do I keep my ovaries?

I am 40 years old and have had 6 children I will be having a hysterectomy and bladder tac on May 9th.I am going to the doctor on Friday and have to let him know if I want to keep my ovaries.I have heard so much about keeping or getting rid of I am totally confused now.Also any hints about going thru all this would be appreciated.

Thanks Teddi

Hi Teddi. Have you visited the Hormone Jungle message boards? Spend some time reading the problems so many women have trying to get their hormones adjusted, and you may want to keep your ovaries. If they're healthy and you have no history of ovarian cancer in your family, you might want to keep them. Below is a link stating what ovarian hormones do for you. If you have your ovaries, and they're functioning properly, you don't have to worry about trying to get this balance artificially with hormone therapy. There are no better hormones for you than the ones your own body produces.

https://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/sho...&threadid=8076

Read this link, and gather information to present to your doctor. I'm sure that together you'll make the decision that is right for you.

When I scheduled my hyst, in September 2000, I had just turned 44 and was given the choice of keeping the ovaries or having them removed, since I was in that grey area of the 40's (generally, before 40 - doctors say keep them, after 50 - they say have them removed).

Since my grand-mother died of ovarian cancer, I figured: why take a risk. Have them taken. After I registered on this site, I was no longer so sure that this decision was the right one. For me, there were lots of factors to consider since there is a family history of both breast and ovarian cancer as well as of coronary disease. The risks of coronary disease increase drastically after menopause. While HRT has been shown to reduce that risk, there is an increase in the risk of breast cancer. That's provided I wouldn't be one of those women who can't take HRT at all or who have a hard time finding the right combination. GRRRR

Finally, the decision was taken out of my hands: instead of a TAH/BSO, my doctor decided to try for a TVH, since the rectocele repair was done vaginally, and decided to leave my healthy ovaries.

I'm glad he left them, since I've since read that our ovaries can go on producing hormones that are beneficial to our bones, eyes and heart even after menopause.

I had a LSH/BSO last week and I am 39. I had really wanted to keep at least one ovary and at the last minute the doctor convinced me otherwise. It turned out they were both in bad shape so I guess I made the right decision. What he told me was that the ovaries receive part of their blood supply from the uterus and sometimes they can't function afterward and actually die. Because of some of my risk factors he didn't want me to have more surgery if I could avoid it. Besides I had a history of ovarian cysts problems. So I gave in.
I am on Climara 0,1mg patch. I have had some "warm" flashes but nothing too bad. I still think if I would have had a healthy ovary I would have liked to have kept it.

Shelle007

There are a few doctors who still think that ovaries tend to die once the uterus is removed.

If you do a search on "ovary shut-down" you will most likely notice that shut-down does seem to happen. It happened to me. However, in most cases the shut-down is temporary. Around the 3rd week post-op - right smack in the middle of that 3rd week wall - I started to experience symptoms of menopause: hot flashes, night sweats, dizziness, mood swings, etc. I called my doctor and he said it was unlikely my ovaries had shut-down, since they were not touched during surgery. He DID recommend a natural product to relieve the symptoms (ALWAYS check with your doctor before taking ANY meds (natural or not) when you're this close to a surgery or shortly thereafter) ) and it helped. Around the 3rd month, my ovaries started functionning again.

This temporary shut-down (I called it a strike) is due to the trauma the ovaries suffer during surgery and from the loss of the blood-supply to the uterus. Once your body adjusts to the missing uterus, the ovaries will go back to work.

Complete shut-down may happen, but it is a rare occurance.