Do we store Hormones?

Just curious if anyone knows if we store Hormones? I (knock on wood) have not had a whole lot of menepausal symptoms. Night Sweats is about the only thing I have dealt with. I am almost 2 weeks post op. If I was going to have symptoms would they already be showing? I won't have a choice but to deal with any that come along. I guess I am more curious than anything.

My understanding is that it takes about a week for your estrogen to deplete and three months for your progesterone to deplete. And yes, you do store hormones, mostly in your fat cells. Sometimes heavier women can hold on to their hormones longer than thinner ones.

Thank you. I thought I heard that we store them in our fat. If I am a week post op and not feeling too bad does that mean I might not have too many symptoms?

Our abdominal fat cells can make and store estrogen. It can take anywhere from zero to about six weeks for us to use up the stored estrogen after the ovaries are removed, depending on things like weight, activity level, stress level and how close we were to natural menopause.

Women who are already perimenopausal pre-hyst, as I was, tend to start having symptoms pretty quickly after the ovaries are removed because our bodies were already needing estrogen at a greater rate than our ovaries were making it, so we didn't have much stored. Since you were younger than I was by over ten years, you may have had a much greater supply of stored estrogen. If you're taking it easy, you may take quite a while to use it all up.

In fact, even without ovaries, our bodies continue to make and store estrogen in belly fat. That's why women who are postmenopausal tend to put on weight around the middle; the body is trying to compensate for the loss. If, after a few weeks, you're still not having symptoms, you may be producing enough to get by without having hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms. However, once you go back to your normal activities, you may find that you start burning estrogen faster and may experience some symptoms at that time.

Best wishes for a continued smooth recovery.

s,
-Linda

Thank you so much surferbabe. You have shed some light on a very confusing subject to me. I am not skinny by any means. Although I did drop 25lbs prior to surgery. So I must be storing some estrogen.
If I can get through the 12 weeks I have to without HRT I will be happy.
Of course I will be really happy if I can just live without it for forever LOL. That is positive thinking.

surferbabe- I am curious as to where you read your information. I would love to read more on the subject. My doctor told me that since I am young I would need estrogen more than someone who was getting ready to go through menopause anyway. Which seems to be the opposite of what you have found out. I wish this whole hormone thing was not so confusing. I seem to find conflicting information everywhere I look.

Thanks for the help

Kinda

(((Kinda))) There's no opposite there. Your estrogen requirements are definitely greater than someone who is already perimenopausal. However, your ovaries have been meeting your requirements, so you're not starting from a deficit the way someone is who's perimenopausal and whose ovaries were already not keeping up with the demand. So, since they've already been short on ovarian hormones and needing to use whatever their fat cells can make, perhaps even faster than it can be made, they will have less stored at the time of surgery than you do and will therefore run out quicker. Does that help?

What I've written here is based on personal experience. However, if you want some verification of the fact that estrogen is stored in fat cells, it's all over the web. Here are a few quick references:

http://books.google.com/books?id=AQF...kmAzF1esXPbp0U

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/30255

http://www.totse.com/en/drugs/rare_a.../estrogen.html

http://www.tinajuanfitness.info/articles/012803.htm

http://www.somaacupuncture.com/exercise.html

http://www.annecollins.com/obesity/r...ominal-fat.htm

s,
-Linda

Surferbabe.....Do we keep getting bigger and bigger? Or does it level off at some point? I read all of the sites you had above, that sucks. Is there anything that can be done?

Sure... it really helps to get your hormones balanced, eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly.

s,
-Linda

How do we know if our hormones are balanced? All I know is that I don't have hot flashes. Is there any other indication?