6 week post-op or Endo/HRT ?s

I am going for 6 week post-op tomorrow and feeling nervous. Had major pain yesterday from doing too much. I checked out 3 books on menopause from the library and am reading up on HRT with endo. Wow there are a ton of different opinions on this! I think I might try to do the diet, anyone tried this? It scares me to death to do HRT when they think endo might have been in my shoulder and after 22 months of pain it has just disappeared with my estrogen.

If any of you could share some of the questions you asked your doc at 6 weeks or have endo/HRT experience, please respond. Thanks.

Gee, hasn't anyone else gone through this? I could use some advice too. Doc says no hormones because of endo. So what is the best diet for me now. Should I stay away from soy or is it ok to have. Too many different views. I need to hear what other people are doing about this

I didn't really ask the doctor many questions because I had already read a lot about endo and what they think causes it. I was convinced that I didn't want to take estrogen (at least not right away) because I wanted to give the endo time to try to go away.

When I went to the gyn 10 days post op I was having hot flashes, night sweats and insomnia. He mentioned a low dose estrogen. But I asked him if that was a good idea with having stage IV endo. He said I was good to question that and gave me a low dose progestin instead. He also gave me Ambien for the insomnia. The progestin seemed to work on the hot flashes and night sweats for a while. When I went back for my six week appt. I was still having all the same problems. He mentioned the estrogen again. But then when he looked at my records again. He said that he didn't think that was a good idea just yet. He wants me to try to get to March (six months) before going on estrogen. I am good with that. But let me just say that with the weather changing the way it has been, it is getting harder to deal with the night sweats (especially) and hot flashes. The only time I have problems with the hot flashes is going from outdoors (warm) to indoor air conditioning and outdoor (cool) to indoor heat. I can usually adjust after a while. With the night sweats, I turn the air conditioning on (its been in the 40 - 50's at night) and running the fan in my room. The rest of the family piles the covers on.

I hope this helps. For those of us with endo, deciding whether or not to use HRT is a real crapshoot. We could very well be ****ed if we do and ****ed if we don't. As long as I can get through till March, I am going to stick with what I've got and then see what happens.

Good luck.

Having endo definitely throws us a curve ball!

Here is some information and links that might be helpful! You can read through many different resources in the Hyster Sisters' Endo/Adeno Resources.

You might also want to read about Endo and HRT. Estrogen of course is believed to feed endo. There is also some belief that plant estrogen (such as soy, black cohosh) might be an issue. And some endo makes its own estrogen!

Often for endo ladies, any estrogen given is balanced with progesterone.

Not all drs agree on how to treat women with endo. Some think low does ERT is okay. Some think it is okay with the progesterone to treat endo. Others do not think any estrogen is a good idea.

If at all possible, it is a great idea to see an endometriosis specialist. It is very important to have a dr who is knowledgeable about endo and HRT, not just one or the other. Discuss your situation and your circumstances with your dr and find what might be best for you.

You can also read up on diet and nutrition for endo.

We all have a different endo situation and endo reacts and differently in each of us. So not only is there no cure for endo, there is no "one size fits all" answer for HRT issues and post hyst situations either.

You might be interested in information you can find at these sited dedicated to endo:

EndoKnow
Endometriosis Association of Victoria
Endometriosis Assosication/Endo Online

Many best wishes to you each of you!