Hysterectomy and Early Menopause

Your problems could be related to another medical problem so, of course, keep up with doctor visits. You might seek a second opinion - and maybe even need an internist.

Having said that, I recommend Christiane Northrup's book, The Wisdom of Menopause.

Lisa, Hi, I had a complete hysterectomy and no one told me about the shock my body went into. I can't tell you the emotional upheaval this had on my body and soul. I was taking vitamins prior and during, so the joint aches and body aches were limited if any. But the shock waves that kept bouncing back and forth over the fact that the ovaries and uterus were desperately missed, well they went on for at least 3 years. It took me a while to understand this, and while the doctors are all up on the chemical/transaction changes, the real deal changes in my life were never addressed.

I had to find the 'way out of no way' with the only help available. This was a journey that my husband did help tremendously with, by loving me and supporting me even when I was sharp as a knife and loud as a storm. If you would like to know the steps I took to bring balance back into my body, my soul, my life, let me know at drsew@comcast.net.

Peace

Lisa,
I know exactly how you feel I went thru a hysterectomy last Nov. 2006 and world changed, The only difference is I can't go on HRT's due to to having a blood clot. I had another member tell me about shaklee's I guess it's all about vit's and herbal.
I need to get the information on it.....I am also lookinf for any books. If you find out any let me know at krisbaker91995@charter.net....thanks kris baker

Hi Lisa,
I was 32 when I had to have a total hysterectomy because I had endometriosis.
I was first operated on to remove it one year then the next year it came back all over again 10 fold and they had to take everything. I have been taking the lowest dose of hormone therapy since that time. I am now 50. I don't remember a whole lot about what my mood changes were at that time but now I feel better than I ever did in my 20's & 30's. I no longer have the female problems that I had when I was younger and I for one am very happy that part of my life is over. I hope you get the information you need and I am sure with time things will get better for you. It did for me. Have a Great Day.

Being female is not a disease but to read any of the numerous health articles about women, one would think so. Being rather easily hypnotized, I refuse to read in detail the plethora of problems we femme fatales are suppose to get. Of course I read my body and mind when it's out of sorts and take action right away, but mostly I try to live everyday laughing, engaging my five senses, being mindful, learning something new to stimulate the brain, showing compassion, and being authentically ME. Focusing on the abundant wellness I am fortunate to have also keeps me aimed at furthering that wellness. Move the body, lift the spirit, place more emphasis on INTERdependence (vs. independence or dependece), and commune with Nature....those are my pills. When sickness and tragedy invade, I fight back with hedonistic self-love, love for others, nourishing food, being in the moment, and a good book to help me transcend. I have no idea how I will deal if I should be afflicted with poor health...I only know now that I can't focus on it because it would get in the way of doing what I'm doing, ie., creating a life and future memories.

hi i to have had a complete hysterectomy three years ago and it has not been fun with all the hot flashes but it is the painful sex that is really the question what can be done about it can someone help thanks deb

I went through early menopause last year at the age of 36. The physical and emotional roller-coaster is one that I was in no way prepared for. I found a lot of help at earlymenopause.com -- useful articles, book recommendations, and a message forum where you can talk to other women going through the same thing. From what I've seen on that forum, a lot of women have to experiment with several hormone therapies before they find one that helps them with their symptoms. If the estrogen alone is not working, you should go back to your doctor and get a prescription for something else. There are many types of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Good luck.

I may not have gone through this yet and i'm only 30 but my mom had her hysterectomy done back in march of this year and i almost lost my mom due to that surgery. It killed me that hey actually had to get her back to life. she really really bleeding during the surgery. I'm just happy she here and i know i will never do that since i seen what she has gone through

I did not go into menopause after my hysterectomy at the age of 36. About three years AFTER the total hysterectomy, I began to experience moderate hot flashes and a small bit of energy loss. The doctor recommended premarin but I did not wish to start that "old lady" medicine so I went without.

Much later, I went into full blown menopause with hot flashes about every two to three hours which were extremely uncomfortable and inconvenient. I still will not take hormone therapy.

Try the site "Survivors Guide to Surgical Menopause." It's sound, balanced, based on scientific research. (Those wanting to join the discussion group must be approved first, but anyone can read the available information.)

