Night Sweats and Hot Flushes After Unilateral Oophorectomy

Women's health
1

Hello everyone,

I've decided to write to you all because I am struggling to find much information about the different types or intensities of hormonal changes immediately after the removal of one ovary.

5 days ago, I had a 10cm complex cyst removed along with my left ovary. The surgeon said my uterus and other ovary looked good. 

3 days ago I started my period - on its due date - and the day after that started experiencing intense night sweats (to the point of having to change my bedding and clothes) and hot flushes which felt like waves of heat rising up my neck, into my cheeks and face and lasting a minute or two. Worse than anything was the night sweats though - freezing outside of the blanket, dripping wet and boiling under it. I have barely slept 12 hours since the surgery.

I'm surprised by how little information is out there about the hormonal "shift" that simply must occur in one's body when one 'stage' of the reproductive loop is removed from the equation. I wish my surgeon had given me more information but perhaps even more information would not have satisfied my inherent feeling that my right, remaining ovary is actually dead and I've gone into menopause.

More likely, I think, is that my ovary is stunned from the full cut surgery and losing its mate and that it will take time to wake up. But in the interim, are menopausal like symptoms something anyone here has experienced after the removal of just one ovary? I keep being told that no, I won't be menopausal if I have one ovary left, but the health of the ovary is still to be seen. I have no kids and would be completely shattered to go into early menopause (I am 33). 

I know it's early days - and last night I actually had far few 'wet episodes' which made me feel really positive today. I also spoke to my surgeon who said that it is a bit 'unusual' that I am experiencing menopausal symptoms but that she thinks my righty is just fast asleep and will be engaged again soon.

I wonder how my period might play a role and if this is a good sign that it arrived as expected 3 days after surgery? Could my right ovary and brain already have had negotiations and it's already employed and earning benefits, and I'm just feeling a "general" drop in hormones due to the shock loss of its sister ovary?

Someone, please encourage me that this isn't going to be my story...early menopause at 33 before I've had the chance to have a baby with the love of my life?

(Still waiting on biopsy results but my surgeon doesn't seem too concerned that this giant thing in me was malignant. It looked like a giant testicle! I got her to take a photo.......)

2

Thanks so much for your feedback!! I am having trouble finding information too!!

So sorry you are having so many issues!! I was also told to keep my left ovary in to avoid early menopause. Honestly I am very lucky at age 42 to have my children with the love of my life!! So why does it matter either way??? I only wanted to go through this once and hopefully my left ovary will stay pain free!!! At the sametime I am very disappointed to hear that you started with still having one ovary!!

I am only 12 hours out of surgery basically stopped bleeding for the first time in months. No hot flashes yet since I am using ice packs and one ibuprofen. We shall see how the next few weeks go!!

I hope you have better luck in the future and thanks again for the help!!

3

Hello...

Last December I had my left ovary and both fallopian tubes removed due to a football sized tumor.  Post surgery it was determined that my tumor was not malignant (prayers answered).  Like you, my period happened a few days later and right on schedule.  Also like you I had night sweats a few days after my operation.  I also worried that I was entering early menopause as I had never had night sweats before.  Honestly, I wasn't one that sweat much in general.  The night sweats continued on and off for about five months.  I think my body went into shock.  My periods continued to be normal but my mood swings and the sweating was a new experience for me.  I did some research and talked to the doctor.  I was told that as long as you had one ovary you are still fertile.  I had my fallopian tubes removed as we have two children and did not plan on having more and research indicated that the "dangerous" cysts tend to travel through them.  Having one ovary can cause early menopause by as much as five years.

That said, my night sweats have all but stopped and I finally feel like my old self again.  

Please don't get discouraged or worry.  Your body just went through a traumatic experience and needs time to heal.  Furthermore, just think about the fun you will have making that baby with the love of your life when you fell better altogether.  

Hang in there, it will get easier...

4

Rhonda,

Thank you SO much for responding to my comment. You didn't need to do so especially since your experience is over, so I appreciate the fact that you still thought to reply very, very much.

