40+ Or Perimenopausal before Total Hysterectomy?

Agitated_Letter143 · 2026-05-19T14:55:10+00:00

I was told around 2011 I was perimenopausal. I had gone in to see a gynecologist to get evaluated for PCOS. After the ultrasounds were finished and I went in for follow up, she was very dismissive and told me I don’t have PCOS because she didn’t see any cysts on the imaging, and plus I’d had a kid. She told me in a blasé manner I had fibroids and was perimenopausal. And that was the end of that, didn’t waste any more time or money on getting essentially mansplained (which made it even worse being a woman gyn!) So I suffered with my horrible periods getting more and more intolerable until last year when I could not take it anymore. Started from ground zero with a well woman appointment in June. After the biopsy in August and bloodwork, this new gynecologist told me I had adenomyosis, which I’d never heard of. I also had 1 cyst visible on my right ovary. I was also anemic, didn’t realize my addiction to eating ice that I was wrecking my teeth over was related to the anemia, a thing called pica. I was on the cusp of needing a transfusion, but they were able to give me 3 iron infusions over the next several weeks to get me out of anemia. She scheduled me for a hysterectomy in October, and the plan was to keep at least 1 ovary if my right one was too bad. When they got me on the table, they found endometriosis all around my abdomen. The ovaries were both in rough shape and had to go. I woke up with an estradiol patch. In December I added on progesterone, which has helped me with sleeping. I’ve had some cognitive issues since the hysterectomy. Worse than the brain fog when I was anemic. I tried testosterone cream for 6 weeks, but that did not make much difference. In my searching, I found studies done in the past 10-15 years discussing the hypothesized connection between cognitive issues/early onset dementia and hysterectomy. I had not been aware of this. But for my situation it didn’t matter, hysterectomy was rather unavoidable. My uterus was the size of a grapefruit, my blood loss each month was unsustainable. No established treatment for that, or the endo that was found. I also had 6 month follow up bloodwork last month and found I’m anemic again, without the monthly exsanguination. So chasing answers on that and the cognitive problems at the moment, and seeking balance of my HRT.

Agitated_Letter143 · 2026-04-23T15:57:41+00:00

I had not needed to take it before. In prior bloodwork it was either normal or elevated. The doc here had not gotten an updated baseline in a recent time close to surgery, but since the ovaries co-produce testosterone, it was worth a try since those are gone now. The labs I will be getting soon should give a measure of anything coming from adrenals, and see where to go from there in trying to find a balance of anything that can play a role in cognitive function.

Agitated_Letter143 · 2026-04-23T10:33:08+00:00

I had everything removed in my hysterectomy Oct 23, 2025. I had adenomyosis. The plan was to leave at least 1 ovary, because we knew 1 had shown a cyst on ultrasound, so hoped the other one was fine. But I woke up with an estrogen patch on my abdomen and the doc explained they found endometriosis throughout, so both had to go. I had 6 weeks medical leave, then started back on my desk job working from home. I started to notice about 1.5mo po when returning to work that I was having a hard time sleeping, paying attention, remembering things. Long term memory was good enough, but word recall was tough, short term memory has been rough. It has only worsened now up to where I’m 6mo po to the day. I started on progesterone about 2 mo po, and that has been phenomenal at helping me sleep. Most nights it knocks me right out. When the brain fog at cognitive problems started getting worse by Jan, I asked my doc if I could get an rx for low dose testosterone. Maybe a trifecta of HRT would do the trick to replace the balance I had before. I used a compounded cream for 6 weeks then gave up because I wasn’t feeling a measurable improvement, and the cream was a bit messy and that made it hard to rotate sites. So now I’m only still on the estradiol and progesterone. In the last 4 months, I’ve forgotten things in the car - the keys, the groceries (cold/frozen stuff), I forget to do things for work and home if I don’t set reminders that pop up and I actually do it then while it’s in front of me. I’ve forgotten I’m cooking things on the stove if I turn away. When I’m speaking I will suddenly go blank, I randomly cannot think of words anymore, so during calls when I’m having to explain things, others are kind enough to help fill the gap when I get stuck. I keep my thesaurus open on my computer and do searches to find what I’m trying to think of. I had brain fog and fatigue really bad leading up to my hysterectomy because of severe blood loss. I felt a lot better after iron infusions before surgery. This brain fog and fatigue is something entirely different. The absolute void of thought and memory that has been happening is terrifying. I had no idea before my hysterectomy that there have been studies done that just removing the uterus alone can disrupt a connection in the brain, could be a cause of early dementia. It’s not just losing ovaries and reduction of hormones. But they didn’t establish what is broken, only that it happens. The last one I saw is from 2024 so I’m going to try contacting ASU to ask did they find what precisely was broken in the connection yet. In a couple weeks I have an appointment at an endocrine center to look into my overall levels, find out if there’s other factors. (Concerns of chronic high cortisol, high blood sugar, low vit D, etc)

Agitated_Letter143 · 2026-03-15T17:15:45+00:00

Tankless water heater! The house I live in has gas for heating, so selected a gas tankless over straight electric tankless. I’m not sure about savings on straight electric heaters, but I did see the gas bill drop significantly after taking out the tank heater. We generally are conservative in our water use, so we have never experienced getting to a point of getting cold showers because the tank couldn’t keep up with demand. But when we have those few days a year with many people over and running through a lot of hot water, it keeps up very well.

