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Post Hysterectomy hormone level leaving one ovary

Hello,
I just had a hysterectomy last week. I had my uterus and one ovary removed. My doctor said I would retain my hormone levels due to still having one ovary. But in the past day or so I am feeling some stress/anxiousness/mood swings. Does it possibly take some time for the hormone levels to balance out due to the removal of one ovary?
Thank you
Dixie
4 Responses
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Avatar universal
Just found your post in medhelp and I feel like your talking directly to me.  Almost my entire  life Ive struggled with my female organs in one way or another.  I started my period at 14 and everything of course was fine until i was about 20.  At 20 I had an ectopic pregnancy and had to have emergency surgery to remove the pregancy and most of my right ovary.  Got pregnant with in 6 months of having that procedure.  Started trying for another baby about 4 yrs later,  we tried and tried with no luck.  Finally after many failed attempts of doctors trying to figure out why i wasnt getting pregnant, i went to a fertility doc.  I was in surgery within a month of first meeting Dr. Mitchell-leef.  She discovered I had stage 4 endo, adhesions all over including on my bowel, polyps, staples from my ectopic procedure 8 yrs prior...It was horrible and wonderful at the same time.  I hated that I went thru all of that for so many yrs but I was so glad that FINALLY there was an explanation to all my concerns.  Once again I became pregnant,  a true blessing.  Well...about 1 and a half yrs after giving birth to her.  All of my endo symptoms came back with avengence.  I was miserable....I went to my OB/GYN and they put me on birth control.  I bled for 8 weeks straight and was an emotional mess.  I found a new OB because I wasnt satified with my current doc.  When i met my current doc,  she told me to immediately come off the birth control.  She said that every OB should know that endo feeds off of the hormones in birth control.  She said that with everything I went thru that I should consider a hysterectomy.  I went thru with it the surgery.  They took my uterus but left the 1 remaining ovary that I had on the left side  I was 32 yrs old.. I am now 34 yrs old and Im having a lot of symptoms that i think are caused by the surgery.  Vaginal Dryness is on the top of the list, plus hot flashes, moods swings, crying spells,  I feel very disoriented, very forgetful.  Im driving my family crazy.  I dont know whats going on but theres definitely a problem.  Any advise would be great!  Do any of you think that these symptoms are from the surgery.  Most sites dont talk about symptoms if you have 1 ovary.  Ive already made an appt with my doc for treatment.  Thanks for any advice in advance.
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Avatar universal
I was 32 when I had my hysterectomy. The doctor left one overy and said It would still produce hormone.  I was young and he wanted to leave one for me, so I would not go through early menopause.  Well, It was a rough recovery for me emotionally and I had to get "hormone shots" to get me through the crying and depression.   They helped for about a month and then I would be back to the same thing.  A constant roller coaster for me and my family.  After 5 years of me being sad, moody, depressed, emotional and driving my family crazy..I had tried depression meds and everything else I could think of.  I have had enough.  I did alot of reseearch and found a doctor that did Saliva Hormone testing.  I tried it and sure enough I had all sorts of crazy levels with my hormones. My first Dr. said all my hormones were "within normal range"  Hogwash indeed!!! I also found out that the one ovary that was left in me only would live for about 18 months after my hysterectomy, It was just "floating" in there and had no blood supply!  I think that my first Dr. sluffed that day of school when they taught that.!!!
I am now on a  bio-identical progesterone lozenge and I feel so much better.  I have wasted 15 years of my life trying to figure this out.  I advise anyone going through this same thing to look into the saliva hormone testing.  I am completely off of depression meds and felling like I can have a happy life again.....I hope this helps.  Getting Better
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Avatar universal
If you had already achieved menopause will that make a difference in hormones?
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Avatar universal
Hi, yes it will take a couple of months for it to kick in.  Your body needs to heal from the surgery, too.  We're all different, so it's hard to say how long it will be before the one ovary acts as 2.

I had one ovary removed 11/06 and it took a good while.  After 6 months I was tested and was low in progesterone so I did a mild HRT.  I was just retested and my progesterone has leveled out a bit so the Dr cut my rx in 1/2.  After my surgery I had hot flashes and everything but that stopped after a week or two.

Hope all was well with your surgery outcome.  Take care.
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