Removed all/ guidance? What to expect? No menopause symptoms?!

Hi! I’m a new member just looking for some guidance and “what to expects.”

Some quick background- I have an 8 yr old (conceived with Femara) and 4 yr old twins (Chlomid) and a history of several surgeries and issues due to PCOS.

My twin pregnancy was heterotopic- twins in uterus and a third baby in left Fallopian tube. Removed tube in emergency surgery at 6.5 weeks (Feb 2016). Carried to 37.5 and had one vaginally with failed epidural and twin B emergency c-section under anesthesia (Sept 2016). When they were 9 months I had abdominalplasty (July 2017) to fix hernia and my diastasis-recti (total separation of ab muscles) and a uterine ablation in Dec 2017.

I’m 9 days post op of total hysterectomy and removal of both ovaries due to PCOS. My estrogen was 90 over and testosterone the same as a man. I was a mess with pain and lots of bleeding.

I feel rather good and my dr said the surgery went perfect with no complications. My ovaries were very cystic and he said I had really poor tissue.
He was expecting menopause symptoms to hit me hard due to the extreme difference in hormone levels. But I feel good. I want to believe I’m finally catching a break but I’m letting my mind run away and consider ovary remnant syndrome. I don’t think I need to on account he said it went perfect and I trust him completely.

Did anyone else not have symptoms of menopause? Did you have pelvic pain for a couple weeks post-op due to healing or scar tissue? If no symptoms-did you choose HRT anyway since it might be better for you long term at a young age? Should I ask for bloodwork? Any insight on what to expect is great. My follow up is on Dec 14th!
Thanks

I started on hormone therapy the day after my surgery. Some doctors/patients take a wait and see approach. Chances are you will start to experience menopause symptoms as the hormones your ovaries produced deplete. If you're interested in using hormone therapy, it wouldn't be a bad idea to start looking at the options available so that you can discuss your preference with your doctor. There is information about that, and plenty of other hormone information, in this link: Menopause and Hormones - Articles .

Hopefully your doctor has explained that PCOS, which is an endocrine disorder, isn't cured by removing the ovaries. If you need information about PCOS, you can check out the Resource Database.

I see that you have posted on the Recovery Progress Reports thread for your surgery week. . That's a great place to compare notes while sharing recovery updates and experiences. Don't hesitate to start a new thread in the Post-Op Hysterectomy Support forum to ask recovery questions so that you can get input from members who are further along in the recovery process.

I am also a PCOSer and over 2 surgeries had a total hysterectomy with bilat oophorectomy. First surgery was right ovary & both tubes 9/17 and second to complete the total was 10/27 so I hit 7 weeks post op yesterday. Couldn't actually tell you what my hormone levels were pre-op but post op the only real symptom that hit me was hot flashes and those have been more annoying than anything. I can almost set a clock to them- no idea if that's common or I'm just lucky, but they seem to be triggered by time more than anything else. I sort of figure my body's been adapting to borked hormone levels my entire life so maybe its just adapting again.


That said, after initial hesitation, I did a lot of research and did decide at my 6 week appointment last week to opt for the estrogen patch. Because PCOS already predisposes us to insulin resistance which increases our risk for cardiovascular disease, plus reading a lot on bone health, brain health and the likes, I felt that protecting myself against these things to the best of my ability was the correct call. I also follow a no sugar/no grain diet which got my PCOS symptoms effectively into remission over the last 4 years before surgery and I will 100% continue that if not doubling down on my efforts there because it also helps with all of the potential pitfalls of both PCOS and surgical menopause. My goals are staying a healthy weight (something I was unsuccessful at for most of my adult life staying active and keeping tabs on the numbers so I can tweak as appropriate.

Healing wise, the first couple weeks had me on a steady diet of ibuprofen. I walked a lot- was doing 1-2 miles a day over 3-4 walks the first couple weeks and steady from probably week 3 on, increasing the distance as my body allowed. Pace has come back to pretty normal levels now, starting somewhere around the 6 week mark. The more you walk, the better, let your body guide you on pace and distance. I started back to work from home the third week and in the office the 4th. Week 3 was probably the hardest because I felt pretty good but wore out really really quickly and usually managed to over do the activity before realizing it so the downtime hit like a freight train. By week 5 the only lingering effects were more tired than normal and swelling over the course of the day, especially noticeable if my pants were too snug at the waist! At my 6 week appointment I was freed of all restrictions except penetrative sex which he wants me to hold off on through this week with strict instructions on how to ease back into that once we do. Follow your surgeons instructions to the letter here, especially if you had your cervix removed. It is not worth the risk of infection or damaging your incisions for a few minutes of fun... 6-8 weeks is nothing in the grand scheme of life, and after that the playground never closes!

That said, I cannot express strongly enough the complete frustration at the lack of good information on PCOS and menopause at all, let alone surgical onset menopause! Cysters need better research so we can make informed choices, darn it!