hormone levels before surgery

Is it normal to have your hormone levels taken prior to surgery? I am having TAH/BSO and wondered if my dr will take these levels in my pre op? I am going to ask/demand/him to do it but was curious if anyone else had this done so hrt will be easier?

My surgeon didn't do it but it sounds like a good idea.
After my op' I was given an injection of estrogen & tetosterone (sp ?) which was supposed to last for 6 weeks. It gave me lots of energy and I felt fantastic. At my 6 week check up I was given estrogen pills & after taking them for 2 dyas I felt like a "bag of dirt." I had too much estrogen in my system & was unable to sleep. My instructions were to quit the pills until I had a major hot flash - it is now week 8 and I feel fine - no symtoms of anything so I am either HRT free and feeling no pain or my "shot" is still doing it's trick!

Hi! I work in a recovery room and get to talk to a lot of the residents. They are much more approachable and willing share their knowledge, (compared to the docs). I asked the same question, as I too, thought it would make sense to match the HRT to my pre-surgery levels. He informed me he had never heard of that being done, although my question made sense.

So, will ask around on Friday and see what some others have to say.

Have you discussed HRT with your Dr.? Before my surgery I talked to my Dr. about HRT. I had read so much about going into hormone shock, I was scared to death. I figured this would be a whole new set of problems for me. The Dr. said that he would put me on the hormone patch, and the day after my surgery, I had a hot flash like I had never had before. I was put on vivelle 0.1 mg. and so far so good. When I went in for pre-op testing, i'm pretty sure my hormone levels were checked then. Now that I look back, a lot of my symptoms have disappeared, hurray---
beast tenderness, bloating, PMS, mood swings, swelling in hands,
good luck. Happy New Year!!!

valjosmel

5-8-03 8cm. borderline tumor removed from right ovary
5-16-03 Post op infection hospitalized 5 days
10-16-03 Radical TAH-BSO

Hi

It doesn't seem to be done very often. With normal functioning ovaries the level of different hormones is different every day, so one test isn't going to be especially helpful in determining what type and amount of HRT is the best. Also depending on the reasons for a hyst it is possible that certain hormones wouldn't be beneficial post op. A lot of times, when there is endo or adeno for example, hormones can't be taken for a few months after surgery to be sure it is all gone.

I know in my case anyway it wouldn't have been useful. My periods were always extremely irregular which means my hormones were messed up from the get go. Also after a couple of bleeding episodes, and after fibroids were diagnosed, I was put on hormones to control the bleeding. I took them for 2 1/2 years, so any results would have been skewed from them also.

And I was pretty b****y during PMS, with roller coaster emotions and mood swings, I sure didn't want to go through a TAH/BSO and then take something that was going to bring that back. Taking the same amount of estrogen each day has sure stabilized my moods. So much so that my DH refers to the Estrace as my "happy" pills, and one of my employees told me a few months after my surgery that I was a different person (for the better).

I talked to my DR before surgery about HRT and she said she would start me two weeks after surgery on Estrogen alone and if there were any problems we could tweak it. I haven't had to adjust the dosage at all and I am closing in on my 2 year hysterversary.

Hope this helps.

I was only having a TAH, was keeping my ovaries, but I had heard some women say their ovaries went into shock afterwards (not common, but it happens), and weren't working.

So, I requested that my hormone levels be taken before my op. My doctor said it was unusual, but not really a bad idea, so she agreed.

Turns out, I didn't need any HRT afterwards, and my ovaries were working fine, but it was nice to know I would have had a baseline measurement, if necessary.