Upcoming hysterectomy 7/20: Effects on pre-existing depression

I'm having an abdominal hyster in 5 days. I have depression and anxiety, which I take meds for. I'm worried how this may affect me, mentally, since this will affect my hormones too. I'm hoping this doesn't send me into a tailspin. I'm definitely gonna keep a look out for it, but just wondered if anyone in my situation has any words of wisdom or encouragement??

I've been on anti-depressants for the past 16 years. Besides the meds, I use physical activity and time outdoors to help manage my depression. I was a bit concerned as to how I was going to manage this during my recovery, so I gave some thought beforehand to how I was going to "build" my recovery.

For example, my bedroom is quite dark during the day, so I didn't want to spend daylight hours in bed. Instead, I built myself a "day nest" in the sunny living room. I stocked up on books I'd been meaning to read and put all the small mending projects I'd been meaning to do in a pile for easy access. During recovery, I was able to spend a lot of time outdoors reading, sewing and sometimes just playing with my cats and hanging out.

The nurses at the hospital had me up and walking even the first morning after surgery, which suited me just fine. I was walking laps around the ward by the second day. I started walking outside on my first full day home, four days after surgery.

Think of what you do yourself to manage your depression and anxiety, then build this into your recovery plans.

Good luck!

Good advice Surprised. Thanks.

Thank you!! I've been really concerned about this, as well!!

Surprised has given really good advice. I'm not sure how severe your depression gets or which Dr manages your meds for it, but especially if you tend to severe depression, you might want to alert your Dr of your concerns. At one time my Dr gave me a short question list (5 items maybe) to answer weekly and notify him of the results, to monitor the extent of depression. That might be on option to keep track to see if you need more help, if that's a concern. I agree with Surprised that knowing your strategies can help a lot. If you're concerned about hormonal shift it can help to keep a daily log of mood, sleep, hot flashes, and other symptoms, to get some idea of whether it seems hormonal or whether HRT might help. You're wise to plan ahead, depression is a big issue for some of us and can be a slippery slope.

The only times I've had hormonally-related problems with depression were:
1) Back when I was still having periods but hadn't yet started on anti-depressants; and
2) When my gyn onc prescribed progesterone to help treat a cancer recurrence.

Back when I was still having periods, the week just before my period each month was always a black, bleak time for me, when I had no creative energy at all. I used to use it for cleaning out files, throwing out outdated lab supplies, etc. because I'd be in such a destructive mood.

Keep in mind that this is the week when progesterone dominates estrogen in your system. I could tell when my period had started a few hours before there was any sign of blood, because my mood would suddenly take an upturn! Note that this coincided with the *drop* of both progesterone and estrogen in my system.

Once I started anti-depressants (41) my monthly destruction zone vanished.

I sailed through natural menopause quite happily and had my last period at 51. Four years later, I had both ovaries removed during my hysterectomy. Some post-menopausal women report a recurrence of menopausal symptoms in this case, but I didn't have any.

Alas, what *did* recur was the cancer, nine months after surgery. My gyn onc referred me to a radiation oncologist and also gave me a 7-month prescription for megestrol, a synthetic progesterone. Within two weeks of starting the progesterone, I realized that it was pushing me towards the edge of an active depressive episode. I managed to stick it out for one month, but then never bothered to ask my pharmacy for a refill.

What I'm saying is that you *may* find that once your monthly hormonal merry-go-round has come to a halt, you *may* find that this actually helps your depression. Fingers crossed! :-)

Something else to keep in mind is that research has shown some types of depression is actually an allergic reaction to inflammation.

http://www.feelguide.com/2015/01/06/...-inflammation/

In addition to your normal medications for depression you may want to talk to your doctor about additional or stronger anti-inflammatories as well. You may also need to be on anti-inflammatories longer to help with depression.

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Originally Posted by TDBRADSHAW I'm having an abdominal hyster in 5 days. I have depression and anxiety, which I take meds for. I'm worried how this may affect me, mentally, since this will affect my hormones too. I'm hoping this doesn't send me into a tailspin. I'm definitely gonna keep a look out for it, but just wondered if anyone in my situation has any words of wisdom or encouragement??

I am 4 weeks post and take mood stabilizers (no antidepressants). I decided against HRT and had BSO with my hyster.

To be honest - I do not see any difference from before surgery - if at all I feel more stable. My baseline mood is depressed or neutral-depressed, I have never been a bundle of happiness so to speak. But the surgery did not make it worse (and I have been worse in the past).
To help with mood stabilization I also try to get sleep, I walk every day, I sit outside in the sun for a bit and now that it is summer I also sit outside on my porch.
I did talk to my doctor who prescribes my medication about the surgery and we stay in close contact.
Perhaps you want to talk to your prescriber to make sure that you have a plan in place in case you do not feel ok and if you have a therapist perhaps you can come up with a plan?