What is wandering womb

You must be logged in to post a comment. Username Password Remember Me Lost password. Menu Menu. You are reading 1 of 2 free-access articles allowed for 30 days. Posted in The Dorsal View. Log in to Reply. Because when it comes to understanding our world, mistakes mean progress. Sounds crazy, but in Ancient Greece, this conversation would have actually come up frequently, only it would have been in Greek instead of English.

You see, for the Greeks, there was no ailment more dangerous for a woman than her womb spontaneously wandering around her abdominal cavity. It was an ailment that none other than the great philosopher Plato, as well as Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine , described at length.

Greek physicians were positively obsessed with the womb. For them, it was the key to explaining why women were so different from men, both physically and mentally. The womb could head upward and downward, and left and right to collide with the liver or spleen--movements, argued Aretaeus, that manifest as various maladies in women. In fact chronic pain is common: it's estimated that nearly one in five Australians lives with it in some form.

According to the Abrahamic religions, the first woman ever was dealt pain in childbirth as punishment for disobeying God, when she and Adam dared to take a bite out of an apple plucked from the tree of knowledge. Social and behavioural scientist Kate Young says institutions like religion, government and education have always played a big part in how we understand women's bodies. Physicians in Ancient Greece were among the first to describe and systematically categorise various diseases and medical conditions.

Chief among them was Hippocrates, inventor of the "Hippocratic Oath" to do no harm to patients, and widely considered the father of medicine. He popularised the idea of the "wandering womb", a belief that the medical afflictions suffered by women were the fault of her uterus dislodging itself from her pelvic region and wandering freely around her body. A hysterical woman was seen as difficult, irrational and dysfunctional, and certainly not fit for public life.

Over time, as scientific understanding of human anatomy developed, the wandering womb theory fell out of favour. During the 18th century industrial revolution, it was re-framed as a disease of the nervous system. The transition from agriculture to industry brought with it a pace of life that was seen as incompatible with the inherent frailty of femininity. In the 19th century, much of a sick woman's fate was determined by her wealth or more often, the wealth of her husband.

The problem at this time was often framed as either an excess or deficiency in female sexual desire, and as such, treatments often appeared at odds with one another. Yet myths and misconceptions remain widespread. Did you know: Gynaecology is a Greek term literally meaning 'the study of women'. And hysteria is derived from 'hystera' meaning womb.

For the Victorians, the menstrual cycle was considered a disease. Women found all sorts of ways to find out more about their periods and learnt from female relatives. How did nursing change this? Nurses became advocates for women, in a position to air previously hidden topics. The introduction of the contraceptive pill in changed when and how much women bleed.

It helped move away from medically assumed norms to cycle lengths and flows unique to the individual. More and more women were able to better predict the symptoms of their own biology. Women today have more control over their periods than ever. Nurses play an important part in this changing atmosphere. As more non-surgical options have become available for women, like mirena coils and hysteroscopy, nurses have been at the forefront of embracing and delivering these treatments.

Nursing today focuses on the holistic management of menopause. This can include managing lifestyle changes and advising on prescribed medication such as Hormone Replacement Therapy. Because the effects of menopause are so complex, Clinical Nurse Specialists CNS are key at this advanced level of practice. Taking time to understand individual patient concerns and providing tailored support are crucial nursing skills.