Menopause + Hysterectomy
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Speaker: [00:00:00] If you've had a hysterectomy or plan to, then you've probably been told how the surgery works, but has anyone explained how your hormones will change afterwards? So today I'm gonna show you how hysterectomies affect perimenopause, menopause, and post menopause, as well as the symptoms that appear when no one prepared you for what comes next.
Because a hysterectomy, well, it stops your cycle. It does not stop your hormones. And for many women, that misunderstanding is where the real suffering begins. Now, by the end of this episode, you're gonna understand why symptoms continue even without a period why some women crash into sudden menopause overnight, while others drift into it gradually.
What's really triggering the mood swings, the sleep changes, the weight fluctuations, and the exhaustion that you can explain. And most importantly. How to finally make sense of what your body is doing now and what it may do next. And as [00:01:00] we get into this, if you're someone who wants menopause to make sense, clarity instead of chaos and education instead of trial and error, well take a moment to subscribe to this channel so that you never miss a new episode.
I'm Taika Kier, also known as Mr. Menopause, and this is the Mr. Menopause Show.
Now, let's start with the story. Lena believed that her hysterectomy meant that menopause was over no more period, meant no more symptoms. Well, at least that's what she was told. Six months later, she was in the thick of hot flashes, exhaustion, and brain fog. She thought she was falling. But she wasn't. Her ovaries were still producing hormones.
She was entering perimenopause, but without a menstrual cycle to show her what stage she was in. She wasn't broken. She wasn't weak. [00:02:00] She was simply navigating a transition that no one explained to her. Now, here is where so many women get lost. Sometimes symptoms arrive slowly, like clouds moving across the sky.
Other times they arrive like a storm front that rolls in without warning. A hysterectomy can remove the monthly marker that helps women to know when hormones are rising and falling Without that rhythm, the shifts can feel unpredictable. The body keeps signaling, but the woman no longer has the calendar to decode the meeting.
This creates confusion, frustration, and sometimes fear that something deeper or more dangerous is happening. In reality, her body is speaking. Just no one ever taught her the language. Clarity changed Lena's life and that clarity is what I wanna give you today. See, many women are told what's being removed in surgery.
Very few are told what it means, hormonally, and here's what matters. [00:03:00] If the uterus is removed, your period stop. If the ovaries remain, hormones still fluctuate, that means that perimenopause and menopause can still unfold naturally. If one or both ovaries are removed, hormone production changes faster. If both ovaries are removed.
Menopause begins abruptly, and this is why so many women say, I had surgery, but I still feel menopausal because perimenopause is the hormonal journey. It's not a menstrual journey. See hormones influence more than reproduction. They influence temperature control, metabolism, joint lubrication, collagen, production, memory, mood regulation, uh, sleep architecture, and even how the nervous system responds to stress.
And this is why two women can do the same surgery and experience completely different outcomes. Some glide into the next stage calmly, while others feel as though their [00:04:00] body has been switched. Without warning, hormones don't disappear just because your period does. They continue to shift impulse like tides beneath the surface.
And if you feel like your body changed without warning, and if you're wondering why you react differently to stress, why? Sleep feels unpredictable. Why, um, emotions sit closer to the surface? Well, there's nothing wrong with you. First of all, you are simply responding to internal changes that were never explained.
See, Julie experienced this after her hysterectomy at 42, her sleep unraveled. Her mood sharpened without warning. Her weight shifted and refused to respond the way it used to. She blamed herself. She thought she was too emotional. In reality, she was cycling hormonally without a period to show her the rhythm.
Perimenopause did not skip her. It just hid behind her surgery. Some women describe this stage as [00:05:00] living in the gray, not knowing if symptoms are stress, aging, or hormones. And a hysterectomy can remove the monthly feedback that shows hormonal rhythms, which means symptoms may feel. Unpredictable or disconnected from physical patterns, but they're not random.
They are hormonal signals Without a monthly timestamp and understanding that alone brings more relief. But if removing the uterus removes the marker, removing the ovaries, removes the buffer, and that's where most abrupt changes happen. Surgical menopause does not ease in. It arrives. In fact, Tasha described it like this.
She said, one day I felt like me. The next day I woke up and nothing felt familiar. Her hot flashes were instant and aggressive. Sleep disappeared. Her patients evaporated. Small things felt enormous. Task that she once handled with ease felt overwhelming and she [00:06:00] wasn't imagining it. She wasn't dramatic.
Her hormones drop like a stone and when there's no time for gradual adjustments, the body reacts loudly, hot flashes, irritability, uh, anxiety, significant fatigue. Belly fat, skin changes, joint changes, brain fog, vaginal dryness, and decreased stress tolerance. And this is not because she was failing, but because her hormones shifted faster than her system could stabilize.
See, knowledge would have prepared her knowledge. Restore self trusts. Knowledge changes everything. And there's nothing dramatic about these changes by the way, they are biological. The nervous system, once supported by estrogen, must now regulate temperature and stress without the same hormonal cushion.
The adrenal glands work harder. Cortisol rises faster. Heart rate spikes more easily. And women describe feeling on edge, overwhelmed by [00:07:00] tasks that they once completed effortlessly. This is not weakness ladies. This is physiology adjusting to a new command center with preparation. These symptoms are easier to navigate without it, they feel like chaos.
And now let's talk about a part that no one talks about enough, and that's hysterectomy after menopause. Now some women enter post menopause feeling steady. A hysterectomy at that stage can still create new symptoms or bring back old ones that many don't realize. Sandra was 58 when she had hers. She assumed she was on the other side of it.
A year later though, she said, I feel like I'm going backwards. Her hot flashes returned, joint pain, intensified, no more sleep. She felt emotional for no clear reason, and no one told her that ovaries still produced small amounts of hormones after menopause, and that removing them also removed her baseline stability.
But [00:08:00] once she understood why she felt different, she stopped questioning her sanity and started supporting herself with compassion instead of frustration. And that moment matters because that moment is. Power. See, many women also feel ashamed when symptoms return. Some think it means that they didn't handle menopause well enough the first time, but the truth is that hormone loss happened twice.
The body had to adapt all over again. And here's something important to know. Many women feel shame when symptoms appear after hysterectomy because they believe they should have been done by now. Shame though is not a medical diagnosis, but it does become a silent symptom for far too many women.
Understanding though removes shame and shame is one of the most unspoken symptoms of menopause. And look, let me say this clearly, hysterectomy does not remove your identity. It does not remove your womanhood. It does [00:09:00] not remove your strength. Your body is adapting, your hormones are shifting, and when you understand these shifts, you can stop surviving and start participating in your life again.
And this is the reason why I wrote Decoding the 80 Symptoms and Side Effects of Menopause, which is my new book releasing on January 12th, which would've been my mom's 84th birthday. You know, she suffered without answers. She lived with symptoms in silence. She did not have support or clarity or the education that she deserved.
This book is the resource that she needed, and my hope is that it becomes the resource that millions of women have been waiting for. But listen, you don't have to wait until then to begin your journey if you wanna build on the clarity you gain. Today. I have another episode that pairs perfectly with this one.
It walks you through a simple four step method to help you understand your symptoms, to implement support strategies, and navigate menopause with confidence [00:10:00] instead of confusion. Watch Menopause Relief Made Simple, which is the proven four step method that every woman needs. It's a natural companion to everything that we discussed here, and we'll move you forward with even more ease and understanding.
You can click the link in the description for this video to check it out. Now, I'll see you there.
