How can I prepare myself for surgical menopause... - My Ovacome
How can I prepare myself for surgical menopause? I have already been told I cannot have conventional HRT.
Hi there,
I had a surgical menopause last year age 50. To be honest the only real menopausal symptoms I have are poor memory!! and hot flushes, which began a few weeks after surgery. The latter really drive me nuts, but I carry a fan and bottle of cold water everywhere. Some people don't experience any menopausal symptoms so hopefully you will be one of the lucky ones. I think the only advice I can give is to wait and see, and deal with symptoms as they arise, the most important thing is to look after yourself after surgery, and hopefully you will have people around you who can help, wishing you all the very best
love
Jan x
Thanks Jan
I am just preparing for surgery and had spoken to my GP about HRT but she said I just couldn't have it due to having suffered Pulmonary Embolisms this year. Glad your symptoms are manageable. There seems to be a vast difference in peoples symptoms and experiences. I thought I would prepare for the worst and it can only get better from there 
Hi Triggerfish, I was also thrown into surgical menopause after my surgery. Like you I had pulmonary embolisms and am not on any HRT. I agree with Jan that menopausal symptoms vary from one person to the next. The wait and see approach is best. The only symptoms I have are occasional hot flushes but these are very tolerable.
Just in case you haven't been to this website yet, it's a wealth of knowledge on everything hysterectomy related including surgical menopause
All the best with your surgery and try not to worry too much. I know better said than done! I think many would agree that the surgery is never as bad as we expect.
Take Care
xx
Thanks Sue
I will look up the site, think I may have been on it before, but not for this reasons.
Sorry to hear you also suffered Pulmonary Embolisms, they are so scary and painful.
Elaine
I'd agree with the others. I think in the lead-up to surgery we start to worry about that and then we start to worry about everything else too. Just take a step at a time. Deal with the surgery first and get on the road to recovery. That's the first hurdle.
I had two doses of the menopause - one a few years before I had surgery, and then another after surgery. Hot night flushes were the most obvious sign. I just invested in a good quality light duvet cover. Mine's made of goose feathers. I'd just throw it off if I got too hot, then would wake up shivering and have to drag it on top again.
It's handy to have a glass of water and a damp flannel by the bed too. To be honest I sleep quite deeply and for the most part didn't completely wake up so it wasn't too bad really.
I wonder why the menopause was also discussed in whispers when I was a kid and women sort of went barmy and had massive mood swings. The symptoms are a whole load better than they used to be.
I hope the surgery goes well for you and you make a really good recovery. Remember do absolutely nothing for six weeks afterwards and prepare your family if they're used to you running round after them because you shouldn't be doing that for 6 weeks while you recuperate.
Sending loads of love xxx Annie
Thanks Annie
I've got a little shopping list started, I am just going to get everything just in case.
My boys were being naughty yesterday morning with one of them spraying the other in his bed with a plant mister to wake him up. It gave me a good idea!
Elaine
X
Dear Elaine
That did make me laugh. Just shows out of the mouths of babes .... You won't need your plant mister until you get home as the symptoms don't cut in for a little while - but it sounds an excellent idea.
Shopping list for surgery? My daughter suggested a nightie because you wake up with a catheter so PJs aren't very convenient. A favourite peppermint drink is also good to help with the wind. Don't make the same mistake as I. I took in some Lucozade. More gas is the last thing you need! They pump air in to do the surgery these days and it gets trapped until you can walk it off. Nothing else does the trick like a good walk, As soon as I could get dressed I took myself off to the staff canteen and the wind dissipated like a balloon that has been blown up and released. The chicken jalfrezi I then had in the staff canteen made me feel human again.
I hope you've got wi-fi access and a laptop or I-Pad so you can keep in touch and tell us all the goss from your hospital bed. There's always something interesting going on in hospital wards. We had a fab lot of nurses and such a laugh with them.
I'm hoping with a referral to London I shall be able to have a second lot of surgery. It's not available in Wales. I'll have to come to you and ask for advice as it's over two years since my last lot of surgery and you tend to forget the detail.
Best of luck with it. xxxx Love Annie
Hi there
I was only 42 when diagnosed, and started with hot flushes before I'd even got out the hospital after my op!i found the flushes exhausting at first, but they improved as I recovered. I take e ending primrose oil, but nothing else. I find if I'm more tired the flushes are worse, I sleep with a towel on my pillow on those occassions and try to rest!
Don't worry too much, I've not found it as bad as people expect and the same goes for a lot of people
Chris
Thanks Chris
I would echo the above comments- but also suggest you could buy a 'chillow' you can search on the internet reasonable prices- you can get a full body or one to.just rest your head on. They stay cool for ages and really helped me at night. Much love x
I was concerned about this, and my GP recommended menopace, I took one, the hospital said red clover and the lady who runs the chippy said reindeer semen tablets, which were amazingly expensive. I have to say one zap of chemo and the hot flushes went, I do seem more forgetful lately but that's probably a cluttered mind.
