Study, 1988
Does removing the uterus stop PMS symptoms?
No. One woman continued experiencing PMS symptoms even after having her uterus removed. Her mood and physical symptoms still worsened in the second half of her ovarian cycle.
What they did
Tracked one 37-year-old woman's mood and physical symptoms daily for 6 months before hysterectomy (surgical removal of the uterus) and for 6 months after. They recorded 6 ovulatory cycles in each period.
What they found
Before hysterectomy, the woman's mood scores increased by 225 and physical symptom scores increased by 4.42 in the last 5 days of her cycle. After hysterectomy, mood scores increased by 182 and physical symptoms by 4.32. These increases were similar before and after surgery.
What it means for you
Removing the uterus doesn't stop PMS symptoms. This suggests that PMS symptoms come from hormonal signals from the ovaries rather than the uterus. The main limitation is that only one woman was studied.
1
woman studied
6 cycles
tracked before and after surgery
31.8 days
average cycle length before surgery
About the study
- Original title
- The premenstrual syndrome before and after hysterectomy
- Authors
- Mary G. Metcalf, James Livesey, Stephen M. Hudson
- Journal
- Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology
- Year
- 1988
- Study design
- Study
- What was tested
- Hysterectomy (surgical removal of the uterus)
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.3109/01674828809030948
Topics
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