"SHE'S never been the same since she's had the op. She can't cope with losing her womanhood."

These are the kind of cruel whispers that haunt women who face having a hysterectomy.

Like childbirth, the hysterectomy process doesn't finish when you leave hospital - some women face many additional trials and tribulations.

For many undergoing a hysterectomy the price is high because there is shamefully little support before and after the operation - one which can have a dramatic impact on a patient's personality and the quality of life of those closest to them.

The prospect of being unable to give birth is acceptable to some but for others the tidal wave of emotions surrounding the operation can be devastating. Despite having had three children by the age of 28, Susan Moody was unable to accept that plans for a larger family were never to be. That simple fact, coupled with the confusing, conflicting emotions she felt about the operation and the lack of anyone to talk to "who has experienced what I am going through" led her to attempt suicide.

She wrote an emotional letter to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph a few years ago and was overwhelmed by letters from women in the county which painted a picture of unbelievable cruelty and despair.

Some were so traumatic that a stiff drink would be advisable for any reader. They were from bright, often young, women on the edge, suffering in silence and needing to cry out "I'm not neurotic - I need help!" A hysterectomy is the removal of the womb and the operation is performed in severe cases of heavy periods, fibroids, abnormal tissue, infections and life-threatening conditions such as cancer.

Patients can be given a full or half hysterectomy and women as young as 23 have found themselves on the operating table.

Symptoms and side-effects are explained in the letters and include mood swings and tempers so violent that one husband felt the need to hide all the sharp objects in the home. Others suffered deep depression and suicidal thoughts, feeling they had "lost their femininity" or seeing themselves as "mad" or "a freak."

Weepiness, headaches, agonising pain were also common and the overall feeling was of loneliness with only unanswered questions as companions.

There was a feeling that doctors had cured the physical problem and ignored the psychological side-effects. What these women needed was the chance to express their bottled-up emotions about the taboo subject in full, explicit detail with people who truly understood what they had been through.

Susan, who is setting up a support group for sufferers in Blackburn and Darwen, said: "Something had to be done to help people like myself.

"I thought I was going mad. I felt totally alone and the problem was making my life such a misery, I just wanted it to go away.

"I could hardly walk or do anything. The doctors are remedying the problems - with me it was heavy periods and constant PMS - but they didn't bother about my feelings or give me counselling." Soon after her operation Susan's marriage broke down, her children nearly went into care and she didn't leave the house for months on end.

"I was so aggressive and tired that I would hide when my friends knocked on the door and I had to lie in bed for most of the day, too tired for cooking or housework. My husband did everything. I went to my doctor's time and time again but was told there was nothing wrong with me and I should just get on with my life. Problems can also surface after the op. I know one lady who is now agoraphobic."

Susan, of Birch Walk in Blackburn, added: "It was difficult to talk to my husband about it. Family and friends supported me but it wasn't enough.

"The doctors sent a man to talk to me. I told him to get out , how could he understand?

"I visited a women's centre and they told me to eat more peanuts!

"A national support group in London just sent me a batch of leaflets. I was angry. I needed someone to talk to." Blackburn councillor Frank Gorton, who has had 40 years' experience in nursing and is helping Susan in her venture, said: "She will be helping a lot of people who are literally crying out for this sort of support.

"The number of letters she has already had speak for themselves."

Consultant gynaecologist at Blackburn's Queen's Park Hospital Dr Nour Ahmed has been on two fact-finding visits to the United States to discover how doctors worldwide handle women's medical issues.

He said: "Seeing at first hand how doctors throughout the world manage such issues as the menopause can help me bring the very latest treatment to my Blackburn patients."

Dr Ahmed, who is in negotiations to set up a special clinic at QPH, said: "This will be part of our on-going support for women. These women need someone to talk to and many, to a degree, have a lack of knowledge about the menopause such as why it happens and what we can do to overcome symptoms. A support group such as this should be applauded."

Susan, who is now remarried to an understanding man called Simon, is desperate for funding for the support project.

She needs major sponsorship, two-roomed premises, a typewriter to write to companies for sponsorship, cheap leasing of a car and voluntary workers.

Anyone who can help should ring her on 01254 726015.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.