HRT, etc. after oophorectomy

Questions: I have spent hours looking through the posts and have finally decided to see what you ladies think. Thanks in advance!

Background: I am 43 years old; I had very bad periods for about 6 months, if not longer. I had a vaginal sonogram, and a sonogram and they found a large polyp in my uterus and cysts on both ovaries. The plan was to wait and see if the cysts would burst for about a month and plan on doing a hysterscopy on the polyp. Unfortunately, my system sort of crashed, I started running a fever, and had a lot of pain and kept throwing up. By the time my surgery was scheduled 4 days later I was dehydrated.

My gynecologist was planning on taking out the right ovary and leaving the left because the cyst was very large on the right ovary and I was having a lot of pain on that side. I ended up having a BSO on 8/11/05 with complications. When my doctor operated she found PID. She told me that she had never seen an infection so bad. (I saw the pictures, pretty gross!) We don’t know why I wasn’t in any pain for most of the time or how I got such a bad infection. Both cysts were covered in endometriosis and very infected and the right ovary had started to twist. She told me that my adhesions were terrible and that she hoped that I never have to be operated on again.

I was re-admitted to the hospital on 8/17/05 because my white blood count was high, running a fever and I was not able to keep the antibiotics down or food for that matter. I had a CT scan and they found a very large abscess in my pelvic area. I had a drain inserted and was pumped with antibiotics for three days and sent home. The drain was removed several days later. I had my 6 week check up and everything seems to be okay. The doctor asked me if I was having any hot flashes and I told her that the only thing that I had several times was night sweats. The good thing about the above is that I lost about 20 pounds.

I am taking .75 mg Synthroid for my thyroid dysfunction.
I am taking Advair 250, Singulair and Flonase for allergies and asthma
I am taking 1 Bayer aspirin because the doctor told me that my red platelets were high

I am taking One-a-Day multi-vitamins for Woman
Calcium Citrate
B-Complex
Fish Oil

Questions:
I am not taking anything such as HRT. Should I be concerned about not taking anything at my age? Is there anything else I should be taking? The hormonal symptoms seem to be mood swings and I am still pretty tired.

I still seem to be having some problems eating. My appetite is okay, but I seem to have a lot of bathroom problems. I was told that my bowel was inflamed and covered with infection so I am thinking that maybe it will just take some time.

The other problem I seem to be having is that I am having some pain on my right side where my ovary was. I am thinking that maybe the pain is from the adhesions? Is there anything that you can do for it? Advil doesn’t really seem to help.

I am really pretty clueless about all of this. It all happened so quickly. One minute I was okay and two days later I was operated on. I have read the book Sudden Menopause and I am in the process of reading it again. I have also learned a lot from this web site.

I am sorry to be so long winded, but I was hoping that someone else has gone through some of the same things. I am not sure that I really belong on this web site since I still have my uterus, but it has really helped me out a lot.

Thanks,
B

Boy, I am so sorry you had to go through such a lot. I had some surprises when I had my surgery, but no complications. The thing I can help you with is the pain you are having in tha area where you ovary was. I had this pain for months. My right ovary was attached to my bowel and I also had endo all over with adhesions sticking my organs together. The pain felt a lot like the old pain but I think it was the healing process because it gradually got better. I saw my gyn a month or so ago for the pain and he said it could be adhesions and if I had pain on intercourse it probably was. He also said if I had more surgery I would get more adhesions and so I decided to put up with it and it has gradually improved. Just my experience. I am on the Climara patch, I feel the benifits of HRT outweigh the risk of it. Good luck.

Hi Betsy, WOW you went throught it didnt you. I was sim to you in that I had large mass on left ovary suspicious for ov ca and went to surgery in 3 days and ended up with endo everywhere and a 10 cm tumor removed and both ovaries. I opted at my two week post op to go with an estrodial patch weekly .o5 and this really has made a difference in how I feel. I think I was so sick pre-surgery although I didnt know it, just thought it was normal to have insomnia, night sweats and painful periods...imagine that! I read about estradiol and its the same hormone type of estrogen our body makes anyways and the patch is preferred by me to taking the pills. I guess my advice is to talk with your doctor but keep an open mind and if you give it a try and dont like it you can always stop it. Hope your feeling better soon: )

Thanks for your reply. I have seen several articles about estrodial and I will ask my Doc about it. It sounds like you had a rough time too. It is amazing how many different products are out there. It seems like the more I read the more confused I get.

Take care,
Betsy

I think its time for a good conversation with your doctor about why you are not on hormone replacement. If you don't like the answers you get, ask more questions. If you still don't feel comfortable, seek a 2nd opinion. In the meantime, the more you know the better able you will be to make decisions, so keep up the good work! How did you like "Sudden Menopause"? I am feeling pretty great and have not read it, yet.

Sudden Menopause is a great book. It is one of the only books that I can find that talks about what most of us have gone through. I am also reading The Only Menopause Guide You'll Need by Michele Moore. That has some good stuff in it too.

Yes, I agree I need to talk to my doctor. A lot of this stuff has just started and I am trying to make sure some of it is not in my head!

Thanks for the post.
B