Question:
have had a period for 1 1/2 years RNY was 1 year ago

I have had the depo shot, ablation , hormone replacement therapy, birth control of many sorts and to no avail. I have been bleeding for 16 months with just a few days in between. Very light spotting some days to 4 pads per day. Dr mentioned option of hysterectomy. Sono said ovaries are good and he said could probably do it vaginally. I am only 44. The femhrt rx hormone made me feel very agitated and edgy, caused heavier bleeding. I cant do that any longer. Please give me some advice. If I get a hysterectomy w/o taking the ovaries does that affect labido, etc.... I so much appreciate any suggestions before making my next move. Thank you, Pam    — prdurham (posted on January 24, 2010)

January 24, 2010
Have you had your hormones checked for the beginnings of perimenopause? I definitely would not get a hysterectomy without getting a second opinion from a doctor who specializes in women's issues. If it is perimenopause, you may have a challenging time ahead of you. There are natural progesterones you can be prescribed as opposed to synthetic. The synthetic made me crazy, but the natural kind helped. God bless.
   — Janell C.

January 24, 2010
I agree with the other poster who said you should consult with a specialist. I have a female OB/GYN who worked with me to keep my uterus, but I had endometriosis and fibroids, and my periods were HEAVY HEAVY, and lasted a long time. I ended up having a hysterectomy because of the pain more than anything else. I had it done vaginally, and they left the ovaries in, and NO, it didn't affect my libido. But, what I HAVE noticed in the 12 years since I had it done is that the vaginal vault seems to have shortened considerably (from maybe 6 inches long to maybe 3 or 4 inches long). Of course, that could be because I don't have intercourse and haven't for years (but not because of my libido... my libido is still there and it's just fine). And I had my hysterectomy done when I was 44, too. I am now 56, and so far, I haven't had any signs of menopause....have only had two hot flashes in my life. So, I assume that the ovaries are still in there working away.... and the only reason I might think differently is that they say that as your body stops producing estrogen, your mucous membranes thin out, and I've been getting some horrendous nose bleeds that they are attributing to thinning mucous membranes in my nose.
   — Erica Alikchihoo

January 24, 2010
I am 39 years old and had my hysterectomy when I was 29. I wouldn't change a thing. They performed it vaginally and left the ovaries. It has NOT affected my labido and I don't ever have to worry about menstruating 25 days out of 31 anymore.
   — [Deactivated Member]

January 24, 2010
Hi Pam. I had a very similar situation to yours. I had bad, long and painful periods. We first tried to do depro shots, which made me have periods for 3 wks and none for 1 week. After a year of that, I'd had enough! I had an ablation, which helped, but still didn't solve the problem. I then went in for a 2nd ablation, before the procedure began, my dr ended up puncturing my uterus while trying to remove some scar tissue. My uteran wall was too thin to do a 2nd ablation. Because I was a newlywed, I didn't want to do the hysterectomy, but things began to get worse. I started having extremely painful periods and actually passed out one night when I got up to go to the bathroom (the first time in my life!). I had been through TONS of tests and ultrasounds, etc., and they only found some small cysts on my ovaries. Begrudginly, I finally agreed to the hysterectomy. While in there, they discovered I had a small grapefruit sized cyst on one of my ovaries, but it wasn't visable with all the ultrasounds. They also discovered that I had polycystic (sp) ovarian something or other, which they weren't able to diagnose until I was having the surgery. Unfortunately, this has affected my libido, but as my dr pointed out, if you're in too much pain to use the playground, you're not going to use it anyway. They also say there are over the counter items to help increase it, but I haven't tried it yet. Oh, I had the robotic laproscopic hysterectomy and don't regret it for a second! I had it done when I was 41 and am now 42. I wish I had done it YEARS ago when it was first suggested. Also, after speaking with many people, I decided it best to have them remove everything. Several people had left their ovaries only to have to go back later and have them removed too. Also, we have a history of uteran cancer in my family, so thought it best to have a complete hysterectomy. If you have any other questions, I would be more than happy to talk to you! Take care, Kristin
   — taylork25

January 25, 2010
I had similar problems and had the hysterectomy. it was amazing how much better I felt. I too kept the ovaries. Unless you want ot still have children then I would say do it..
   — trible

January 25, 2010
I was 41 when I had my partial hysterectomy. I had fibroid uterine tumors, one the size of an egg the other the size of a walnut and a billizon grape size ones on the uterus itself. I had such heavy periods that I had actually lost about 2 pints of blood and had to build my blood back up because the tumors took all I had and I lost a lot during my periods. So my doctor put me into temp menopause and gave shots to shrink the tumors so they can be removed vaginally. I kept my ovaries, so unless you have your ovaries removed, your libdo will not change. It is your ovaries that control your libdo. (you won't need hormone replacement if you keep your ovaries) Perhaps you do need a second opinion, because you could have endrometreosis (sp) and if the first doctor didn't catch and this is your problem, you will still have choices besides a hysterectomy, and get it taken care of sooner than later. Go see another GYN.
   — Kristy

January 26, 2010
I too have had a hysterectomy, and I wouldn't change anything, I felt better immediately, even though they had to do an open cut! There's nothing like feeling better, I was 31 when I had mine (was done having children). They took my ovaries as well because of large cysts, but it never changed my libido or orgasms as I had feared. I wish you the best.
   — eyeflirt4fun