Lena Dunham Sadly Reveals She Got A Hysterectomy At 31
Due to recurring pain and other health issues, actress Lena Dunham revealed in an essay in Vogue that she needed a hysterectomy at the age of 31.
By austind03 on February 14, 2018
Lena Dunham is opening up about a devastating medical procedure she had to get…
According to Radar Online, the Girls star penned an essay for Vogue explaining that she got a hysterectomy at the age of 31.
While the actress actually wanted to have kids, she had the procedure done to improve her health. As it turns out, Dunham has been suffering from endometriosis, a painful disorder in which the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus grows on the outside of it, and other health issues for the past decade. Despite having nine surgical procedures, doctors were unable to confirm or fully fix what was wrong.
Everything came to a head when she began feeling excruciating pain and had to spend two weeks in the hospital. She made the choice to remove her uterus in order to improve her own quality of life, though it was a difficult decision. Once it was done, doctors were able to see just how bad things had been for her. She explained:
“I wake up surrounded by family and doctors eager to tell me I was right. My uterus is worse than anyone could have imagined. It’s the Chinatown Chanel purse of nightmares, full of both subtle and glaring flaws. In addition to endometrial disease, an odd humplike protrusion, and a septum running down the middle, I have had retrograde bleeding, a.k.a. my period running in reverse, so that my stomach is full of blood. My ovary has settled in on the muscles around the sacral nerves in my back that allow us to walk. Let’s please not even talk about my uterine lining.”
Although the procedure broke her heart in many ways, she’s recovering both physically and mentally. She said:
“Many of my friends are pregnant, or trying. I was worried I’d handle it badly. Turn quietly bitter. Drink too much champagne at the baby shower. Sad old Aunt Lena,” she wrote. “But I treasure them each. I cannot wait to meet their children (and quietly mock any Hollywood baby names, which I would have done were I fertile, too, so that’s fine). Sonograms and Instagram feeds don’t break my heart like they did when I still had a uterus that didn’t work. The children who could have been mine do break my heart, and I walk with them, with the lost possibility, a somber and wobbly walk as I regain my center.”
However, Lena Dunham is still open to adoption if the time is right in the future. We wish her the best, and we hope her health only gets better going forward.
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