hysterectomy and night sweats

I had a Hysterectomy 3 yrs ago, Dr. Put me on Clonidine 0.1mg twice a day, NO MORE HOT FLASHES !! Works great for me ! Check with your Dr.

Hi, Anon, and welcome to EmpowHer! Thanks so much for your question.

When you had your hysterectomy, did you also have your ovaries out, or are they still intact?

And how old are you?

Depending on your age and whether you have your ovaries (I am suspecting you do), I would ask your doctor these questions:

1. Am I now in perimenopause or menopause?
2. Is that is the cause of my symptoms?
3. Can we test my hormone levels to see where they are?
4. Should I consider any hormone replacement (either synthetic or bio-identical)?

In women who have not had a hysterectomy, the way it's determined that they are in menopause is when her period has stopped for at least 12 months. But when a woman has a hysterectomy, her periods stop, but there are still eggs that are maturing and being released from her ovaries.

It's when that process stops -- and the levels of your hormones change -- that you begin having some of the more common side effects of perimenopause and/or menopause.

Here's some information on diagnosing menopause after hysterectomy:

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=17348

And here is a page from the Mayo Clinic on perimenopause. Note the blue links down the left side that take you to pages on symptoms and treatment, etc:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/perimenopause/DS00554

Does that help a little?