Hi
I'm sorry you have PCOS.
It can be a very frustrating disorder to live with. The good news is that there is money finally going into studying it, and hopefully that willl mean that in 10 years there will be more and better answers for others.
You are totally right. PCOS is a disorder of the whole endocrine system with ovaries being just a part of it.
For most people, with normally functioning ovaries, it can indeed be best if they keep them. Normally functioning ovaries continue to provide good hormonal support for life.
However, according to my endocrinologist (who recently finished a study on POCS), it is better for women with PCOS to have their ovaries removed. That is for the reasons you mentioned. Our ovaries are not funcitoning normally, and are adding to chaos.
My experience? I woke up from my surgery feeling a calmness that I have never ever had before. I wasn't previously taking anything for the androgen control though, so that probably had a lot to do with it. Our ovaries produce approx 60 percent of our tesosterone. In all sincerity, I wish I had removed my ovaries many years ago.
I now use estrogen in the form of a patch called a Vivelle Dot for estrogen replacement, spironolactone to control the androgens, metformin to control the insulin, and some synthroid for my thyroid. Not all PCOS women have all those issues, but many do.
As you said, I traded the BCP for an estrogen patch, but the beautiful thing is that there are no more hormone fluctuations (unless I eat too much sugar
) I feel so much better now, with steady hormones, than I ever have in my life. No exaggeration here, I don't ever remember feeling this well. Also, in my opinion, I would rather be on just estrogen than on a BCP which has defininte risks associated with it.
Congratulations on your boys. I know how difficult an accomplishment that is. We do try to refrain from mentioning our children on the boards here though, because there are many who are grieving the loss of the abillity to continue trying to conceive.
I hope my experience has helped. If you have more questions, just ask
s and Best Wishes,
Kay
completely confused - Polycystic Ovaries - keep or not keep? (PCOS)
My last son born last year was very hard on my body. One thing that happened was I had appendicits and tumors on my tubes removed during the pregnancy. I was also recently diagnosed with adenomyosis. My uterus is just starting to enlarge. I have pain from that, and pain on my right side with my ovary slightly enlarged but the sono didn't indicate much of anything. I have had unexplained pain from that ovary for about 6 years. I am 31 years old and slated to have a hysterectomy on January 4th. I have been having lots of problems with hair all over my entire body and losing hair on my head. My doc thought it was due to increase androgen levels. So he was going to go ahead and remove my ovaries. My pre-op test results came back today and my fsh levels are normal. He didn't do a testerone check and we scheduled one for tomorrow, but he doesn't know if removing my ovaries will be helpful or not. I'm at a loss. I don't know what to do. On one hand if I have everything removed. I will be on HRT for the rest of my life. The other hand if I just have the hyst. but leave the ovaries I'll be on birth control pills and some sort of pill to see if it helps for the hair for the rest of my life. These two pills are to combat the pcos. Does anybody have any advice for this long crazy scenario? thanks
