09 May “Hysterectomy & Hormone Balance | Part 1: Estrogen and Progesterone”
A complete hysterectomy is the removal of the ovaries and uterus. A partial hysterectomy means that only the uterus was removed but 1 or both ovaries remain. A complete hysterectomy can cause almost immediate symptoms of menopause due to the rapid drop in hormone levels after this procedure. A partial hysterectomy may not cause immediate menopause symptoms because the ovaries remain and continue to produce hormones for some time.
However, over time ovarian function starts to decline which can cause symptoms of menopause. The time it takes for this to happen varies from woman to woman and may be linked to the type of procedure and if any nerve or blood supply to the ovaries was affected.
Traditional treatment consists of estrogen only. This, however, may cause unwanted side effects due to estrogen dominance. Natural progesterone is rarely used along with estrogen after a hysterectomy because it has mostly been used along with estrogen in women with a uterus to prevent estrogen induced uterine cancer. The logic goes that if you’ve had a hysterectomy, you don’t have a uterus, and therefore you cannot get uterine cancer.
However, your body naturally produced progesterone along with estrogen before your hysterectomy. So why would you not use it along with estrogen after? Progesterone has so many beneficial functions in a woman’s body that it is vitally important to use it with estrogen. Traditional medicine does not recognize the importance of proper estrogen-progesterone balance but it is necessary to improve your symptoms of menopause whether you’ve gone through natural menopause or had a hysterectomy.
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If you’ve had a hysterectomy and are having symptoms of hormone imbalance, call (402.462.2929) and talk to one of our hormone specialists today.