How has menopuase been? Trying to decide about ovaries with endometriosis

How has it been for you since the surgery dealing with the menopause? I am 42 and trying to decide what I want to do as far as leaving ovaries or taking them out. My dr suspects endo since I have a 6 cm "chocolate cyst" on one ovary and a regular cyst on the other plus fibroids and a huge uterous and pelvic pain. After reading all about endo, I believe it is the cause of a lot of other problems I have. I would rather take it all out but early menopause is a little scarry! I have never had surgery and I don't want to have one now and leave ovaries and have to go back in a year to remove those. Any suggestions and advice would be great!

I am in kind of same situation, but I have choc cyst on one ovary, I do have a regular cyst on other but it is only 1.2 cms. What kind of a doctor are you seeing? Regular gynec or endo specialist? Did they run the CA 125 test for you after finding the cyst? you can see my other posts. I met with gynec/oncologist on Friday, and now trying to determine if I should lose my ovary. I am going to talk to him again on Tuesday, I will post what I find out.

I don't think that she did that blood test, but I am really not sure. She did do a blood work up and we were checking my iron. I go back in 2 weeks to let her know what I want to do and ask any questions that I might have. I am lucky that we have a great gyn group of doctors that deal with all the female issues. I am not sure if my doctor is an endo specialist, but I'm sure one of them in the group is.
I just really wonder if the ultrasound shows a cyst with endo, is it usually endo?
Let me know what you find out. It is nice to have someone else who understands. This is a great site.

AFAIK, US cannot show for sure that a cyst is endo. They guess it to be based on its constitution. My US report said it is a complex mass, and could be chocolate cyst or hemorrhagic. On what basis is your doctor suggesting removal of ovaries - just based on cysts?

I would highly recommend consulting with an endometriosis specialist prior to surgery. I didn't know I had endo prior to surgery, but if I had, I likely would have taken a different course of action. It's not necessary to remove the ovaries if a skilled surgeon can get the endo implants. I am 42 as well and am struggling with surgical menopause. My reproductive endocrinologist recently took me off of estrogen because of pelvic pain that resurfaced 7 months after surgery...so now I have pelvic pain AND all the challenges of low estrogen.

I would suggest researching endo very carefully prior to surgery to make sure you have thoughtfully weighed all your options. Good luck!

Thanks! My doctor actually suggested draining the cyst on 1 ovary and maybe removing the other or part of the other depending on what she finds. She said removing the chocolate cyst is a must. Since I have quite a few fibroids, she gave me the option of removing the uterous at the same time. I am a "self Pay" with no insurance and she does not charge any extra to remove anything extra. What a bargain(lol). I am totally ready to be rid of the uterous and fibroids. I just really don't know about the ovaries. I have had cysts a while and they seem to be really worse now. I don't want to have more but I really don't want to fight the hormone battle right now. The only people I personally know who had a hysterectomy had a lot of trouble with hormones