Well I'm one more lady who had a hysterectomy and was dunked into the muddy waters of surgical menopause. It's sad that this is still going on, because I had my op nearly 7 years ago when I was 44. I asked my consultant about menopause and she said "you'll have a surgical menopause, but don't worry, you'll be fine" !!!! She didn't know what she was talking about
I had been diagnosed with endometrial cancer and she told me I couldn't have hrt. By the time I was 3 months post op I was having major whole body hot flushes day and night, and because of this I could hardly get more than an hours' sleep, was suicidally depressed, my whole body ached with joint pains, in fact I had just about every symptom you could think off. This was the worst experience of my life.
After I refused to see the consultant who did my op for check ups my gp referred me to another consultant. This was about 6 months post op. He took one look at me and said "you need estrogen" He said he was happy to prescribe it as my cancer was an early stage and he was of the opinion that a low dose hrt would do me more good than harm. He gave me Estradot patches, just the smallest ones (25?) at first but later it was increased. Some months after that my gp prescribed anti depressants and I took them for about 18 months.
It's no consolation to those ladies who've just had the op, but the first 2 or 3 years are the worst. By the time I reached the five year mark I was feeling pretty much back to normal. Since then I've cut down (and eventually stopped altogether) the hrt. I still get the occasional hot flush, mostly at night, or if I'm under stress, and I still get tired more easily than I used to but I'm doing OK.
As well as hystersisters, try googling "survivors guide to surgical menopause". They used to be part of yahoo groups, but I just had a look and they have moved. The lady who runs this is a mine of information and she helped me a lot.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
x
