New and confused/undecided/nervous

Hello Ladies;

I'm so glad I found this site, and I have read a few posts but haven't come across anyone in my similar situation..
I am 36 w/2 kids. I have had endo in the past, but not painful. It was more of an infertility thing. Had laps to over come that and am now blessed with 2 children. I have had pain w/deep penetration intercourse for a very long time, maybe even years. I always thought it was normal. But I started realizing it wasn't. At exam by two Drs, they were able to pinpoint the pain in my cervix area and I was told it was probably because of a stenotic cervix, two cerclages with pregnancies, and scarring/adhesions of previous surgeries. They are not sure it's endo because I've been pregnant and breastfeeding up until recently. Mutually we decided it might be best to do a TAH, leaving the ovaries. I was fine with this as we are done having children.(high risk pregnancies/bedrest) I was excited at the prospect of getting rid of the organs causing me pain; cervix and uterus perhaps. (BtW, I do not have painful periods or heavy bleeding or fibroids)
Here's my delimma! After researching on the Internet I've read that up to 50% of women will go into menopause after a H even if ovaries are left! Neither Dr. told me this, in fact one said she'd never heard of that and in her experience it hasn't happened. Is this true; and have your Dr.s mentioned this? Also what about hormones? Libido afterwards? Mine is too low as it is.
I'm not ready to go into menopause yet; my mother has had a hard time with it, and I do not want to do hormone therapy. I am a DES daughter and really have issues with artificial hormones.
I'm starting to freak out about this (surgery is 10/14)! There doesn't seem to be an alternative to this, my Dr said even if we just did a lap to try to get rid of some possible adhesions, I might be looking at another surgery again down the road. I do need the pain to be gone and I'm afraid it won't be gone afterward and that I've just done this MAJOR surgery.
My pre-op is only a week prior to the surgery and I have sooo many questions. I will call my doctor; but I want to get some info from you ladies beforehand! Why do I have to research info that I feel my doctor should know? 50% is pretty high odds IMO, for ovarian failure after a TH.

Thanks so much for listening.

Gail

I've heard it's possible for the ovaries to "fail" (I've never heard 50%), but my doctor basically said "Naaah." I have no idea where to find "the real answer". You'd think there would be a study somewhere...

I kept my ovaries, and they seem find so far, I think... (hard to tell, but I feel good). I had been on the pill since age 15 (23 years), so I have no idea what "normal" feels like, for me.

My cervix also caused me pain. My mom swears she did not take DES, but my cervix had little fingery things ("cockscomb cervix"), which can be a DES thing. Whatever the problem, I did not like my cervix, and now that it's gone, things are much better. Libido is just dandy, too.

Here's a thought - and I'm extrapolating from my knowledge of horses - I used to get cramps when I'd take even a cool shower. Given that it gets into the hundreds here, taking a cool shower is a desireable thing to do! But it used to make me very uncomfortable. Now I'm absolutely fine with it! I didn't put two-and-two together until I read about some mares experiencing cramping in their cervix when being bathed with cool water (and so hating baths). I never thought of "cervix cramps"! So anyway, that was a wonderful little bonus after my hyst. It hit 105-106 degrees here two days last week, and boy did I enjoy those cool showers.

Hi - I too was afraid of my ovaries not functioning after my hyst. I also expressed what I had read on the internet to 2 doctors. They both had not heard of those statistics. The first doctor said that in his opinion a number of women who experience "ovarian dysfunction" after a hyst are going through peri-menopausal symptoms because they are at the age where they will either be peri-menopausal or will be menopausal. He said that no woman knows exactly what age she will go through menopause anyway.

I was so afraid of this happening to me that it was one of the main reason I put off having a hysterectomy.

I have read on this website of women who have posted that their ovaries didn't function the same after their hyst but I have also read of many women who have had hysts without ovaries removed who have not experienced ovarian dysfunction.

It'll be 7 weeks since my hyst and I can't say that I've experienced what I feel would be a problem in that area. I keep praying that I won't.

This surgery is major surgery - so right after the surgery you will feel changes within your body that will be strange or different than what you expected. These feelings may be attributed to internal organs healing or recovering from being "moved around" during the surgery. I wonder if the ovaries need to make the adjustment like our bladders do after a hysterectomy.

I am one of the many women who came to this site petrified of having a hysterectomy even though I felt miserable before. I have to tell you - I FEEL GREAT! I have no regrets! I would stay up all night looking on websites for information about hysterectomies and most of these websites were comprised of women who were "anti-hysterectomy" for all but life threatening illness. Their opinions would confirm all my fears and drive me crazy with all the 'unknowns" and what terrible things "could happen" if I had my hyst.

I feel at hystersisters you get a balance of opinions and experiences that will help you in making your decision regarding hysterectomy.

By the way - I did experience a peri-menopausal symptom before my hysterectomy that really scared me. One month I bled for the entire month. My mood altered. I woke up and felt depressed like I had never felt in my life before. I knew it was something physical because I literally woke up feeling like a different person. I cried all day - I couldn't get myself to do any of my normal routines - I couldn't make a decision. I didn't realize that it had to do with my hormones. I had just turned 40 at the time. I called my gyn and he said that it sounded like I had not ovulated that month and that not ovulating is a normal part of peri-menopause and that our bodies are aging and changing. By the time I had called him I had been feeling better emotionally but the experience scared me. I tell this story because at the time I HAD MY OVARIES (and uterus by the way) because this was 3 years ago - before my hysterectomy! But I had experienced "ovarian dysfunction". My ovaries decided to "take off" that month! It hasn't happened since.

So I hope that what my doctors said is true - that a lot of women who feel this may have experienced it anyway. But I hesitate to say that because some women feel that they have experienced it because of their hysterectomy. But I still can't figure out where the 50% statistics come from.

These are just my opinions based on my experience only. I hope this helps.