Just scheduled hyst and needing advice

Hi. I've been reading this site for a couple of weeks - very informative. Thanks!! I'm 45, have enlarged uterus and fibroids. Excessive cramping, bleeding, bloating. My stomach is like I'm 7 months pregnant! Today I scheduled a LAVH (Laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy) - I'm not up on the abbreviations. Anyway, the doctors says that I'm a good candidate and that my fibroids are in and out of the uterus and weighing on my bladder. I'm so happy to be getting all of this out!!! My question is this - my doctor (whom I trust and have much confidence) says that he recommends taking both ovaries since I'll be losing their functionality anyway in a couple of years. I don't mind going on estrogen if it'll help. My concern is my weight. Like I said, my stomach is like a big rock sticking out and I'm excited about getting rid of the cause of this. After the surgery and recovery I plan to exercise and try to get back a regular stomach. If the ovaries go does that mean difficult weight loss? Is there a correlation between ovaries and weight gain/loss?

tcdaphne,
I had a hyst and both ovaries taken in May 2003 and was started on estrogen patch the day of surgery. I am 5'6" and went into surgery weighing 180. I now weigh 170 and have had no problems with weight gain. I found that I did not have much of an appetite for about a month after surgery, and when I did feel like eating, I did not overeat. Also, since I have not had the hormonal cycling of a monthly menstrual cycle, I have not had those hormonally-induced cravings for carbohydrates and sweets the week before my period used to start. I have followed the eating guidelines of the Weigh Down workshop (www.weighdown.com) and have done fine. Good luck with the surgery. Since you won't be as active during recovery, just don't eat as much as you used to when you were up and about. You will do fine with the weight. Good luck.

Thanks Renata! I've been reading so much information, that I'm getting a little confused. I'm glad to hear how you're doing, and hope my experience will be similar.

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Originally posted by tcdaphne my doctor (whom I trust and have much confidence) says that he recommends taking both ovaries since I'll be losing their functionality anyway in a couple of years.

Dear tcd:

Your ovaries can continue to dribble out good (and free!!) stuff for you even after menopause. If they are healthy & you have no history of ovarian cancer in your family, you may want to consider keeping them.

If you were NOT having a hyst, would you be having your ovaries removed cuz they will be quitting soon?? Just a little food for thot there

Regardless of the trust & confidence you have in your doctor, only YOU must live with your post-op results, good OR bad. Good luck on your research. I am sending huge cyberhugs

Hi, Twyla is right, your ovaries do NOT cease to function with menopause. Recent research has proven quite the opposite. Scientist have been stunned by what they have discovered about the ovaries in the past few years. Especially the fact that ovaries continue to produce hormones until the day we die, even if that's at 101! Menopause is just the drop in estrogren (one of many hormones from the ovaries) but the "maintenance" job of the ovaries is far from over. The ovaries/testes are part of the endocrine system, a major part, and as such, continue to produce very important hormones that play an important part in our overall health. Hormones are used to convey messages throughout our entire bodies and every single part of our bodies need hormones. Without hormones we would die. The hormone producing organs that we know about (so far) are the pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, kidneys and OVARIES or testes. The ovaries are now known to play a part in: vision, bladder, bowel, digestive, HEART, vascular, skin, hair, BONES, hearing, EMOTIONS, SEXUAL FUNCTION (especially desire and response), weight, dental (gums too), memory, cognitive abilities and immune system; just name what we now know. For sure. Who knows what else will be discovered in the coming years?

Why don't you print this out and take it to your doctor for a heart to heart talk. Ask him how an oophorectomy will effect each area mentioned. Ask him to provide you with the sources of his information and look at the dates; if the information he is quoting from is earlier than 2001, ask him to please look into more recent research before you make a final decision.

You may even want to consider a second opinion from a reproductive endocrinologist. This type of doctor will be a gynecologist who went on for more specialized training and will evaluate your entire endocrine system. Research has also linked fibroids and abnormal bleeding with hormone imbalance and they are making significant progress with this disease. Also, if you haven't discussed myomectomy with your doctor you may want to look into that option. ANY size or type or number of fibroids can be removed by myomectomy. (Many women are told their fibroids cannot be removed because of size, location, number etc. but the reality is because their gyn is not trained in this procedure and is reluctant to turn his/her patient over to someone else.)

Ultimately, it is YOUR decision to make, just please make sure you are fully informed of all the facts and options before you make the decision because you are the one who spend the rest of your life living with the decision.


