Three months post tubal ligation, life is miserable

Dear Catherine

“ What is natural hormone treatment? I have been suffering 3 mths after my tubal ligation in Sep 09 in exactly the same way as other women on your website – anxiety, painful breasts, heavy periods. I have never been on the pill, never had any problems. I am 39. I had TL done at the same time as a hernia repair so i know 100% it is coz of TL!!!! The only thing docs have given me is Prozac 20mg. It does help – no night sweats or insomnia – but I wouldnt wish this on worst enemy. ”

Catherine responds …

Dear Claire,

A tubal ligation has serious, life-challenging consequences that many of us were perhaps unaware of when making the decision of sterilization. What our doctors may not tell us is that whilst we may be left with intact, fully functional ovaries after the operation, hormone production via our ovaries tends to diminish within 1-3 years of cutting off the blood supply between the ovaries and uterus (tubal ligation or partial hysterectomy).

Women are commonly given misinformation that their ovaries will continue to function as normal after a hysterectomy or a tubal ligation. It is true that for some women their ovaries will continue to function as before, but in most causes one or both ovaries will fail due to the blood supply being affected by the ovaries becoming isolated from their blood supply.

Removal of our ovaries (called oophorectomy or ovariectomy) is the biological equivalent of castration in males. If, after a tubal ligation, our ovaries stop doing the job Mother Nature meant for them to do, we lose our ability to naturally manufacture key steroid hormones. End result is a form of castration.

Women who have had their ovaries removed or rendered nonfunctional due to ovarian isolation are seven times more likely to develop coronary heart disease and much more likely to develop bone problems at an early age than are pre-menopausal women whose ovaries are intact and functioning.

Major hormone disruption akin to early menopause, if left untreated, can turn a woman’s life into a living hell, and your story, Claire, bears this out. Unless you can put back (replace) the hormone(s) you are now deficient in, life isn’t going to be sweet from this point onwards. Furthermore, you face a raft of health concerns that hormone balance keeps in check.

Comments posted to our webpage What is Tubal Ligation vertify that yours is not an isolated case. Post tubal ligation, women often go into early menopause, or experience perimenopausal problems such as hot flushes, sleep disturbances, anxiety attacks and other symptoms commonly associated with hormone imbalance.

Women report hormone disruption 6-7 years after tubal ligation. However, occasionally, women report insidious side-effects virtually the day after surgery.

Diana writes, “Why wasn’t any of this information discussed with me BEFORE the surgery?” Good question. What is being discussed?

Ovarian hormones of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone are involved in the regulation of hundreds of bodily functions. Disruption of our steroid hormones will have serious consequences to our health (i.e., hot flashes, mood swings, headaches, fatigue, sleep disturbances, loss of libido, weight gain, vaginal dryness & atrophy, thinning hair, osteoporosis, cancer, and so on).

Our estrogens (estrone, estradiol, estriol) are made primarily in the ovaries, but also from androstenedione in fat cells, muscle cells, and skin even after menopause. Our ovaries continue to make small amounts of estrogen and testosterone. So we do not necessarily need to supplement estrogen after menopause, not unless we are experiencing hot flashes or vaginal dryness. And when it comes to supplementing estrogen, consider estriol as a ‘safer’ option. The guidelines go like this … if you are having a monthly period, you generally have adequate estrogen in your body.

However, it’s important to point out that our body has no way of manufacturing progesterone once our ovaries stop working. Progesterone is made by the ovaries after ovulation (corpus luteum). Once your ovaries cease production of progesterone, there are limited way to put this hormone back into your body. Vitex can increase progesterogenic activity. Vitex Agnus Castus, also called Chaste Tree or simply Vitex can often bring a woman’s hormones back into balance without the need to supplement progesterone. However, a good outcome hinges on functioning ovaries. This herbal approach, therefore, may not work if ovarian function is seriously compromised.

We know that female cancers of the breast, uterus, and cervix are driven by estrogen. Replacing lost endogenous progesterone with bioidentical progesterone becomes vitally important as a carcino-protective measure to mitigate the actions of estrogen in our body throughout the course of our lifetime’s exposure to estrogen.

In relation to your symptoms, Claire, here’s something to think about:

• Anxiety and painful and/or lumpy breasts points to progesterone deficiency.
• Heavy bleeding points to estrogen excess.

Progesterone deficiency is the most common form of imbalance among women of all ages. Introducing a premium progesterone cream using a dose of 15-30 mg per day that mirrors Mother Nature will help address this deficiency.

There are suggested techniques to reduce your estrogen load posted to our website.

Like you, Claire, I had my tubes tied during a hernia operation some months after the birth of my third child (who is now 21!). Understandably, the decision to undergo a tubal ligation during another ‘scheduled’ medical procedure like a hernia operation makes economical sense against the out-of-pocket costs of male sterilization.

Within 2-3 years, I was in the same mess you now find yourself. Sadly, I had no idea that such a disruption to my hormones would be the end result. In hindsight, I ought to have asked my husband to have ‘the snip’ (a vasectomy). Because what I didn’t know then (because my doctor didn’t inform me!) was that a tubal ligation is more major a surgery than vasectomy, and carries greater risks. Postoperative complications are more likely than with vasectomy, and more costly. And in industrialized nations, mortality is 4 per 100,000 tubal ligations, versus 0.1 per 100,000 vasectomies.

Since discovering bioidentical progesterone cream in the late 90s, I haven’t looked back. Progesterone supplementation alone has largely eliminated the very real and very debilitating symptoms I suffered post tubal ligation. So there IS hope on the horizon, Claire. I encourage you to use our website’s knowledgebase to get informed … and get well again.

Alternatively, you might want to consider a tubal ligation reversal. Though I understand it’s not cheap – a reversal can set you back anywhere from $3,000 to $7,500, and success can vary from from 20 percent to 70 percent – it is an option to consider if ovarian function can realistically be restored.

I encourage you to do your own research and make your health care decisions in partnership with a qualified health care professional.

In light, love & laughter,

Catherine P. Rollins
Founder / CEO
Natural-Progesterone-Advisory-Network.com

“Supporting Women in their Choice of Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT)”