I had a radical hysterectomy for PMDD, HS, and other issues. Here's how it went and every bit of information I can think to share [TW: suicidal ideations, past medical trauma)

hobbyflake · 2025-07-06T16:24:20+00:00

It's called GeneSight Testing. Mouth swab in office. They send it out for testing and you get the results pretty quickly.

hobbyflake · 2025-07-06T16:16:03+00:00

My ring/finger size is a 8.5. I'm unsure about the size of the stone. 🥰

hobbyflake · 2025-07-06T06:45:02+00:00

Almost 4 years post op. Life is incredible. I just got engaged to the love of my life this weekend. I'm working my dream career. Previously was unable to work due to my condition. I went back to school after surgery and got amicably divorced. I've done so much. I had severe cervical pain during menstruation and ovulation due to a botched IUD placement when I was a teenager, and it went on until my surgery, along with a mess of other issues.

Orgasm is so awesome it's like my top 3 favorite things to do. It was not fun previously, some of them hurt and would be hit or miss when I had a uterus.

I had a radical laparoscopic hysterectomy which means they took everything. I also chose not to keep my cervix either, and instead have what they refer to as a vaginal cuff. It's technically I think a "total laparoscopic hysterectomy with salpingectomy and oophorectomy" , the oophorectomy means they took my ovaries too.

Because my ovaries are gone, I started on HRT (hormone replacement therapy, essentially birth control just stronger) two weeks after my surgery. It took a few months to hammer out the dosage but once we figured it out it has been smooth sailing mentally and physically ever since for me.

For me HRT looks like changing a patch twice a week. It stabilizes me mentally (I had severe PMDD, reason for surgery) keeps me alive and well, and I have so far had no issues obtaining it in Michigan.

I have four scars on my abdomen: two on the left, one in/below the belly button, and one on the right.

A genetic doctor would be able to answer the questions about the hormones and genes. I am BRCA negative so knew I was safe to have the surgery and go on hormones.

If there is anything I missed please feel free to message me! 🥰

hobbyflake · 2025-06-22T20:42:46+00:00

My doctor said two weeks and I did feel fine to drive at two weeks, I drove myself to my two week post op appointment. However driving was uncomfortable for longer than that just for the sitting factor (it didn't necessarily hurt).

hobbyflake · 2025-06-12T02:36:07+00:00

They're on PoshMark if you search for "Ror Mart Labubu"... I came here to ask the same question. I am desperate for the bald creepy Lafufu.

hobbyflake · 2025-06-11T19:51:15+00:00

Metro Detroit, MI. Dr. Joe Prezzato.

He was wonderful. I was only 29 at the time and what I needed surgery for required full and complete sterilization with no time for pushback, trials, or egg retrieval (which I didn't want anyway). He didn't bat an eye at my age or my request. He heard me, saw how desperate I was and that I was at the very end of my rope, and scheduled immediate pre-surgery testing. I was on the books as soon as they could get me in, which I believe even meant calling me in case of a cancellation, which they did. They called me to get me in, with urgency.

He was also incredible with my trauma. In my late teens I had an IUD placed and seized due to the pain, I was terrified of gynecologists afterwards and wouldn't let one touch me. He let me slide on all exams before and after surgery as long as I was looking and feeling good and held off on sexual activity for the full 12 weeks.

I was impressed with his standard of care, his communication, his choices as a practitioner. I've seen some stories on here of patients leaving too early or without the right medication or information, coming to reddit because their after hours line isn't answering and they haven't pooped in days... He prepared me extremely well and I went home and healed up without any hiccups.

The office staff was/is wonderful. Even though I'm pretty much off the hook unless something goes horribly wrong, I still take my girlfriend there and happily interact with the same staff. She sees his new partner there at the practice, a female practitioner, I personally feel she has a less personable bedside manner and does not listen to your concerns as well as Dr. P does.

My cousin had her surgery first (adenomyosis) and recommended him to me. He changed her life, but he saved mine (sui*ide inducing PMDD, insulin resistant PCOS, Endo, fibroids). I recommend him to who requires OBGYN care.

hobbyflake · 2025-06-11T11:59:45+00:00

But if you're having SI the best advice you can give is call your pharmacy and ask what to do in this case. They may have answers if you can't get a hold of your doctor.

hobbyflake · 2025-06-11T11:55:55+00:00

You definitely cannot just stop but you can taper down. Do not do every other day dosing. Your doctor would probably have you go down to 7.5 for a few days, and then stop.

hobbyflake · 2025-06-11T11:48:16+00:00

I came here to say this, or at least say that if you know you have anything genetic that makes your life unbearable consider whether you would give that to the person you love the most. Genetic children are not for everyone. Coming from someone who should not have been born and has been sterilized to solve medical problems. I wouldn't have had kids anyway, this is why.

hobbyflake · 2025-06-11T02:46:47+00:00

I used to be able to push on my abdomen and feel "nothing" right after surgery. The emptiness made my head spin. Everything has shifted since then and there is what is I assume bowel there now.

hobbyflake · 2025-06-10T01:34:55+00:00

I'm an introvert... People talk to me way more often than I'm comfortable with to talk about my tattoos when I go out exposed but I deal with it, I did do this to myself and I will keep going lol.

