals, Professors Linda Giudice and Liselotte Mettler, for the difference these two women have made in the lives of other women through their practice, research, and advocacy.

Tamer Seckin presenting Linda Giudice with her Award at the Blossom Ball
In announcing these two awards, co-founder of EFA, Dr Tamer Seckin, emphasised how the achievements of both Linda Giudice and Liselotte Mettler are an inspiration and encouragement for women (with and without endometriosis) to take charge of their health!
Professor Giudice is a biochemist, gynaecologist, and reproductive endocrinologist with a specific clinical interest in endometriosisinfertilityassisted reproduction, and implantation and ovulatory disorders.
Her research focuses on environmental impacts on reproductive health, steroid hormone signalling in human endometrium, endometrial-placental interactions, endometrium as a mucosal tissue, and translational applications of human embryonic and endometrial stem cells.  She is distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Reproductive Sciences at the University of California San Francisco, immediate past-president of the ASRM, president-elect of the World Endometriosis Society, vice-president of the World Endometriosis Research Foundation, and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
Tamer Seckin presenting Liselotte Mettler with her Award at the Blossom Ball
Professor Emeritus Mettler has specialised in reproductive medicine, gynaecological endoscopy, endometriosis, and gynaecological endocrinology since 1981 when she became deputy director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Kiel.  Following her retirement she remains an honorary patron of the Kiel School of Gynaecological Endoscopy and Reproductive Medicine, where she still teaches up to a dozen international training courses each year.
She is also visiting professor to the German Medical Center and the Dubai Healthcare City.  Professor Mettler is a former board member and current ambassador of the World Endometriosis Society, a board member of the German Foundation for Endometriosis Research (SEF), and the General Secretary of the International Academy of Human Reproduction.

The Harry Reich Award

The Harry Reich Award is awarded by EFA to recognise extraordinary healthcare professionals, who are making a difference in women’s lives (and their families) by their practice, research, and advocacy.

Harry Reich with honouree Linda Giudice at the Blossom Ball
The award is named for Dr Harry Reich, a pioneer in the field of laparoscopic surgery, who performed many “firsts”, including: the first laparoscopic hysterectomy, the first pelvic lymphadenectomy for cancer, and the first excision of cul-de-sac endometriosis that included rectal resection.
Dr Reich, who has operated in more than 60 countries, is an honorary professor in Russia and Romania, as well as a Fellow (ad eundem) of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the UK for his pioneering work in the field of endoscopy.  Though retired, Dr Reich remains actively involved in many medical organisations and serves as a reviewer for multiple scientific journals.
Please visit Endometriosis.org for more news about endo.

ARDvark Blog Journal of Adhesion Related Disorder: Johnson and Johnson Issues Alert For Fibroid Surgery Devices' Potentially Cancer Causing Process

ARDvark Blog Journal of Adhesion Related Disorder: Johnson and Johnson Issues Alert For Fibroid Surgery Devices' Potentially Cancer Causing Process

Dr. Drew doesn’t understand your “garbage” diagnosis ~ Endometriosis and Interstitial Cystitis

Grrrrrrrrrr. All the work we do for awareness and then this schmuck comes along...

The "Loveline" cohost draws outrage for his comments on endometriosis



Dr. Drew Pinsky is a board certified internist and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at USC, but most of us know him better as radio and cable television’s most tireless ambulance chaser. Over the years, he’s doled out a variety of less than sound and/or helpful ideas. But when he speculated recently to a “Loveline” caller about his fiancée’s endometriosis, he definitively made the case against getting medical advice from flippant talk show hosts.
As Erin Gloria Ryan first noted on Jezebel, Pinsky was fielding a call from a man who was concerned about his girlfriend’s “multitude of conditions,” including endometriosis, interstitial cystitis, lactose intolerance and what he described as “no stomach lining.” The good doctor quickly interjected before the listener could even pose his question, explaining, “These are what we call sort of functional disorders. Everything you mentioned, everything you mentioned, are things that actually aren’t discernibly pathological. They’re what we call ‘garbage bag diagnoses,’ when you can’t think of anything else, you go, ‘Eh, it’s that.’ So, it then makes me question why is she so somatically preoccupied that she’s visiting doctors all the time with pains and urinary symptoms and pelvic symptoms, and then that makes me wonder, was she sexually abused growing up?”
Though the caller did acknowledge that his fiancée had in fact survived abuse, let’s take a step back here and observe that he never said the woman was “preoccupied” and “visiting doctors all the time” – on the contrary, he said she almost always “refuses” to go to doctors, even when she’s “in so much pain.” But Dr. Drew had a handy explanation, stating, “Trust me, she saw lots of doctors before you.” He then went on to explain why her early abuse was causing her problems now. “When people have unexplained pain, pelvic pain, it’s called somatoform dissociation,” he said, “and the only way her body, which was suffering during those early experiences, can tell its tale of woe is with pain. And she really needs to see a trauma specialist, not a urologist. Know what I’m saying?” This was immediately segued with Pinksy’s colleague joking that an additional way someone could have unexplained pelvic pain was by having sex with the show’s guest, Alan Thicke. Charming.
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Here is the link to the CNN contact form for Dr. Drew's show...also what I wrote. Please give them a piece of your mind. IC folks....go get him!
Dr Drews comments on endometriosis are outrageous. He is not educated in a disease that strikes more than one in ten women! Find another doctor! Chronic stage 4 endo with severe adhesions has almost killed me twice. It is real, incurable and I hope you devote air some time in spreading awareness about endometriosis to counteract  the sad stereotype that has made the burden of this horrible disease even harder.