Tubal Ligation and Natural Progesterone

Tubal ligation, commonly knows as "getting your tubes tied," is a surgical sterilization technique for women. This procedure closes the fallopian tubes, and stops the egg from traveling to the uterus from the ovary. It also prevents sperm from reaching the fallopian tube to fertilize an egg.

Will a tubal ligation affect my hormones?

Usually "yes", it’s just a matter of when.

A number of women reported a variety of problems subsequent to a tubal ligation. Irregular, heavy menstrual bleeding, for example, that has, on occasions, resulted in a hysterectomy. These women reported increased period pain, longer periods, pain during intercourse, severe PMS. Even endometriosis has been known to occur after surgical sterilisation.

These women post tubal ligation often go into early menopause, or experience perimenopausal problems such as hot flushes, sleep disturbances, anxiety attacks and all the estrogen dominant symptoms that are commonly listed.

Some common characteristics to consider. Overall, these women reported hormone imbalance 6-7 years after their tubal ligation. However, occasionally, a woman reported insidious side-effects virtually the day after she had surgery.

After a tubal ligation, women often enter the circuit of ‘doctor hopping’ in search of answers for their failing health.

Women who have had a hysterectomy (or tubal ligation) leading to dysfunction of the ovaries generally enter into a state of estrogen dominance where a woman can have deficient, normal, or excessive estrogen but has little or no progesterone to balance its effects in the body.

Many women claim, time and time again that, had they been given more information, they certainly would not have journeyed down the path of a tubal ligation. They also feel that had they known how it was going to affect their hormonal profile, in many cases their libido, then perhaps they would have looked at other forms of contraception.

Can progesterone help

We believe so. Particularly in the treatment of symptoms associated with premenopause.

All the evidence, according to Dr Cavbalieri, implicated estrogens (including the natural hormones estradiol and estrone), as a major cause of breast cancer [National Cancer Institute Monograph #27, Oxford University Press]. Therefore, if you use progesterone cream and avoid having extra estrogen in the body, you avoid the initiating process.

Julie writes,

"I am 48 and had my tubes tied. I’ve never taken the pill. My hormonal health is much better since going on progesterone. I don’t have the PMT and long sleepless nights like I used to."