Best wishes,

I too, am having a TVH on 5.25.04, but I am keeping my ovaries. I am so glad you all are out there. This is great information.

I am glad to keep my ovaries...if there is nothing wrong when my Doctor goes in.

I wish you the best, but definitely check all the options.

I'm 13 weeks post op as of today. They had to take my ovaries because of cysts on both of them. I also had fibroids and was in constant pain. I'm 48. I know it's still early for me, but I've had a weight loss since the surgery.

It's a tough decision. Only you can figure out what feels right for you to do. The other girls have made wonderful responses and suggestions. Sometimes I wish I were given a choice on keeping my ovaries, but I wasn't.

I wish you the best.

Thanks to all of you for your reply's. I've really been trying to do my research and make a good decision. It was only yesterday that I talked to my doctor and he suggested removing the ovaries, but he did stress that it was my decision. I realize that I'm the one to live with the aftermath, and am really scared of what might happen it I chose to let him take them. I will say that I've been in alot of misery for the past year and welcome removing my uterus and the mess that is associated with it. But I'm thinking that I'd rather keep my ovaries and the benefits that they provide (I didn't realize that they still were beneficial even after menopause), even if it would mean another surgery becomes necessary down the road to remove them. I especially liked the comment about would I elect to have my ovaries removed if I wasn't having problems, just because they may lose functionality sometime in the future. This was very thought provoking, and no ofcourse I wouldn't. Thanks for that! Here's another question that I'd like your input - my dr said that if I elected to keep then he'd suggest that I only keep one because only 10% estrogen production was needed to keep things in balance. Any thoughts on this? I have a very small cyst on one, but I'm thinking that I'll tell him to leave them both if possible and only remove one or both if medically necessary. Kinda like would I have one removed if nothing was wrong just because only a small amount of the hormones they produce is needed. (You've really made me think differently and smarter about this). The thought of another surgery down the road is not the end of the world to me - but my quality of life after this surgery is extremely important. I really am new to this so my post may seem naive, but I'm learning and will not go in until I feel that I've made the best decision for myself and researched until I'm comfortable that I'm informed enough to decide. Also, I'm going to ask about a myomectomy as an alternative before deciding. I really don't even know what it is yet. Thanks so much to you all!!

Moonchime brings up another issue to guard yourself against if you intend to keep your ovaries; make sure that you do NOT sign anything leaving the option of whether or not to remove your ovaries up to your surgeon. You can do this by writing specifically that you ONLY authorized removal if you have cancer. They CAN do a biopsy right there and tell whether or not you have cancer but often they don't and go ahead and remove "suspicious" ovaries that turn out to be just fine.

If you decide to keep your ovaries, be sure to ask your surgeon how he plans to protect the uterine artery which is the main source of nourishment for the ovaries. If that artery is too damaged, you can end up with ovaries that die on you. This can take as long as five years so you may not even associate it with your surgery after a year or two. If he can't give you a detailed explanation of how he plans to preserve the blood supply to your ovaries, then you may want to consider someone else. This is very important. You don't want to go to all the trouble to save these vital organs if your surgeon doesn't know how to achieve this!

It is also important for every woman to know that cyst are a natural function of ovaries and that every month, the egg is expelled because of a rupturing "cyst". Even very large cyst have been known to take care of themselves over time. I have had, in the distant past, a "grapefruit" size (why do they always use fruit?) cyst removed, a large one rupture, and a "lemon" just disappear on it's own after watching it for about a year. (After the first surgery, I was determined to wait.) In all those years, not one of the doctors ever bothered to explain to me that cyst were normal and not a cancer risk. I found out about the ovaries and their function only after submitting to a hysterectomy and oophorectomy which turned out to be totally unnecessary. So the lesson here is to find out exactly what your parts do, what is exactly wrong with you and what are ALL your treatment options before you make your decision.

You have tough decisions to make and I wish you well in your journey for better health.
Best wishes,

Lucille, thanks so much. You're telling me things that I really wouldn't have considered! I will definitely take your advice - and will ask my doctor about all of the things that you've mentioned. I'm really excited that I found this site, because otherwise I would most likely just follow my doctors advise. Do you mind if I ask how old you were when you had your surgery, and if you think that you'd be feeling better had you elected not to have it. You said that you found out later that it wasn't necessary, how did you discover that? You said that I might want to consider a endocrinologist. Would this be someone who will evaluate my personal situation through different types of test and come up with a plan for my particular problem? Again, thanks so much for taking the time to correspond with me about this, I've been talking to all of my friends and nobody knows - I love this site for bringing me in touch with people like you.