Finding the right hormone replacement that's best for us is a process. We don't need the high estrogen doses of our fertile years, and certainly not the excessive doses of birth control pills. But we do need a minimal amount for our bodies to function properly.
Women who do not supplement with any estrogen have a higher risk of dying sooner. Estrogen appears to decrease overall mortality.

The Assoc. of Clinical Endocrinologists in July '06 and the International Menopause Society in May '07 (both respected medical groups) approve of estrogen replacement for menopausal women, especially for those of us with no ovaries.

I had my hysterectomy 2.5 years ago when I was 43. The doctor told me I would go through menapause and have hot flashes, but she never told me about the awful mood swings I would experience. I immediately went on hormones, but those took a good 4 weeks or so to start working. I yelled at my husband all the time, or I balled my eyes. I was so moody. Then I found out because of my hysterectomy, my thyroid stopped working right. The endocronologist(sp) told me that is normal, that happens. I had to have my thyroid removed February this year because of goiters (lumps) on it and obstructed my breathing. My body has gone through so many changes since my hysterectomy. I still have hot flashes. The mood swings are not so bad anymore, the doctor told me I have to come off them when I reach my middle 50's because of breast cancer risk.

Hi,

I truly believe that there is a way for you to get your hormones balanced. In the research that I have done since my hysterectomy I haven't heard of putting someone on just estrogen alone...did your Dr. mention progesterone at all? Progesterone regulated all the other hormones ie cortisol, thyroid, seratonin etc.
I would find a specialist and get all your hormones checked. You can even do this with a saliva test. Find out which hormones you need to get balanced again and get your health and happiness back...it can happen.

Stephanie

I was 28 years old when I had a complete hysterectomy, for several conditions. I did not do hormone therapy, however I did completely change my lifestyle, eating habits and only noticed hot flashes when eating hormone-laden foods like dairy, eggs, chicken & beef. After 18 years, I've experienced no ill effected results that were not easily rectified with my diet.
Pamela is right, it is all the "FEAR" we generate of this 'horrible' experience we must suffer with, like our periods - that our ancestors seemed to fair through without HRT, hormones, and other interesting ingredients in our food supply.
I did my homework before, during and after my hysterectomy and never 'bought into' all the side-effects they warned me of. They never warned me however, about other glandular functions being compromised when the ovaries are removed - like thyroid, adrenal glands, pancreas - I have since learned to give extra nourishment to these organs.

As I read Lisa's article and most of the comments I felt sorry that most of you experienced a very negative result to hysterectomy as my experience was quite the opposite.

I also had a hysterectomy due to endometriosis at the age of 47. My cycles prior to the operation were extremely taxing on my system as I was bleeding almost 20 days out of 30. In addition to the effects of losing so much blood, I was extremely uncomfortable with the chafing of pads and tampons etc. My first husband was an uncharitable, to say the least, type of man. He felt that I was merely imagining the symptoms to avoid having sex with him.

I had what I considered a very enlightened OB-GYN who discussed the operation and what I could expect following it quite thoroughly. He said that in his experience many women tended to experience exactly what they had been led to believe would happen. If the formative culture assumed that a woman without ovaries and womb was a sexless being then the woman was more likely to feel negatiely than one who had never been told anything of the sort. As it turns out, I had not really ever discussed hysterectomy with anyone and my feelings had not been influenced one way or another.

I 'went into training' for my operation, eating in a very healthy way and taking extra Vitamin E for healing. I was up and about the following day and felt better than I had for years. I did take HRT and continue to do so because after consultation with my general practioner we feel that the benefits are greater than the risks for me.

Within that month I also got to know my present husband and eventually experienced more happiness than I ever had before and had the best sex of my life at the age of 48!

I do have aching joints and various other ailments but I don't necessarily believe that any of these are because of my hysterectomy. As we age all sorts of different things happen to our bodies. Exercise and a good healthy diet go a long way to minimizing the discomfort of these. Getting enough rest is also important.

I have been taking anti-inflammatories for the aching joints for almost 10 years now and my doctor has periodically asked me to try doing without. The pain after two days without were absolutely incapacitating and so I would always go back to them. I have made a number of changes in my home situation which have now made it possible for me to sleep all through the night and to my utter amazement I have been able to cut my dosage by half. If this keeps up I shall try to go without again.

