Why Can’t I Orgasm after Hysterectomy?

"I’m 56. About 10 years ago I had a full hysterectomy. Since then, I get all the arousal feelings, but I can’t actually orgasm. Before the operation I achieved orgasm easily and enjoyed a healthy sex life. Now I’m just left frustrated. My doctor says it’s because I no longer have a cervix and offers no other help. Am I destined never to orgasm again?"

Joan answers:

You don’t mention whether your clitoris still has full sensation and whether you’ve tried a strong vibrator to get you from arousal to orgasm. The surgery should not affect clitoral sensation.

However, if you’re used to feeling your best source of stimulation in your vagina more than in your clitoris, the surgery may have damaged or severed the nerves that used to give you those sensations. If you enjoyed orgasm during intercourse and pressure on your cervix triggered orgasm, as happens for some, removal of the cervix can interfere with your ability to orgasm. Without the uterus, orgasms may feel weaker because of the lack of uterine contractions.

It infuriates me that your doctor doesn’t even try to help or investigate the source of the problem. Sexual pleasure is important to us lifelong, and I encourage you to find a new doctor who is more sex-positive and age-positive. This is important so that you can enlist your doctor’s help in finding the reason you no longer orgasm after hysterectomy.

I hope that with time, practice, plenty of lubricant, and the right vibrator, you can learn new ways to reach orgasm through clitoral and G-spot sensation. I know this is frustrating, and I wish you the best.

Some resources for you:

“Hysterectomy improves sexual response? Addressing a crucial omission in the literature” by Barry R. Komisaruk, Eleni Frangos, and Beverly Whipple.

“I am 41 and had a hysterectomy one year ago. I would like to know if that is why I can’t have an orgasm when I have sex with my boyfriend” by Beverly Whipple, PhD, RN, FAAN.

“Sex after Hysterectomy” NHS (National Health Service UK)