Your words have been the most comforting and encouraging to me as compared to anything I've heard from the doctors or read online. I, too, believe that my body is just "stunned" right now and I have high hopes that I'll be able to conceive one day and that my especially early menopause paranoid nightmare is just that - a nightmare! 

I'll come back to this thread with an update later so that women looking for more information about the "ones with one" versus the wealth of information out there for the "ones with none" can find it and also feel comforted by someone else's experiences. 

All the best, Rhonda, thank you again! I read your reply to my husband and he exclaimed - mood swings for 5 months? Oh, s**t! cheesygrin

5

Hi Jill,

Oh, I want to wrap my arms around you all the way from New Zealand as I read that you've only just had the surgery. Pillows are your friend! In my nights of sweaty sleeplessness, I invented the perfect pillow for abdominal surgery - I should patent it and have something good come out of this all! (Of course, removing the giant, grotesque cyst was also a great result - I cannot believe I created that monster - it looked like a Fear Factor food challenge!)

My mum had a hysterectomy in her 40s which also left her with one ovary to continue to produce the hormones she required. In my case, they tried to save both of my ovaries - it turns out my right looks perfect, but my left was completely engulfed by the cyst and it was impossible to separate "cyst" from "ovary" so it had to go. The surgeon had warned me that this might be the case - but I was so happy to hear I had one left and she encouraged me that I would still be fertile. The only thing that threw my recovery was the sweating which I know are signs of insta-menopause but surely must also be signs of your body's hormones dropping and reacting to the trauma. This is the part that is so tough to find information on - what happens to the "ones with one" versus the "ones with none" - emotionally, physically, in 5 years, in 20 years? I am so glad now to have started this thread and discussion so that other women may feel comforted and encouraged by our conversation.

Let us know if you end up with some flushing! Mine started after I was out of hospital. Did you have a full cut surgery (like a caesar cut) or laparoscopic surgery?

All the best, Jill, for a speedy recovery. Try to sleep as much as you can and walking around when you can really helps the gas! I don't know if you've encountered that yet but sometimes even your shoulders could hurt from the air they expand your tummy with. Walking really helps to loosen that all up.

Be well soon!

6

The best way to find out if you are going into early men a pause is to get a apps check for it . It may be too early to diagnose yet not sure but that how I found out. I was 32 but long before I started with night sweats. Periods stopped . So yours may just be that u could gave a fever or something else go get checked put your mind at rest .X

7

I had a unilateral oophorectomy too. I had the night sweats and flushes after mine as well. I think it just takes a while for your body to regulate itself. I don't think there's much information as when I speak to my doctors they don't seem to know too much or understand certain changes X

8

Hi Liza - that's great advice, thank you. I'm so sorry to hear that you went into menopause so young - what a damn shame! It must have been difficult to face. I think I'm going to just wait and see - I'm not worried enough at this point about menopause, but really wanted to find out if others had the same thing after losing just one ovary - there is a wealth of information online for hysterectomies, double ovary removal, but really so little information about what to expect after having just the one removed. My logic is that it can't not have a hormonal effect, and wondered why my surgeon seemed to not guide me at all in what to expect.

I wish you all the best, Liza!

9

Hi Sue!

Isn't it weird? The lack of information I mean, even from the doctors. It's kind of scary in a way because it makes you wonder really, long term, what the effects of this might be. In my worst emotional state I turned to my husband and cried and said "what have I done" and he reminded me, with a dose of reality, that I had no choice. The ovary had to go and I have to deal with whatever the consequences are.

I am so comforted to hear that you & Rhonda both had night sweats and flushes after you lost the one ovary - I feel confident now that my body's just "stunned" and needs time to regulate as you suggest. Thank you as well for taking the time to write back to me - I just know this thread is going to help countless women for years to come.

Did you note any other specific symptoms or side effects? How long has it been since your surgery?

All the best, Sue!