When asked to describe my pains to my doctor I used to say that I couldn't find any part of me which didn't hurt. I eventually was lucky enough to find a book on arthritis by Dr Colin Dong in which he talked about food allergies or intolerances being the root of many people's pain. He wrote the book because he had incapacitating pain and went from one to another of his colleagues without getting any help. I am not sure if his book is still in publication but several used copies are available here

Using his method to discover what my intolerances might be, if any, I discovered that I can't eat any of the foods in the nightshade family. The ones I am aware of are potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants and red and green sweet peppers. I am also not able to eat chocolate or anything containing MSG.

It took me quite a while to truly accept that I had to avoid these items but as long as I do I have very little pain. If I eat two bites of chocolate, for example, on the second or third day after I will have three days of intense pain. It all has something to do with the immune system and its inappropriate response to these foods in my body. There is absolutely nothing I can do to fool my body and so now I buy no packaged foods so that I can know exactly what ingredients go into all my meals. It certainly took me quite a long time to make all the behaviour changes required but it has been worth it.

For those of you who have gone from doctor to doctor and taken one ineffective medication after another, I think the answer may be to learn as much as possible about your own body and how it works. It's really too bad we don't get an owners' manual to tell us more :-), but we can learn by reading and discussing and sharing our success stories.

I had a hysterectomy back when I was 22 years old and was left with my overies intact. The doctor told me that it would be better that way because I had no problems with my overies at the time, that eventuallly they would just stop working as I got older. Now I am going through menopuse and it is miserable. I have dried up like a prune in certain areas and my sex drive is nill, even to the point where I wish my husband would just disapear. We used to have a great sex life, now he thinks that I don't find him interesting anymore. I have hot flashes, I itch, and I too, have body aches. Why don't we know more about what is happening to our bodies, I can't understand why no one has not studied this more. I am at a lost as to what I should do. I don't like to take prescribed drugs, they have way too many side effects.
Perdido Sue

I HAD A HYSTERECTOMY IN 2003 AND THE DOCTOR THAT DID THE SURGERY FOUND A TUMOR ON MY RIGHT OVARY THE SIZE OF A GRAPEFRUIT AND IT WASNT CANCEROUS SO I AM HAPPY ABOUT THAT BUT THE DOCTOR THAT DID THE SURGERY DID NOT TELL ME WHAT MY BODY WOULD GO THROUGH AFTER THE SURGERY! I WAS SCARED TO DEATH WHEN THE SYMPTOMS STARTED BECAUSE I THOUGHT SOMETHING ELSE WAS WRONG! HE WOULD NOT RETURN MY CALLS AND SO I HAD TO CALL ANOTHER DOCTOR TO GET THE SCOOP AS TO WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO MY BODY! ANYTIME THEY TAKE A WOMANS OVARIES THE BODY IS PUT INTO FULL FORCE MENOPAUSE! HOT FLASHES ARE THE WORSE AND THEN MOOD SWINGS COME SECOND! I FELT LIKE I WAS GOING CRAZY AND SOMETIMES I STILL DO! TO THOSE THAT HAVE QUESTIONS CALL A DOCTOR AND SAY I NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON WITH MY BODY AND MAKE THEM TALK TO YOU ABOUT IT EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT! THEY DONT WANT TO GIVE YOU ESTROGEN BUT WHEN THE SYMPTOMS TAKE OVER YOUR MIND AND BODY YOU MAY HAVE TO FIGHT TO GET THE MEDICATION--THAT IS WHAT I HAD TO DO AND IT TOOK GETTING ANOTHER DOCTOR BEFORE I WAS ABLE TO GET THE PRESCRIPTION! IT HELPS SOME AND I RECOMMEND IT TO ALL. TO ME IT IS WORTH THE RISK TO GET A LITTLE RELIEF BECAUSE WITHOUT IT THE MOOD SWINGS AND HOT FLASHES WERE CONTROLLING MY EVER MINUTE OF EVERY DAY! GOOD LUCK TO ALL! SWEATING IT OUT IN TOLEDO, OHIO