kme1971
07-20-2005, 03:03 AM
My gyno is pretty adamant that the synthetic hormones will be less likely to feed the endo than keeping my ovaries, but I am deathly afraid of losing them. I flat out do not want to lose my sex drive, moisture, and deal with taking pills or patch. I have severe migraines and even the lowest does bc pills sent them out of control. I also have breast cancer in my family (my mom and aunts on both sides of the family) so estrogen is not my friend. I have had symptomatic endo since I was a teenager, mainly showin up as severe cramps and heavy periods with the wonderful addition of painful bowel movements. I finally got paid atention to when I had a laparoscopic appendectomy last month and they were amazed at how much endo they saw. Have any of you had the laparoscopic procedure to scrape away the endo? The surgeon said she got as much as she could. I started my period the day of the appendectomy so I had good drugs the whole time, but this month I feel like I am having hard labor pains with my period. I had to get more narcotic pain meds just to deal with it, and that is barely taking the edge off. I am wondering if that is an effect of the scraping they did last month? Needless to say I am so looking forward to my surgery next month, and to hopefully get rif of this pain I have 2-3 weeks out of each month. I have to have my gallbladder soon out too, so hopefully they can schedule it at the same time, I am not looking forward to 3 surgeries in as many months.
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spongebobgamma
07-20-2005, 11:12 PM
Hi Kme,
I had to make the same decision as you 4 years ago. I had severe endo and was having terrible pain 2 -3 weeks out of the month. My Dr said the hyst would be useless if I didnt have my ovaries removed, the estrogen would continue to feed the endo. I was petrified that I would lose it mentally without my ovaries. But I also couldn't function with the pain either.
I went on lupron for 3 months before surgery. Thats a shot you take once a month that puts you into menopause..I had good pain relief from it and it gave me a taste of menopause..I knew then I could handle it. Lots of hotflashes, moody, dryness, but for me it was better than the pain. I don't recommend it as a treatment because its only temporary and can have some harsh side effects but it helped prepare me for what to expect after surgery.
I also had to go 3 months after surgery with no hormones, so that was a total of 6 months..the surgical menopause was alot easier than the lupron. But the endo came back when I went on hrt. So I had to go off again for 4 more months.. Last couple of years I've been doing good with the hrt.. I use the climara patch and have no problems with it.As long as I change it on time I don't even have pms..
Is your Dr aware you can't use hormones without having a migraine? My sister can't use even the smallest amount without having migraines..
I don't know how experianced your Dr is with removing endo but most Gyns can only remove the surface endo leaving the rest to continue to grow. Ask him/her about excision surgery, the endo is cut out deep. But only Drs trained in this are able to do it. I wish I had explored this option further, my Dr, though good, was not able to remove my endo which he said was everywhere.
Good luck with your decision, also good luck with your gallbladder surgery, I just had mine removed 2 months ago and feel much better...
I had to make the same decision as you 4 years ago. I had severe endo and was having terrible pain 2 -3 weeks out of the month. My Dr said the hyst would be useless if I didnt have my ovaries removed, the estrogen would continue to feed the endo. I was petrified that I would lose it mentally without my ovaries. But I also couldn't function with the pain either.
I went on lupron for 3 months before surgery. Thats a shot you take once a month that puts you into menopause..I had good pain relief from it and it gave me a taste of menopause..I knew then I could handle it. Lots of hotflashes, moody, dryness, but for me it was better than the pain. I don't recommend it as a treatment because its only temporary and can have some harsh side effects but it helped prepare me for what to expect after surgery.
I also had to go 3 months after surgery with no hormones, so that was a total of 6 months..the surgical menopause was alot easier than the lupron. But the endo came back when I went on hrt. So I had to go off again for 4 more months.. Last couple of years I've been doing good with the hrt.. I use the climara patch and have no problems with it.As long as I change it on time I don't even have pms..
Is your Dr aware you can't use hormones without having a migraine? My sister can't use even the smallest amount without having migraines..
I don't know how experianced your Dr is with removing endo but most Gyns can only remove the surface endo leaving the rest to continue to grow. Ask him/her about excision surgery, the endo is cut out deep. But only Drs trained in this are able to do it. I wish I had explored this option further, my Dr, though good, was not able to remove my endo which he said was everywhere.
Good luck with your decision, also good luck with your gallbladder surgery, I just had mine removed 2 months ago and feel much better...
kme1971
07-21-2005, 12:42 AM
thank you for your reply, I will definitely ask about excision. I mentioned the fact that hormones of any kind flare my migraines badly and she didn't really comment. I even tried progesterone only b/c, both norplant and depo shots without any luck. I do have the plan that if the hysterectomy only option isn't successful then we can go in after the ovaries. I'd rather risk the chance of additional surgery than take it all and not be able to do hrt and be stuck without trying. I am really fond of my hormones such as they are : ) I will definitely talk more with my doctor. thanks again for your input