Concerned about side effects of hysterectomy

[CremeDeSudo]

So I’m due to have a hysterectomy (leaving ovaries) later this year after a cervical cancer scare. I’ll be 38.

I’m OK about it and trying not to think about it too hard, but am mostly wondering about the side effects further down the line – will I still get monthly hormonal moods/acne breakouts? What about my skin and hair? Am I going to start getting lots of wrinkles and will my hair become lacklustre? What about my (already non-existent) sex drive? Is that going to dwindle further?

Does anyone have any experiences they can share on what I can expect? Good or bad! (Hoping for nothing too bad!)

Try not to worry. It's a big thing (meaning our natural emotional attachment and all that), but you'll be fine. Do talk through any concerns with your team, and you will have follow-up appointments.

I fully recommend you pop along to the HysterSisters website and join their community. Loads of support and heaps of knowledge which I found a godsend when I was facing the same.

By the sounds of it, you might need to have your hormone levels checked. A non-existent sex drive could be hormonal, (rather than being with somebody you don't want to have sex with :) )

Hi, thanks for your response. I've heard of Hyster Sisters but find the site quite hard to navigate! I've signed up and posted now.

I hadn't thought about getting my hormone levels checked before, I hadn't considered it something to go to the Dr about. Perhaps it might actually be dealt with as part of this and there might be a silver lining!

It’s hard I won’t lie, I had it at 35, ovaries out aged 39,:somedays good but listen to you doctor, I did not go on hrt straightaway, resulting in mood depression, if you want to know more pm me!

Good luck. When are you having yours? I'm
Having one on 14th September for endometriosis and fibroids. They're leaving my ovaries. I've been looking forward to being pain free for the last while but now I'm getting scared. I'm 39, didn't think I'd be spending my 40th birthday recovering from a hysterectomy!

I had one at a couple of years older than you.I had the same procedure as you are going to have. I was terrified I was going to become an old woman overnight ! Its now nearly 6 years ago.
The procedure wasn't great only as I couldn't get my pain relief quite right for the first 24 hours post op ( i don't like morphine). i was a shit patient subseqnely - partly as Im a crap patient and hate being incapacitated nd frankly got up and around really quickly was driving at the end of 2 weeks and was very much back to 'normal' by 8 weeks. I had a full horizontal incision so big op. I can honestly say it was really good for me,... I did have some low aching if I stood for too long through the 1 st year. I do pelvic floor exercises very regularly and I started on HRT from a purely symptomatic perspective a couple of years ago. I still get some hormonal mood swings and odd spot but the oestrogen only HRT has helped that. I really wanted to take it to protect bone health too.

The fact i'm not faffing with periods any more is great as mine were a bit of a pain. I did feel quite emotional beforehand but i have to say once it was done I was just all about getting on with life ! Feel free to PM me I'm happy to chat/support as i completely get where you are feeling. If you do a search you will see there was a whole series of emails supporting a group of us who were going through the same thing on here so you may be able to find it for a read.

Thank you everyone!

I have a provisional date of 16th Oct but have been told it could be Nov. I want to get it out of the way now so I can start recovering and moving on with my life.

Yes to worrying about being an old woman overnight! I feel vain admitting it but that's a huge concern for me. I'm doing well for wrinkles and I love my hair.

It would be nice to think HRT might be able to address my hormonal skin and perhaps sex drive - or is that optimistic? Definitely looking forward to no periods as mine are also a pain every month. Also, monthly bloating/sluggishness- will that ease?

I def feel that I have and had far less swings during the month - however I was pretty swollen for quite a while afterwards #attractive. I'd had a csection with ds1 so already had an overhang - unfortunately the hyster did not help that - but tbf it was there already.

One thing I was surprised by was the incision was quite a bit bigger than the csection ....

Are you having it laparoscopically??

Feeling up for it more - generally because I'm not about to have period, having it or on the dregs of it (which was most of the money) so nice to be up for it whenever I fancied.

It was a bit daunting first time - and if your cervix is removed then you are left with a vaginal pocket which takes a bit to get your head round. Sorry if that's TMI but best to know. but to be clear no pain or loss of sensation

Yes having keyhole, and also have a c section overhang so could do without making that worse!

That's quite good to know. I'm very hormonal, whether it's bloating/energy levels/spots/irritability/period. So it would be wonderful if those things could ease off.

I know about the leftover vault as they call it! Lovely word! I have to have 'vault smears' for a certain amount of time afterwards. Yay.

I'm 8weeks post op.
Keyhole womb, tubes and cervix, leaving ovaries.

Pain levels were pretty manageable- buscopan has been the best pain relief.

Figuring out what rest is when you don't feel too bad is quite tricky.
I made the mistake of picking something slightly too heavy up at 3weeks and hurt my back.

I have felt a bit of PMT but the relief of not bleeding like mad and unpredictably is bliss.

Still have breakouts though.

Actually didn't bleed after the surgery and only minimal discharge which is a revelation for me.

Not looking back.

Sex drive is as it was for me

All sounding reasonably ok so far, thank you everyone.

I guess it's tough as it'll vary for everybody. I'm going to remain optimistic for now