10

It's a year and a half since my surgery. To be honest I was on the pill so the doctors said nothing should change but I definitely had her hormonal shifts. I had hot flushes and I spent whole days in tears and this was still a couple of months after surgery. This went on for a while after before it returned to normal. Even though I'm still regulated by the pill my period has shifted and the doctor can't explain why. I think there are lots of unknowns x

11

Yes I think you're right. Thankful for these forums and people willing to speak about their experiences. 

12

Hi everyone - I just wanted to make an update to the post to let you know that my biopsy results came back today and they are clear! 

The nightsweats have also almost stopped completely, but I have also stopped taking the Arcoxia anti-inflammatory at night and have been wondering if this contributed to the sweating. 

I wish you all the best and ladies, please comment on this post if you want any advice about your own surgeries - I would love to be able to help anyone going through this with information they may be struggling to find online, from someone who's gone through it. 

13

Wonderful news!  Continued healing and good health :>wink

14

Hi. I had a double salpingo oophrectomy last April. I didn't expect to have any meno type symptoms as I was 72 at the time. However, I have had hot flushing/sweating and mood swings ever since! I'm hoping it will stop soon, I don't fancy another menopause lasting several years as previous experience! I think there must have been some hormones working still for me to have these symptoms at my age. Any other 'golden oldie ladies' had experience like this? twisted

15

Oh my goodness, imagine, two menopauses! I do hope that's not the case, Pollyanna! Do you take HRT? Loved your "golden oldie" comment but particularly that is was followed by a little devil emoticon! 

 

16

Hi again deejaybee. I was prescribed HRT cream to use locally as I also need a prolapse repair. It's supposed to strengthen the tissues so the vaginal walls are stronger for when I have the op. I had to stop using it as I had a nasty reaction, sore, itchy and burning down below! sad I see the consultant in a couple of weeks so will see what happens then. I think the flushes are beginning to go now, maybe my body went into post op shock or just a hot muggy summer! Some women on this forum advocate we keep our ovaries as long as poss as they do still have a function even after menopause apparently! I had them removed with the cyst as my Mum died of ovarian cancer at my age. I truly thought my cyst would be malignant but histology said it wasn't thank goodness. If there are any other ladies with similar problems it would be good to hear from them too. I've bottled up with my family as they've been very upset but it is good to talk about it if anyone else has a story.  rolleyesrazz

 

17

Hi Pollyanna! I had my left ovary removed 2 weeks ago, over 30 cm cyst, heck, I instantly lost 55 lbs! Anyhow, I hadn't had a period for a year, I'm 50, and all the women in my family went through menopause at 40. So imagine my surprise when now I can't sleep due to sudden nightsweats! Hopefully it won't last forever. Are yours improved any now?

18

Hi,

I had my surgery to remove one ovary and the f-tube in Jan this year. Now is already March and I still have not got my period back.

Whats more, I had hot flashes (never had it before!) and could not sleep well at night. I was told by my doctor that it takes time for my remaining ovary to wake up. It could take 6 weeks from my operation day up to 6 months !!

I am so worry that it is already 2 months after surgery and I am still not having any signs of having my period back. Plus these hot flashes which are meno symptoms really made me worry.

I wonder how long it takes u finally to have your period back since survery and how long did your hot flashes remained?

I am 44 when I had my surgery.

Thanks!!

19

Hi, I had my right ovary removed about 7years ago and I am 52 now. I didnt notice any changes at all. I was told by my surgeon that the other ovary takes up the slack. I'm sure it will be fine, I know it's easy to say don't worry. As you say your period started right in time so that's a really good indicator that things are all ok. Also you need to give your body a bit of time to adjust. It will, our bodies are way smarter than we know. Hope all continues well for you 

20

This is what happened to me but I'm ok now. The sweating has settled down again unless I try to overdo things in the house and garden. I pace myself these days! Wish I could lose all that weight, my cyst was small so didn't weigh that much. Glad to hear you're recovering well, just take things easy for awhile now. x smile