Hysterectomy

Several of the nurses from the 1934 outbreak of epidemic myalgic encephalomyelitis at the Los Angeles Country Hospital with persistent symptoms receive hysterectomies in an attempt to relieve symptoms. Physicians believed that the virus had spread to their uteruses, causing emotional and "hysterical" symptoms.

In 1974, after Nancy Kaiser developed ME, her doctors also recommended a hysterectomy:"She was weak, profoundly tired and plagued by constant bladder infections. Her muscles ached. Her mood shifted unpredictably. Her memory seemed to be failing. 'If this is menopause,' she remembers thinking, 'this is horrible, worse than I ever imagined.' Her doctors could offer no better guess, so after seven awful years she agreed to a hysterectomy. When her health didn't improve, physicians referred her to psychiatrists, who announced she was mourning her lost uterus. One suggested she have an affair."