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A Resolve to Heavy Menstrual Bleeding: Endometrial Ablation
Justin Peterson, M.D.
Dr. Peterson is board-certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and has special interests in minimally invasive gynecological surgical procedures and women's health reproductive issues. He completed his undergraduate at Mercer University with honors and continued on to earn his medical degree, from Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon, Ga. His OB-GYN residency was completed at Navicent Health, where he was chief administrator, also in Macon, Ga and a part of Mercer University School of Medicine. Dr. Peterson also minored in Christianity while attending Mercer University and completed several mission trips the past decade, sharing his knowledge of medicine in areas both here in the United States as well as abroad. He is a member of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as well as the American Medical Association. Justin was born and raised in Coffee County. He enjoys hunting and watching UGA Football and Braves Baseball.A Resolve to Heavy Menstrual Bleeding: Endometrial Ablation
Vicki Lewis: Welcome to Discussions with the Doc.
This is a healthcare podcast brought to you by Coffee Regional Medical Center
in Douglas, Georgia, where our mission is to provide exceptional care and
wellness close to home. Join us as we learn more about rural healthcare in
South Georgia.
Caitlin Whyte: Now millions of women silently suffer
from heavy menstrual bleeding each month. However you don't have to suffer
alone, CRH Women's Center offers endometrial ablasion as a resolve to heavy
menstrual bleeding. So today I am joined by Dr. JUstin Peterson, a board
certified OB GYN with CRH Women's Center. Dr. Peterson, thanks for being with
us.
Justin Peterson, M.D.: Well, thank you for having me
today.
Caitlin Whyte: Well, first off, tell us a little bit
about how you ended up in Douglas with CRH Women's Center?
Justin Peterson, M.D.: Yes, ma'am. I was actually
born and raised right here in Coffee County and my parents actually owned us
taking seafood restaurant here for about 40 years. And I grew up here going to
school and after I finished, I attended Mercer University for my undergrad and
my medical school and residency. And after I finished my residency, I started
looking for places to move my family. And Coffee County was a wonderful place
that. I grew up and we still had some family here, had several friends here.
And so we kinda started looking at the area and looking in to Coffee Regional
and CRH Woman's Center.
And I really just fell in love with the practice. We have a
really great team of doctors and nurses and mid-level to take great care of our
patients. All of the providers have been here for many, many years and really
take an approach to treating our patients as their neighbors and friends,
because that's what they are. They're people who we see on a daily basis that
we get to the grocery store or go to town and we're able to see and really get
to know patients and be able to really help patients, and get to know them on a
personal basis. And that's what the entire practices strove for. And that's
something I just felt like I could join and have those same desires.
Caitlin Whyte: Well, we love hearing that hometown
pride. Thanks for sharing doctor. So today we are focusing on a common
condition that affects millions of women, and that is heavy menstrual bleeding.
So please tell me a bit about what causes that and some of the remedies you
reccomend?
Justin Peterson, M.D.: Yeah. So there's several
different reasons for heavy menstrual bleeding. It's a common experience for
several women and there's several different things that can actually affect it.
Sometimes we see things like structural issues with fibroids or endometrial
polyps. And unfortunately, sometimes we see endometrial cancer. And then other
times it'll be things like ovulatory dysfunction, where something's going on
with their hormone levels, whether it is [ inaudible]syndrome or other just
ovulatory or dysfunctions that we look for.
And then we also look for things that are outside of the
uterus and ovaries that a lot of times people don't think of like their thyroid
and their pituitary gland, because those can definitely have some effects on
it. Usually we will do an evaluation of the patient, do a pelvic exam, get a
good history and physical, do an ultrasound to kind of look for some of those
things. And we also will do some lab work as a more in depth testing. And we
really talked to them about different options depending on what we find based
off of our exam and ultrasound and lab findings.
Those can range from anywhere from simple medications like
birth control pills or progesterone only therapy things like IUD. And then also
sometimes we have to talk about more in depth things like surgical management,
which an endometrial ablation, as one of those, sometimes we talk about
hysterectomy. These are other options and just tailor it to what's going on
with that specific patient.
Caitlin Whyte: Well, let's focus on that endometrial
ablation. Just what is that?
Justin Peterson, M.D.: Endometrial ablation is
basically a device that we use and we use a device called a Nova shirt. And
what it does is it destroys a very thin layer of the lining of the uterus,
menstrual bleeding doesn't necessarily stop with it, but it reduces the
menstrual bleeding to a normal or a lighter level. And about 40% of women, it
actually does stop the bleeding altogether. And so that's kind of what the aim
of it for is.
Caitlin Whyte: So if someone is interested in having
endometrial ablation, what can they expect?
Justin Peterson, M.D.: Yeah, so you play, we will do
a workout similar to what I had discussed before. And then if they're a
candidate for the procedure, we first off want to make sure that they do not
want to get pregnant in the future because that's one of the contraindications.
Make sure that we have some type of contraception in place for them to prevent
a pregnancy. And then we schedule them for surgery. Usually we do these
operations in the OR at Coffee Regional. Usually they involve some type of
looking inside the uterus with a history of scope with a camera that makes sure
we don't say anything structural and doing a DNC with it to make sure there's
no cancer cells or abnormal cells hiding out inside.
But then we do the endometrial ablation. Usually the entire
process takes less than 30 minutes to do. And as an outpatient procedure.
Usually they have a couple of hours of recovery time, and then they're able to
go home. Several patients will experience some cramping for a day or two
afterwards, and we give pain medicine for that. The patients might have a discharge
that can be a little bit thin and watery, and sometimes it'll be kind of a
brownish color as well. And then occasionally somebody will have knowledge as
well, but it's a pretty quick recovery. Most of my patients are back to normal
activities within a day or two afterwards and able to get back to work. And
it's a really effective way to treat heavy menstrual bleeding.
Caitlin Whyte: Well, it's just a great service that
you provide to patients suffering from heavy menstrual bleeding. Dr. Peterson,
thank you for taking the time to shed some light on the options for those, with
this condition. Is there anything else you'd like to share about CRH Women's
Center and Coffee Regional Medical Center?
Justin Peterson, M.D.: No, I just really encourage
patients to come and see us until they get that hometown feel that we offer. I
think all of the providers and the nurses that we have here are from this area,
they really strive to provide the best care possible for our patients. And we
try to go above and beyond for every patient that we see. Myself, I'm from
coffee county and I went into medicine because I just wanted patients. I wanted
to help people and really came back to coffee county, striving to give back to
my community that helped raise me from a child.
And I think that this is a great place that we're able to do
that. And if one is having heavy menstrual bleeding, I would encourage you to
reach out to us or to OB GYN to discuss some of those options and try and get
your treatment and get your life back on track.
Caitlin Whyte: Absolutely. Well, thank you so much,
Dr. Peterson. It's always great to hear that the people in our community with
this type of bleeding are in such good hands when it comes to their. You've
been listening to Discussions with the Doc with Coffee Regional Medical Center,
to learn more about endometrial ablation or to schedule an appointment with Dr.
Justin Peterson, contact CRH Women's Center at 912-384-2500. That's
912-384-2500. Or visit us online at CRHwomenscenter.com.
Vicki Lewis: We've decided to create this podcast to
educate our community and enlighten those throughout our great nation about
rural health care. We hope you subscribe and enjoy Discussions with the Doc.
Thank you for listening to this podcast, sponsored by Coffee Regional Medical
Center, where our purpose is to serve, to heal, to save.
Caitlin Whyte: This concludes today's episode of
Discussions with the Doc. We invite you to download subscribe, rate, and review
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