The Questions to Ask Before Your Hysterectomy

I had a complex hysterectomy at 44. My ovaries came out with everything else.

They prepared me properly for the surgery. Intensive care, the pain, the drains, how long before I could lift, drive, walk properly. Every bit of that conversation happened.

The conversation that never happened was the other one — that when your ovaries come out, your hormones don't ease off gently over years like everybody else's. They fall off a cliff. That night.

My introduction to surgical menopause was three packets of HRT patches as I was discharged from hospital.

I then spent more than three years believing something inside me had broken.

You're in a position I wasn't in. You still have appointments left. You can still ask.

What's in it

The one question that changes everything — and why a surprising number of women go into theatre not completely sure of the answer
The question underneath that one, which almost nobody asks, and which can change what you wake up to
What to ask about HRT before you go in — not from a hospital bed on discharge day
Who is actually responsible for you afterwards, and when you'll be reviewed. The questions that cost me three years because I didn't know to ask them
What to watch for in the weeks after, so you recognise it instead of thinking you're falling apart
A printable page of questions to take in with you and tick off

It's on its way to your inbox.

Print the question sheet at the back and take it in with you. Write the answers down while you're in the room — you will not remember them afterwards. Nobody does.

How Do I Get the Right Help? — the £19 kit

Before you go — one thing

Has your operation already happened?

Then the guide you've just asked for is the wrong one for you. That one's for the before.

If you're in it right now — soaked at night, crying at nothing, losing words, being told it's fine when it isn't — this is the one you need. 22 pages: what this really does to you, what's actually on the table, the words that get you taken seriously, the absorption check that cost me three years, and a tracker to hand your GP.

Get the kit — £19 →

And if your operation is still ahead of you — you're in exactly the right place, and the free guide is all you need for now. You're not being difficult. You're consenting properly.

— Laura

What's in it

Send me the questions

It's on its way to your inbox.

Has your operation already happened?