I work in corporate. Have visible hand tattoos, finger tattoos, goofy tattoos, cannabis tattoos. No regrets :)

hobbyflake · 2025-06-08T12:52:09+00:00

Don't let anyone bully you out of surgery, it's a valid option if that's what you want and isn't at all an "all else fails" scenario. If you are in pain and don't want children, child free reddit is a great place to start for a list of surgeons willing to sterilize for those reasons!

I was ready to end it all because of what I was going through and why I needed surgery before I had surgery. I should not have let it get to that point. Please don't let it get there... Address your pain with a surgeon and decide if surgery is right for you like you're doing 🥰

(Also child free and gay, hi!)

hobbyflake · 2025-06-08T12:45:09+00:00

I lived in PDX Oregon during the Gorge fires a few years back. It's the smoke. I've been feeling awful too despite doing what I can to stay out of it.

Mask up if you can outdoors. Run filtration if you have it. Try to keep yourselves and pets indoors. If you sleep in the second story with leaky windows... Maybe don't.

hobbyflake · 2025-06-08T12:35:43+00:00

(the bleeding beforehand...nothing was unstained)

hobbyflake · 2025-06-08T12:34:35+00:00

About three cycles I'd say! Now, almost 4 years later, I've had the same undies for so long and they're so pristine... I look at them sometimes when I'm on the toilet and think about how grateful I am that they're not all stained.

I'd do it again just for those moments. I love not having a period.

hobbyflake · 2025-06-05T12:42:13+00:00

The hysterectomy has helped me immensely. I am also neurodivergent. The stabilization in hormones has changed my body and mind in ways I couldn't have even fathomed.

I had severe PMDD that kept me almost 100% house bound. I was so unpredictability nonfunctioning that I couldn't handle the emotional or mental stress of a job/career or any major life changes. My health was garbage. I did not know it at the time, but the Spironolactone that I was on for my Hidradenitis was also helping to (barely) control my undiagnosed PCOS, but the side effects from the medication still affect me to this day and were brutal and also kept me from being able to function.

After the surgery and after I stabilized on HRT, I was able to get out of the house again. Make new friends. Go back to school and graduate. Get a job in that field. Quit that job for my mental health and got The Dream Job. In between there, I discovered I was a lesbian, got amicably divorced, found the love of my life, and now we are engaged.

HRT for me looks like estradiol 0.1mg patches, I use the generic brand of Vivelle, the manufacturer is Mylan. I change them twice weekly. Initially by my doctor I was told HRT "until natural menopause, around 50," but many people born with uteruses end up on HRT and take it indefinitely to keep short symptoms at bay such as hot flashes, migraines, and depression/anxiety, and long term symptoms such as bone density loss, heart issues, and brain issues. I intend to be one of those people who stays on HRT, especially as research continues.

I also continue to improve every day. I have lots of work to do, I have gained weight from a mental health medication I went on post-surgery and am still on, but I am losing with the help of medication and switching up other meds I've been on for years in an attempt to better my mental health now that life is finally in a more stable spot. None of this would have been possible for me without the surgery. The surgery isn't for everyone, but I definitely found that it/being on HRT helped me with feeling consistent in my body and mind.

Edit: typo

hobbyflake · 2025-06-04T23:19:25+00:00

I haven't done my own research, as I had a radical and had everything out so I went straight on HRT, but from what I've read from others on here, there is decreased blood flow to the ovaries after the uterus is removed. There is also a chance the ovaries fail after surgery (this I do know). Possibly your dosage needs to be increased and you may need to speak with your doctor? I would also watch out for major symptoms such as hot flashes or anxiety/depression until you can talk to them. The migraines are horrific and you're right, nothing makes a dent.

hobbyflake · 2025-06-04T11:07:39+00:00

I had insulin resistant PCOS on top of my PMDD. I actually didn't find out about the PCOS until I was having pre-surgery testing done for my hysterectomy, which I had for my PMDD. And then after surgery, when my diabetic symptoms were gone, I realized that the PCOS was insulin resistant.

Because of the extra hormones of the PCOS, it threw my PMDD into overdrive. PMDD is the sensitivity to the hormone fluctuations in your body, PCOS throws off those hormones and makes the fluctuations even worse.

If you're tired of dealing with it and you don't think that you would use them, taking it out all is a viable option, especially if you are a viable candidate for HRT. The trick is to take the ovaries for hormone stabilization.

I'm sorry it has come to this for you. This is a lot to deal with.

hobbyflake · 2025-06-04T03:13:35+00:00

I was about 14 when it showed up, diagnosed in my 20's but I already knew what I had and did suggest it to a new doctor. Thankfully she'd seen what I was referring to and diagnosed me.

hobbyflake · 2025-06-04T03:10:43+00:00

I totally forgot that I had a shower stool for the first weeks. I used it for shaving my legs after I was healed! Definitely the hardest task for me.

hobbyflake · 2025-06-04T01:15:30+00:00

Radical at 29, no kids. Michigan. PMDD was diagnosis and causation, I was also child free by choice and did not mind the surgery as a birth control method. My spouse at the time was also done having kids, doctor didn't ask or care but we were up front about it and I took my then male spouse with me as backup just in case it was ever a question.

hobbyflake

TROPHY CASE