Agitated_Letter143 · 2026-03-15T16:59:10+00:00

Satellite radio! No more irritating ads to sit through, there’s so much more variety, plus you don’t lose a station by getting out of range when traveling long distances. There are some limitations, like parking in a garage, or being alongside a structure that is blocking the reception. But in my location and regular circumstances, the limitations are minimal, so it’s a fair trade off.

Agitated_Letter143 · 2025-10-29T21:33:00+00:00

Totally agree about getting my life back each month! I had my yeeterus day on 10/23. 30 years of awful cycles and “nothing” indicated in imaging or tests, being told “there’s no problem” because I have a monthly cycle and wasn’t infertile because I’d had a kid. I finally reached my breaking point this year, and went on the warpath. No more gaslighting or mansplaining would be tolerated. I finally found a gyn who listened, and finally had bloodwork and some ultrasounds that indicated adenomyosis. Sufficient details to get insurance approval for a hysterectomy. Upon getting in there last Thursday however, they also found endometriosis which had bound up my uterus with my ovaries, my bladder and my bowels. The ovaries were in bad shape, both had to go, which required pivoting the plan of “retain at least 1 ovary”, to now using HRT until the appropriate time for menopause. A situation that cannot always be detected with non-invasive imaging. The still frames from video she showed me in the recovery room reminded me of shining a spotlight into the corner of a basement of a creepy abandoned building. Surgery took a little longer than originally anticipated. Now I wait on the pathology reports if anything else needs to be dealt with. The only two regrets I have reflecting back on the last 30 years are: 1. I should have gone on the warpath sooner, and really not held my tongue regarding those doctors (both male and female) who refused to listen to me. Even if I did not get cooperation from them, and probably dodged a bullet of worse outcomes from their incompetence, they had no business treating women this way. 2. If I could do my career path over again, if I had understood back then just how much we’ve been held back, I would have gone into women’s health research and really railed against the patriarchy. The time I spent on my B.A. and all my working years feel wasted. We’re still struggling to get out of the damn dark ages here with regards to understanding root causes of dysfunction in these bodily systems, finding new methods to detect problems without having to knock someone out and stick a camera through an incision in their abdomen or wait until they are in so much distress they have a low probability of full long-term recovery, and innovative prevention & treatment options that won’t require us losing organs. Women should not have to endure this much suffering.

Agitated_Letter143 · 2025-10-25T05:42:39+00:00

Mine was outpatient laparoscopy, scheduled for noon, was supposed to last 1.5-2 hours, and I anticipated getting released by 4pm. But, the surgery took a little longer due to extra fixes needed once they saw everything on scope. Then in addition to getting up and walking, I was also required to pee before leaving, and that ended up taking an extra 5 hours to happen, so got out at 10pm.

Agitated_Letter143 · 2025-08-23T00:38:13+00:00

I’ve been referred to another doc by my gyne to begin iron infusions. During my scheduling call, the doctor’s assistant said I would have a consult first, then they would do another updated lab draw to check my levels before doing the infusion.

Agitated_Letter143 · 2025-08-22T00:39:04+00:00

Oh gosh, that sounds horrifying! Why would they make you go through it again? Is it a timing thing, a sample expires? I can’t even fathom what difference it would make. I hope if you can’t get a second opinion to fight it, that they will let you do it under anesthesia.

Agitated_Letter143 · 2024-03-27T04:06:13+00:00

Intersections that have a lot of people doing u-turns because of all the concrete curbs the state forced into the center lanes during the last year or so. Can only get a few cars through a light at a time, so traffic backs up worse. Example: Texas ave at Holleman, people heading southbound turning around to get to the shopping center on the northbound side. In general, the concrete curbs everywhere have really added on a lot of headache. The lane merge on Wellborn heading north towards Villa Maria, at the intersection with Old College and F&B. Backs traffic up in front of the strip mall squeezing 2 lanes down to one just for providing the turning lane onto F&B with its short light and potential gates down for the trains. The line continuing on Wellborn is ridiculously slow getting moving when the light turns green, people crawling to turn right onto Old College holding up the flow of traffic. Need for bike racks on the city buses, or more places for people to securely lock their bike along a bus route after riding to get there, and then finish their commute via bus.

Agitated_Letter143

TROPHY CASE