Hysterectomy, Ovarian function and Menopause

Hello hysterectomy heroes! I myself had to have one, and so I've been digging through some rather eye-opening research about what happens to our ovaries after our uteruses are removed.

Here's the juicy bit: this new meta-analysis (fancy talk for "looking at loads of studies at once") shows that even when doctors preserve your ovaries during a hysterectomy, the little blighters still get rather miffed about the whole affair!

The study found that women who had undergone hysterectomies showed clear hormone changes: lower AMH levels (a marker of ovarian reserve) and higher FSH and LH levels (indicating that the ovaries are working harder). Basically, hysterectomy fast-forwards your ovarian clock by about 4 years.

Why? Removing the womb disrupts 50-70% of blood flow to the ovaries, cutting off essential chemical signals between the organs. Think of it as unplugging part of the communication network - everything still works, just not as efficiently.

The good news? The changes aren't catastrophic, they're manageable. The not-so-good news? Women over 40 showed more pronounced effects than younger women

So there you have it - scientific proof that our reproductive organs are pretty dramatic.

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