Good candidate for a hysterectomy but I feel I'm still too young

I'm 33 and no kids. I had a myomectomy last year to remove fibroids but the doctor also found severe adenomyosis. Fast forward to a year later, the horrible pain is still there. I had some relief for the first 6 months after surgery but the pain is back. The bleeding has improved quite a bit but I can't imagine having to suffer until menopause. Me and my husband aren't planning to have kids but in the back of my mind I don't want to go through the hysterectomy route because of a lot of "what ifs". I know I am a good candidate for a hysterectomy but I feel I'm still too young to go through this. How do you feel after the hysterectomy?

I'm so sorry for your dilemma. I actually feel awesome and have a bunch of help. I can't believe it. I'm 5 days post-op and can't believe how fast I'm recovering. The only incisions are on my upper thighs where they have put a sling in to support my bladder. I had a partial vaginal hysterectomy with removal of the cervix and my left ovary and tube. I am amazed at how wonderful I feel so far. I just get really tired easy. The nurse made sure that I knew that just because I don't have many incisions on the outside, she assured me that there are things inside that need healing. I'm thrilled with the results so far. Thanks for all the wonderful advice, Ruth Carey

I turned 45 in November. I should have done the LSH four to five years ago, had I known it was possible. I knew about the TAH's, but did not feel that was an option, due to healing time.

Two and a half months later, and I feel marvelous. Inner peace has returned. And no more pain, heavy bleeds, floods, anemia, or heart issues. And my personality has improved. Good enough for me!

Hi there lou914. I'm sorry to hear that you're in such pain. I have just hit the 6 week mark post surgery and am feeling fabulous - I'm like a different woman. Like you, I had many things to consider in my decision to have a hysterectomy. I had been diagnosed with many different probs over the years and the adenomyosis wasn't diagnosed until the hysterectomy. I found out when I woke up! For me, this really validated my decision as I had tried so many different things to get better with no avail. I've read and been advised by doctors that the only real cure for adenomyosis is a hysterectomy. Obviously, every woman and her body are different but it turns out that it was the best option for me. I was only thinking the other day that I am actually pain free - it was so strange to feel this way. The hysterectomy seems to have solved the problems with my uterus and horrible symptoms I had with my periods etc. Unfortunately I also have significant hormonal imbalance issues and PMS which obviously comes from the ovaries. These symptoms started to reappear at the end of week 2 after my surgery. Some hormonal balance is to be expected but mine was similar to how I was pre-op. My surgeon and I believe that my body is better with my ovaries 'off' (I kept both of them and my cervix) so I've just started a progesterone tablet (as I have too much estrogen) and will trial it for a few months prior to seeing my surgeon again. I've only been taking it for a week and it has been the icing on the cake for me - I am a completely different person and for the first time in 20 years am feeling so good and what I imagine 'normal' to be. So I suppose what I'm saying is that the hysterectomy was part of the solution for me and now it looks like I've found a solution for the other half of my probs. Obviously the decision to have a hysterectomy has huge emotional and physical implications but my quality of life was so debilated and I am now excited about the freedom I feel and the exciting opportunities that are ahead. My husband and I are dealing with the loss of choice about having a child of our own the best we can. Seeing me so healthy and happy has really helped this process.

If you have any specific questions you'd like me to answer, please let me know. I wish you all the best in your decision making. Happy New Year!

Too much estrogen. Hmmm, sounds familiar.

I think we would be called estrogen dominant.

Me too!

Best wishes to all considering the hysterectomy.

Hi Freedom76 may I ask how old you are? I think being young and having this condition is a tough decision. I think if I were older my doctor would have took out my uterus because he said I had one of the worst condition he has seen. I'm only a year post-op and I can't imagine having to go through another major surgery soon. I've already had two surgeries, the first one was back in 2003 for removal of ovarian cysts. I have read many success stories in this forum but I am worry I will open up a new set of problems with this surgery. But I remember the post-op pain and soreness from both surgeries were nothing compare to my monthly cramps.
Did I understand correctly that you kept your ovaries but you still need to take hormones?

