Frustrated by the medical system, she decided to create a web site where women can exchange health information.
Michelle King Robson believes she is one of the thousands of American women who receive an unnecessary hysterectomy each year. In 2001, Robson, now 49, underwent the surgery in her hometown of Phoenix to cure endometriosis, a sometimes painful ailment in which the lining of the uterus grows outside that organ. “But I question if I ever had the condition,” she says. Even worse: The operation that was supposed to put an end to her fatigue and severe bloating actually sent her health into a downward spiral. And yet her crisis ultimately gave Robson a new purpose in life—helping other women take control of their medical care.After her uterus and ovaries were removed, Robson went into menopause almost overnight. “I tanked beyond control,” she recalls. “I gained too much weight to fit into my clothes, experienced hot flashes, and had joint pain. One of the worst side effects was that my short-term memory was gone. I couldn’t remember the ending of a movie an hour later. I was afraid this was the onset of Alzheimer’s.”
For a year, Robson went from one health practitioner to another—including a naturopath, a pharmacist who tailor-made hormones and a psychiatrist who prescribed antidepressants. But, she says, “I felt worse and worse.” One doctor made a strong impression. “He was very honest. He said, ‘I don’t know how to help you, but I know you’re going to figure this out. And when you do, you're going to share it with me so I can help my other female patients.’”
Regaining Control
This was a turning point for Robson: “I felt like the doctor gave me permission to
advocate for myself. I started on my own journey to get better.” She picked up all the books she could find on hysterectomies and hormones. “Reading them while I had no brain function was really hard,” she jokes.
And then a close friend gave her the book Screaming to be Heard: Hormonal Connections Women Suspect, and Doctors Still Ignore, by Elizabeth Lee Vliet, MD, director of a women’s health center in Tucson, Arizona. (This book is written for women and their doctors, but Vliet has written a more patient-friendly tome called It’s My Ovaries, Stupid!) Robson, a philanthropist and community activist, managed to finagle an appointment with the popular doctor. Vliet weaned Robson off her many of her medications and instead prescribed Estrogel (a topical estradiol) and 400 mg. of magnesium. "Within four to five days of being on the Estrogel, I felt better, but I didn't feel like my old self until Dr. Vliet introduced a small dose of testosterone creme," Robson recalls.
And then she got angry about how long it had taken to find relief. “Women do a lot of suffering in silence,” she says. To remedy that situation, Robson decided to create a place where women can share health information and experiences.
A Web Site that Empowers Women
“I thought that because I’ve done so many things in my life, I could do a web site.” But her first three attempts had serious technical glitches, and Robson learned the value of finding the right people .
And so she hired a seasoned technical team, and with her husband, Ed, a developer and philanthropist, pledged funds to a Web site called EmpowHer.com. The site features a medical video encyclopedia and a feed of women’s health news, and the ability to either ask a personal health question or share a health story. One woman, in fact, credits Robson with saving her life (www.empowher.com/community/herstory/video-herstory-gina-shares-her-gratitude-toward-empowhers-founder). “I’m telling women you can take control. We arm them with questions they can ask their doctors,” Robson says. Robson’s life has changed, too. Today the woman who once could barely get out of bed says, “Everyday I wake up and it’s like Christmas morning. I wonder what the gifts will be.”
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