I have found the thought to be worse than the reality. I seem to have the same cycle as when I had periods. Week one and two fine, week three a bit irritable, week four the wife from hell, then it goes round again! PMT but milder.
I do have a very under active thyroid though which makes me very tired, my skin is a little dry and I feel cold a lot of the time. We are all so different that I'd say deal with the symptoms if and when they come.
LA xx
Reindeer SEMEN??? Really? LOL... x
Hi Elaine
Like an idiot I didn't even think about this prior to surgery, and nobody mentioned it to me either assuming I would already have been aware. So the hot flushes etc came as a nice surprise, especially as it was summer. I was never so happy to be bald, I can tell you - it is one highly ironic complementary benefit of going through this.
I have a fan by the bed to turn on at night but haven't had to use it for ages now,most I think symptoms have receded (my op was end of last September so that's... 8 months. Wow)
I also had a mini battery operated fan and a water mister in my bag - there are several brands but you can make your own, as I guess you thought of, from the above. That really is a good idea.
Wear layers you can strip off suddenly and just do it. I remember simply dumping bags down in the middle of Tesco and stripping down to a camisole top! (It was fairly respectable...) - sod what wp anyone thinks!!
Like you I cannot have HRT. My OC was endometroid which they think is hormone triggered.
I didn't bother with the supplements above. My thoughts have all been on the future: the increased osteoporosis risk after - so I now take Osteocare with calcium, vit D, magnesium; I also take glucosamine, chondroitin and cod liver oil because my joints have become achey and painful which is also due to the withdrawal of hormones according to the doc.
I am also conscious that my skin is getting drier and have stepped up the moisturising routine and switched to products for older skin!
Sigh. I guess it could be a lot worse... Could be dead, right?
Love
Sue xxx
Hi Sue
I only thought of this new hurdle a few days ago too, and I think whippit is right when she says people haven't talked about it very openly so we all go into it with a bit of dread and fearing the worst.
I actually went in to my GP and asked her who was going to prescribe my HRT, she just laughed and said "can't have it" before explaining why. She did say the hospital should assign a menopause nurse, but I'm not convinced they always do this and I might not be in a fit state to ask about it. I might make a few enquiries beforehand as this sounds like a good idea. Hence my quest to look into everything beforehand and get prepared.
I hadn't thought about the osteoporosis risk either, will put Osteocare on my shopping list too. Oh no, I'm going to have to buy one of those pill box thingies at this rate!! In case my memory goes and I can't remember what to take
For dry skin, treat yourself to a pot of Aveda Caribbean Therapy Body Scrub. It is one of the only things I have ever used that really gives you that Spa feeling , but at home. Really leaves your skin soft and hydrated for days, although makes a right mess in the bath ! Its about £25 so not cheap but you will get three or four treatments out of the big tub and it will make you feel happy!
Love
Elaine
x o x
That's OK I have a cleaner! 
I had horrible insight when you wrote that... and think I AM buying myself pillbox thingy to accompany my old lady aid jar opening thingy... Thought I had at least 20 years before having to worry about stuff like this <sigh>
Oh and I think my knees are going.... Next step a chair lift :-0
In that case, and because you are feeling 'old lady' today I think you should splash out on two tubs. Hope the cleaner doesn't do her or his back in.
When I was first ill last year I commented to friends that "I have had a taste of old age and I didn't much like it".
Elaine
X o X
I think we just have to ride through it to be honest. The hot flushes have been the worst for me. I now wear a LADY CARE MAGNET in my underwear, you can buy these from Boots for about £24.oo It seems to help but certainly not taken the symptoms away completely.
It can take 5 years going through radical menopause, some ladies will suffer more than others, HRT is not a good idea after cancer but I think this may vary depending on the type of cancer we have. Also once you stop HRT you go through the menopause, so its either now or later any way.
And the way I look at it - the menopause has to be better than cancer big hugs to you all xxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks Tina
Another item for my shopping list
If you walk past someones desk wearing it, do the paper clips stick on you?
(only joking)
Elaine
xxx
Hi Elaine know i am a bit late in replying . I would also speak to your specialists as there is a few alternative therapies . Black Kohosh and Red Clover that you can get from boots/holland and barrett but always check if ok to take
Ally xx
Hi Ally
Thanks, I am hoping I will be given a contact to the menopause nurse when I have my surgery (13th July) but think I will also ask my GP if she can recommend a herbologist. You never know! It would be good to get a professional take on it before i start scoffing all these supplements
Elaine
X
