Ovaries: shock/kicking in?

My doctor, who is the head of gyn. for a huge teaching hospital in downtown Chicago, also pooh-poohed the ovaries taking a break. Said it doesn't happen unless there's some other underlying cause.
I trust him totally, he does literally hundreds and hundreds of hyster. a year.

All I can say is that I had NO pre-menopausal symptoms prior to TVH. I'm 45 and women in my family go through menopause at around 53. Ovaries were left in and now I have hot flashes about 10 times a day. Jane

I, too, felt hot sometimes in the weeks following my surgery. My dcctor told me that those were not hot flashes. I had no other symptoms, no irritability or anything. He said that what I was feeling was a low-grade fever - something that will often occur as your body fights back from surgery such as this. It's very normal and part of the healing process. This makes perfect sense to me since other than that, I felt fine. Lately, I haven't felt hot like that anymore. So perhaps that's all done with. I trust my doctor very much and this explanation definitely made sense to me.

I had a TAH on June 18 - since then I have been having trouble sleeping, had night sweats, hot flashes, weepiness, irritability, etc...not regularly - just enough for me to notice.
At my 4 week check up my doctor( a gyn onc surgeon at a teaching hospital ) told me that the ovaries can go into shock after the surgery possibly due to the blood flow being disrupted during the surgery. Typically within 3 months things are working again.
In any case I am hoping that my ovaries are just taking a break and will kick back in soon! I'm 38 and I think my hubby and 3 and 6 year olds will appreciate the old me back!

Something I just thought about. I got my tubes tied (tubal ligation) during my last c-section last year... so taking out my uterus/cervix but leaving my ovaries really wouldn't have done anything to my ovaries- right? So maybe that's why my doctor poo-poohed the whole "ovaries not working or taking awhile to kick in" thing? I mean they were already disconnected when the tubes were cut and tied... so they really didn't do anything to them during this surgery, right?

I can't wait to get the report so I can read exactly what was done.

Hi!
I just returned from the doctor two days ago. i am post op 2 weeks. I told him I am having night sweats and really bad headaches. He said the night sweats occur because the ovaries used to receive 1/2 their blood source from the uterus. With it gone they aren't sure what to do and have to regulate themselves. Yes, they do have a little shock. He said it will gradly disappear and they will be working without the uterus. Hope that helps. Is your md young or old?
cathy

I would consider him young... let's see... when I had my son I remember my mom asking him his age because he looked so young and he was 32 and that was almost 4 years ago so he's about 35/36? Or maybe he'd said he was 36 although I can't imagine him 40 now- no way. LOL So yes, he's young.

Your explanation about the ovaries going in shock from less blood from the uterus that is no longer there makes sense!... but would that be the same in a person who already had their tubes tied a year before having the hysterectomy? Maybe because with ME the blood supply was already cut off is what he meant by me not having any "shock" to the ovaries with the hyst? hmmmm

Dr. told me before leaving hospital that my ovary(sacrificed 1 kept 1) might go into shock and I might have symptoms of menopause. 7-8 wks. after surgery I started hot flashes, out of control crying. When I called dr. she phoned premarin. Mistake, took 1 week had to stop. Don't know what to do next. Checked out books from library trying to find my options. One book said 50% of hyst. with ovaries left, ovaries shut down. Book written by female dr. I read that a lot of dr. just stick with what they learn in med school and are slow to buy into new thoughts and ideas. I'll try to keep up with how you are doing. email me if you have any questions.

Shelly
Yes, I agree that it could be because you already had your tubes tied. I only asked about the age because sometimes younger doctors have different ideas. Mine is aobut 40 as well. Who knows, I have learned from this site that they have so many different answers, ideas and recovery times it would be hard to get a common response on any one topic. Just hang in there. I have felt pretty crummy the last few days, I hope today is better.
Take care!
cathy

Shelly,
I had my tubes tied this past February and I had night sweats and hot flashes after the surgery for about 3 months. They seem better now. I never thought to ask my doc about it. I thought it was because i had stopped the birthc contol i was using(DEPO) and my hormones were adjusting to that. But maybe you are right, maybe they were shocked when the tubes were tied and maybe when i have my hyst in Sept i won't have the hot flashes again!

Kim