Early menopause with ovaries

A quick question.. I heard that even though you keep your ovaries, a hysterectomy still causes you to go into menopause earlier than if you did not have the operation. I think I read somewhere that the average woman will go into menopause within 5 years of the surgery. Any insight into this would be appreciated.
Thanks.

I'm not sure on wether or not one will hit menopause earlier than what would of been. However, you may experience menopausal symptoms following your surgery. In my case, I did for about a week and a half. Your ovaries can go into shock with surgery and can take a little time to realize they still have work to do.

My dr said that I will go into meno when I would have with my uterus. I've heard about the early menopause and asked him. He doesn't believe this is the case.

My doctor promised me he wouldn't even look at my ovaries (he lied) and he took one out because it was covered with endo. Anyway I had the surgical menopause symptoms from weeks 1-4 they went away. But then around week 10, I started menopause symptoms - scattered hot flashes - but major night sweats - I'm pretty sure it was brought on by surgery - can't prove it though. I was 2 weeks shy of 45 when I had surgery.

My doctor told me that I have a 50% chance of entering menopause within 5 years after the surgery. This was true with my mother who had a hyst at the age of 25.

The way I see it, it's something you have to go thru anyway.

I too have read about the studies that say that preserving the ovaries still leads to menopause 4-5 years earlier.

However, this is an average. So for every woman who goes into instant menopause there is another woman who goes into menopause later than normal.

Early menopause carries risks for the bones, heart, teeth and bladder, but early menopause also means lower risks of some cancers, so maybe it all balances out in our overall mortality risk.

The uterus not just a muscular pouch that holds a developing baby, it's also a gland in its own right and secretes several hormones. Their interaction with the rest of the endocrine system is not fully understood. The basic thought is that surgery somehow damages the blood supply to the ovaries especially since the main artery that supplies the ovaries branches off from the artery that supplies the uterus. However, it's possible that there is a signal between the uterus and the ovaries that gets broken and keeps the ovaries from continuing to function as long as a woman with a uterus.

It's been 13 months since my surgery and my ovaries are performing just fine. My sister had a hyster at age 34 (7 years ago) and hers seem to be peforming just fine (though she has thyroid difficulties now). However, I know there are plenty of women who have lasting hormonal problems after simple hysterectomies.

Take care.

Thanks for all the great information!!
Lisa

I heard this too. I'm keeping one ovary (we hope) so I was worried about it. I did a literature search and found the original paper that claims 5 years earlier. The study used a different definition of "menopause" for women with or without a uterus. Women with a uterus were considered menopausal when they hadn't had a period for 6 months. Women without a uterus were considered menopausal when they had hot flashes. Normally hot flashes can begin occurring about 5 years before the periods are over!
So for me (31 yrs old) I wouldn't expect it to make a difference. What can happen, although this hasn't been convincingly proven with a controlled study, is that the ovaries go into shock. I found another paper with a lot of hypotheses why this might occur. Lack of uterine gland secretions can affect the pituitary (gland in the brain that secretes hormones which control the ovary) as well as the ovary itself. The uterine vein runs along the ovarian artery--think of two slightly leaky pipes running side by side but the water flowing in opposite directions. My doctor agreed that this can happen and is not rare.

Probably way more information that you wanted!