Hysterectomy side effects are those little or not so little changes in your body, moods, general behaviour and lifestyle that will surely surface if you opt for the surgery, regardless of whether you want them or not. However “small” a hysterectomy might look, it will always be a major surgery, with effects lasting to the end of the life of the patient. The uterus is not only for “making children”, it has a serious role in everyday hormonal life of a woman. It acts as a depot for hormones made throughout the night, and releases them throughout the day. Once the uterus is gone, the hormones have nowhere to go and are expelled with the first morning urine. From this hormonal disbalance, “surgical menopause” as it is called, arise all other problems in the patients body.
Hysterectomy Side Effects on the Vagina
The vagina may be shortened, scarred and/or dislocated by hysterectomy. Often, it ends up shorter than it used to be, especially if the cervix is taken out as well. (It may lead to curious situations: through my astrological practice, I once met a women with this condition, and after hysterectomy she had sexual relationship with a man with a small penis; he was hooked so much that she had to change the phone number in order to hide from him when she decided to break up the relationship!)
Hysterectomy Side Effects for the Heart
The decrease in producing of the hormones, especially estrogen, has serious consequences for the heart and blood flow. In the studies that were conducted in 1990’s, the outcome was that estrogen prevented from having more serious problems with the heart. In a more recent study, from 2003 to 2005, which was controlled in contrast to those first studies, it says that women who use estrogen may face a slightly higher risk of heart attacks and strokes over women who do not use estrogen. This is an important new development so blindly taking hormones after hysterectomy is not a wise idea.
While this may be conflicting information, one thing remains clear: if you do take hormonal replacement therapy and smoke at the same time, the risks for your heart are much bigger than usual. If and while on HRT, don’t smoke, and that’s it.
Other patients that should not use HRT because of cardiovascular problems include those with
| . | active or chronic liver disease, | |
| . | previous diagnosis of breast or uterine cancer, | |
| . | a family history of breast cancer, | |
| . | active gallbladder disease, | |
| . | a history of blood clots, particularly in the legs or lungs, | |
| . | severe obesity, | |
| . | diabetes, | |
| . | abnormally high blood pressure, | |
| . | a history of stroke. |
Hysterectomy Side Effects and Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is one of the most frequent consequences of hysterectomy. Estrogen production falls, but progesterone production falls even more, and this disbalance ends up as osteoporosis. The solution is to take (natural) progesterone back, usually in the form of a creme or as a homeopathic remedy.
Hysterectomy Side Effects and Joints, Muscle Pain and Immobility
Bone, joint and muscle pain and immobility is not frequently connected with the hormones, but that is exactly the mechanism. The solution is to regain the hormonal balance, and not to poison the patients with corticosteroids…
Hysterectomy Side Effects On Sex
Good sex depends on the proper hormonal mix, both in the male and in the female. If there is a so-called Estrogen Dominance, a state in which there is an unproportional difference in levels of estrogen as compared to the levels of progesterone, woman will lose appetite for sex, will not be able to be aroused sexually and so on. Please see our page on sex after hysterectomy, for additional information.
Hysterectomy Side Effects On Vaginal Dryness and Painful Intercourse
Lower levels of estrogen will produce vaginal dryness, a state in which penis cannot easily enter the vagina and the intercourse becomes painful. It can be painful both for the man and for the woman, each with his and her bag of problems. After a while, both partners agree that the intercourse is not possible, until something changes.
There are various solutions to this well-known problem. One is to apply lubricants, the other — and much more fundamental at that — is to remedy the hormonal disbalance. Yet another approach is to wait it out, later things may get better (this is my advice if the vaginal dryness can be seen in the natal chart as a transit of Saturn over natal Venus).
Hysterectomy Side Effects On Pelvic Organs
After the surgery, the uterus will not be there any more, and the surrounding organs will naturally fall in that place. At that, the bladder, bowels, and other pelvic organs can become displaced, which can lead to lifelong series of problems. Not all hysterectomies are “happy ones”.
Hysterectomy Side Effects On the Urinary Tract
This is a similar problem: after the hysterectomy you may have frequent urinary tract infections, frequent calls to urinations, incontinence (the inability to hold urine for long). This can seriously disrupt the quality of life — imagine not being able to go out of the house for fear of urinating all over yourself in public! If the nerve that regulates the bladder is cut during the surgery, urinary problems will be with you to the end of your days!
Hysterectomy Side Effects In Digestive Disorders
Chronic constipation and other digestive disorders may result after the hysterectomy. Adhesions to the pelvic floor may happen, or some nerves can be cut in this area.
Hysterectomy Side Effects and Fatigue
You can expect profound fatigue after the operation, but for many women it will become a norm even after the operation is long gone. It is yet another possible consequence of surgical menopause. The key to resolving this again is finding the proper hormonal balance, either through herbal teas, homeopathic remedies or some other alternative method.
Hysterectomy Side Effects and Chronic Exhaustion
Chronic exhaustion can result from many causes, but it all boils down to overworked adrenal glands. Fix the hormones, and the rest will fix itself.
Hysterectomy Side Effects and the Loss of Short-term Memory
Loss of short-term memory after hysterectomy comes from the worsening of blood circulation in the brain. In menopause, it is imperative to retain good circulation in the brain and you should consider taking either pharmeceutical means or alternative medicine treatment. One of the best is Gingko-Biloba, you will feel refreshed in the brain, simply because the brain will have more food to work with.
Hysterectomy Side Effects and Hysterical Behaviour
After hysterectomy, you can expect your character to change for the worse. The word “hystera” in Greek means womb (uterus in Latin) and it was soon noticed that the women without a womb have blunting of emotions, personality changes, despondency, irritability, anger, reclusiveness and suicidal thinking. They easily break out in anger, talk in haste, oftentimes communicating more with their unconsciousness then with explicit words. It is exactly after these women that this entire way of behaving was called “hysterical”. Modern medicine views body as if it were a depot of broken parts and organs, impatiently waiting to mend it. So many doctors should know better, and yet they still think that the uterus is only babies to develop and then come out in pain. Once you’ve had your babies, you don’t need it — they say quite openly. Nothing could be farther from truth. Both the ovaries and the uterus function throughout the life time of a woman, and they never cease to take active part in the body. Living without them is abnormal, and unless there already is cancer developed somewhere, they should not be taken out.
So, what is the role of the uterus? It is an organ of emotions, just like the pancreas. While both men and women have pancreas, only women have uterus, and it is their organ to store and feel their own emotions, as well as to reach out and feel other people’s emotions. The reason these organs get ill are the unresolved emotions, which are unspent elsewhere in the body and get burried in the uterus and/or ovaries. There these emotions become food for abnormal growts, such as cancer, myoma, polyps, adhesions etc. The uterus “sees” that something is going on in the body, but it gets only the neuro-impulses, originating in the brain. The excitement catches on but the brain know what it is all about, and the uterus doesn’t. But it will still store the energy in itself and that is how the illness begins.
Hysterectomy Side Effects in Astrology
In astrology, the neurological excitement is symbolized by Uranus, while the Moon represents the organs. If the Moon is badly placed, then it will not know by itself what to do with the additional energy and will store it as polyps, myoma etc. Such placements could be
| . | the Moon in Scorpio, | |
| . | the Moon in the fourth house, | |
| . | the Moon in Gemini | |
| . | the Moon in hard aspects with Saturn, Pluto, Neptun, and Jupiter. |
Even if these placements are not all present in the natal chart, they can enter the picture through progressions, synastry, through a solar chart etc. If three of these predicaments are found at the same time in any of these charts, the illness will develop. In case of Saturn, it can easily become cancer.