Hi Lou914

I can relate to how you feel about being too young to have the surgery. I’m 32 years old and will be having a LSH (laprascopic supracervical hysterectomy) on Jan. 8, 2009. Keeping the cervix and and the left ovary…YEAH!!!

From the beginning, I have always had irregular periods but they were never heavy. However during my last year in high school, I began experiencing terrible back pain. After countless visits to various doctors, one morning I could not stand up straight. My mom took me to a gynecologist as a last resort and he discovered a huge ovarian cyst, the size of a grapefruit, which needed to be removed immediately. They removed right the ovary and the cyst attached to it successfully using laparoscopic surgery. After the surgery the doctor did share that I had a cyst on the remaining ovary and that I had uterine fibroids but because I was so young there wasn’t much to do and we would try the wait and see method. The wait and see method has shown that I have one very large fibroid and multiple smaller ones all over my uterus and of course the cyst on my left ovary.

I have gone through and am still going through so many emotions about having a hysterectomy. I don’t have any children and it has never been a big deal for me but to remove the option or me making the choice has been difficult, I feel like the major part that makes me a woman will be gone. Also the fact that I am 32, coming up on 33, I feel too young to have to address this issue but as I share my story I find that more and more women have had this done or are considering as their next move. I did see one physician that refused the idea of a hysterectomy but when I asked him what are my other options, he said "wait and see". Whatever.

I do have a very supportive network of friends and family and I know that this is something I must do for my quality of health and the show must and will go on. If you would like, I can keep you posted after my surgery to let you know how things go.

Good luck with your decision. And remember everything isn't for everybody so don't feel pressure to do or not do something. Go with your instincts.

Hi m0desty_1, thanks for your message. It is indeed a very tough decision to make at this age. In my case, since I just had the myomectomy a year ago, I want to take the wait & see approach for now. Whenever my next surgery is, it will very likely to be a hyst.

I don't know anyone around me who has this condition, so I am glad I can talk to other ladies who has the same condition and understands what I'm going through. Please do let me know how you feel after the surgery. Wish you all the best and good luck with your surgery!

Hi lou914. I also feel too young to feel "forced" into making this decision but I have known for years this was my end game to finally end the pain ... I had an ovarian cyst @ 16, laser lap for endo @ 31 w lupron for 6 months --the pain returned and I finally could not take it anymore - I had to take action.

I am 8 wks post op from TAH BSO and am feeling close to normal ... now, I am not ready to run a marathon or anything crazy like that but I have recovered from the tough stuff.
note: I had not been diagnosed w adenomyosis until the pathology report was completed post op but it completely makes sense as the shooting/ stabbing pain would nearly knock me off my feet.

Good luck w your decision ... no one can make the decision for you. My only hope is someday soon the medical community figures out where endo/ adeno comes from and finds a way to treat that will not take away a woman's childbirthing option.

You could also look at it the other way. You're young now and you have your life ahead of you. I'm 27 and had an LSH a month ago. I got my period when I was 11 and things went downhill after the first two or three cycles. I started suffering with pain quite badly, to the point where normal activities weren't possible during the worst of it, when I was in my mid-teens. By the At age 22 it started lengthening out past a week and finally out to two weeks at a time. By that time I felt that my period ruled my life. After many failed treatments I managed to obtain some relief with an endometrial ablation at age 25, but it only lasted a year.
The last year I got so sick I had to cut back my hours at work and lost a lot of money. I got into multiple minor car accidents because of exhaustion and ultimately because of problems that may or may not have been period-related was forced to stop driving altogether in the two weeks before the hysterectomy. I would collapse after work and had very little energy, and I feared that I would be forced to cut back to three days a week at work if it got any worse, or even that I might not be able to work at all. There was no other real option besides hysterectomy. My doctor had suggested it instead of the endometrial ablation but I was too scared then, even though I'd been arguing for it since I was about 20. Now I realized, finally, that "what ifs?" aside if I didn't have the hysterectomy my quality of life would be so awful that I would basically be wasting my entire life just to keep my uterus. I never wanted kids and I really didn't want to keep my uterus, I was just afraid of the "what ifs"?
So I had the hysterectomy and now I feel amazingly better. This is true even though I've run into a couple of post-op complications and my activities are still pretty limited because of it. It was definitely the right decision.