Does endo come back?

After removal does endo come back? My surgery was 5/18. I ended up having endo in the culdesac between the rectum and the uterus and on one ovary. No wonder I have had so much pain. I'm glad it is over now and that I won't have to go through those terrible disabling monthly periods and the rest of the constant abdominal discomfort. I had an LAVH and BSO. Never knew I had endo. Doctor told me whatever she didn't get would dissolve since both my ovaries were removed. Does this sound right?

I didn't know I had endo until the doc was doing my surgery...she said she scraped and burned endo off of my bladder, ovaries and pelvic floor. However, before I went into surgery I demanded that she not take my ovaries unless they were diseased. She adhered to my wishes; however, she told me that she would have taken them because of the endo she found.

She told me that because I still have my ovaries, the endo could very well come back. The estrogen in you body is what "makes" the endo appear (that's what she told me, anyway).

I will deal with this in the future when the time comes. In the meantime, I'm just glad to still have my ovaries.

Best wishes.

I was told that if endo was found that dr. would leave my ovaries, but would have to put me on Lupron for six months to burn any microscopic endo that he couldn't see in sugery. Lupron shuts down your ovaries just like you were in menapose. If you don't have your ovaries then you should be fine.

Delta

My DR and I had a *long* discussion about the possibility of endo symptoms returning. I had TAH/BSO. According to my doc, any endo remaining after surgery will *dry up* or *die* if the ovaries are removed...this disease is estrogen-fed. He feels that a very low dose of estrogen therapy is not *likely* to cause endo symptoms in the future, but there is that possibility. Progesterone inhibits endo, so I asked for both estrogen and progesterone for my HRT. I need HRT because I'm only 36. I'm only 6 weeks post-op, so I won't know if I've made the right decision for some time.

You may be interested to know that my mom had TAH/BSO almost 40 years ago due to endo, and has taken estrogen only all these years. She has never had any endo symptoms again. I hope we're all as lucky!

MB

Hi Sunshine11,

My situation sounds very much like yours. I had TAH because of prolaps and fibroids, anaemia etc but when they opened me up they found endo everywhere so he had to do BSO. All that pain I had for so many years was due to this. I was told it was my fibroids and IBS. I was in total shock because I had wanted to keep my ovaries. My gyn told me that my one ovary was full of it and although the other on was ok he said he wanted to avoid the endo coming back and also to avoid having a second surgery. He also said that the low dose ERT I am on (0.06mg Climara patch) should not cause it to return. I hope this eases your mind a bit. It seems that is what most doctors say to their patients if you look at other posts. All the best with your recovery, it gets better every week.

Hi

If you had your ovaries removed it shoudn't come back, although some HRT can aggravate any endo which is left behind - talk to your doc about that.

I had bad endo but after 6 laparoscopies, removal of my right ovary and two x 6 months treatment with Zoladex, it still kept coming back, although according to my laparoscopy last year there was no active endo but I still had pain and adeno, so when my doctor did my hysterectomy two months ago, she left my left ovary. Hopefully there is nothing left of the endo that the hormones can aggravate, because its the hormones that cause the endo implants to bleed, inflame and cause the pain. I know women who have had hysterectomies because of endo and the doctor left the ovaries, but they have had to go back later to have them removed because the endo flared up again.

You should be fine, but talk to your doctor about HRT if you haven't already done so. Take care

How are you doing now on your HRT?

I had a TAH/BSO,with ungodly amounts of endo. I had endo masses around my ovaries to the point it wore a hole in my right ovary. I want to try HRT b/c I'm 33 and would like a little estrogen in my system. I can't start HRT until Sept. or Oct. due to any remaining endo that is in there. It has to "die off" or if you start HRT with endo, you'll only be feeding it and it will come back.

HTH!