Should You Take Estrogen After Your Hysterectomy?

HRT and Surgical Menopause

Surgical menopause is a condition wherein a patient who has undergone a hysterectomy which included the removal of the ovaries, experiences menopausal symptoms soon after. This is caused by a sudden drop in estrogen levels that results after the ovaries, the main producers of the hormone estrogen, are removed.

This removal of the ovaries is called an oophorectomy, a procedure often combined with a hysterectomy, though not all the time. In fact, women who only get a hysterectomy will not go into surgical menopause as their ovaries are still making estrogen. These women are expected to go into menopause naturally when they get older, although sometimes a bit earlier than usual.

Hormone replacement therapy, whether with estrogen and progestin or with estrogen alone, is a way to counteract the loss of estrogen after oophorectomy that results in surgical menopause.