09/02/2026
After my wife had a necessary hysterectomy (she kept her ovaries) at age 31, I watched her health and quality of life rapidly decline. She was always exhausted—no amount of sleep alleviated her exhaustion. She had constant joint pain. Brain fog. She just wasn’t herself anymore, and it was so hard to watch and see her struggle.
After several years and attempts at a wide variety of treatments, through a process of elimination we eventually realized that her hysterectomy had thrown her into a perimenopausal state, which at the time was surprising to me since she had NOT had her ovaries removed. I have since learned how common this experience is after a hysterectomy. She finally began menopausal hormone replacement therapy and amazingly within one week she started to feel better, and within months, she was a completely new person. Neither one of us realized how bad things truly were, until we saw the stark contrast between my wife living her best life in her middle 30’s on menopausal hormones compared to the shell of a person she was for those years after her hysterectomy. It was such a powerful experience witnessing my wife’s experience at home that it completely shifted my “doctor perspective.” I was driven to do a deep dive into menopausal hormones and treatment so that I could better understand this phase of life and treat my patients who might be suffering in a similar fashion to my wife.
Read the rest on my website under the section called “Menopause”
