Hot Flashes with Ovaries? 5 Reasons Why!
Hot, hot, hot. You’re burning up, but it doesn’t make any sense. You kept your ovaries when you had your hysterectomy, so you shouldn’t be having hot flashes. You’re confused and don’t know what’s going on.
It can be quite a shock to experience hot flashes and other menopause symptoms if you still have your ovaries. That’s one of the reasons you kept them – you wanted to avoid menopause and all its symptoms. This isn’t fair.
Thankfully, what you’re experiencing should be temporary – the hot flashes may not even be from menopause issues. Here are 5 reasons you might be having some temporary hot flashes since your hysterectomy.
Anesthesia
Besides menopause, there are a few other reasons you can experience hot flashes – and likely some night sweats. One of them is anesthesia. It can do a number on you and may cause hot flashes for a short time after surgery. The good news is that any hot flashes from anesthesia should ease within days of your hysterectomy. If you’re given any other medications after your hysterectomy, it’s a good idea to check to see if those could be causing hot flashes, too.
Blood Sugar
Another cause is blood sugar issues. Your diet can get all messed up after surgery. You may not be eating as well as you used to, or you may not be eating as much. All those diet changes may be giving you some blood sugar fluctuations that are causing hot flashes and night sweats. Once you get your diet back on track, symptoms should ease.
Stress
Any surgery can be stressful, but a hysterectomy can come with some additional emotional issues that may make it extra stressful. Unfortunately, stress can cause you to experience hot flashes. If you notice you start breaking out in a sweat with anxiety, stress may be the culprit. Try to take some deep breaths and practice some relaxation techniques to help ease the stressful situation and resulting hot flashes.
Sleepy Ovaries
The blood supply to the ovaries can be interrupted during a hysterectomy. When that happens, the ovaries sometimes don’t work as well as they should. That can leave you with some menopause symptoms, including hot flashes. Once a new blood supply is established, the symptoms should disappear. If symptoms continue for several weeks and you can’t tolerate them, your doctor may recommend hormone replacement therapy (HRT) until your ovaries “wake up” and are functioning well enough again. In the meantime, it might be best to avoid typical hot flash triggers like spicy foods, alcohol, caffeine, and too much sugar.
Premature Ovarian Failure
Unfortunately, sometimes the ovaries do fail following a hysterectomy. It can be due to surgical complication or possibly a new, sufficient blood supply is never established. If that’s the case, you can be thrown into permanent menopause from premature ovarian failure. At that time, you and your doctor will need to discuss whether HRT or an alternative is right for you.
This content was written by staff of HysterSisters.com by non-medical professionals based on discussions, resources and input from other patients for the purpose of patient-to-patient support. Reprinted with permission: Hot Flashes with Ovaries? 5 Reasons Why!
