Ovaries: keeping one, two or none??

Assuming I have a choice (I have endo), I'm trying to make an informed decision about my ovaries. My understanding is that even if I keep one or both, they may not work after surgery.

Here's my question: if I keep one ovary, and assuming it starts doing its thing after surgery, would I end up having lower levels of estrogen/progesterone/testosterone in my system than I would with 2 working ovaries, or is there some trigger that would try to make my remaining ovary put out more hormones to make up for the missing ovary?

Hi Smiley

Great question ... and I'm not a doctor so I don't have a definite answer. I have read that you can function quite well with only one ovary, leading me to believe that the remaining ovary will compensate for the one that is gone.

The ovary question is very tricky when you have endo. There are a lot of factors to consider ... your age, the severity of the endo, any family history of ovarian cancer, etc. I was 46 at the time of my hyst, had severe stage 4 endo, was advised by my gyn and the gyn oncologist who assisted with my surgery to have both ovaries removed. That is what I did, but not without lots of reading and weighing the decision carefully.

Keep reading and posting and let us know how you are doing.

Beth

Here's the link to an old thread dealing with the subject of keeping one ovary.

http://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/sho...threadid=11025

I hope it helps to answer some of your questions.

I'm 99.9% certain I'm having a BSO with my SAH because I have severe PMS, otherwise my Gyn would've left them at my age (43) as they have no obvious problems. (How many abbreviations in one sentence LOL)
I asked him about the effects of having just one taken and he said that the other one would compensate, so assuming it "woke up" ok afterwards, the hormones would stay the same, so for me, the PMS problems would continue.
Hope this is of some help,
Take Care
Vicky

(((Smiley))),
When retaining 1 Ovary it is supposed to take over and do the work of both There is a 50/50 chance of Ovarian failure post-hyst within 5 years of surgery but IMO, I would not let that sway my decison to keep them. Ovarian Hormones are very important to a womens over-all health and sometimes cannot be easily replaced. Even should a remaining Ovary fail, it will still continue to dribble out small amounts of those much needed Hormones. It is easier to compensate for what is lost, should this happen, than to totally replace them. There is a forum here The Hormone Jungle that has some excellent information pertaining to surgical Menopause, HRT ect... It would be a good place for you research some of this as well
As Beth said, you also have to consider your having Endo when making your decison. In severe cases, most Drs suggest removing the Ovaries and not taking HRT for an extended period of time, hoping any remaining Endo will die off. There are women here tho who have undergone this surgery with removal of both Ovaries and are suffering from recurring Endo but then there are those that had great success with this surgery and have moved on to a pain-free life. I've read that one train of thot is that Endo can supply it's own Estrogen to live on
Here are several links concerning Endo and some discuss recurrance after Hysterectomy/BSO:

http://www.centerforendo.com/QandA.htm
www.endometriosistreatment.org
http://www.endometriosisassn.org/
http://www.endometriosis.org/
http://www.pelvicpain.com/adca4.html
http://www.endozone.com
www.endometriosistreatment.org
http://www.endometriosis.org Australian Organization http://www.bioscience.org/books/endomet/endomet.htm#33
http://www.askme.com/cat/showcategory_1930_xp_1.htm
http://www.ivf.com/endohtml.html
http://www.endometriosisassn.org/ The Endometriosis Association Home Page
http://www.endocenter.org/
http://www.healthlinkusa.com/endometriosis.htm
http://www.endometriosis.org/html/video.html
http://www.latrials.com/
http://www.endozone.org/
http://adam.excite.com/info/?id=000915
http://www.pelvicpain.com/
http://webmd.lycos.com/content/article/3172.1363
http://www.centerforendo.com/
http://www.endometriosisusa.com/
http://www.endo.org.uk/
http://www.endohouston.org/
http://www.ghc.org/health_info/self...ometriosis.html
http://www.frii.com/~geomanda/endo/
http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/ndog/oxegene/oxegene.htm
http://webmd.lycos.com/content/dmk/dmk_article_5461637
http://webmd.lycos.com/content/dmk/dmk_article_5462067
http://www.empnet.com/scmc/endo.html
http://www.drcook.com/ Dr. Andrew Cook
http://www.endometriosistreatment.o.../reprints1.html
Informative personal pages (wealth of resources)
http://www.cdc.net/~wolfekat/endo.htm
http://w3.one.net/~dede/
http://pages.ivillage.com/bh/stafl/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/9959/endo.html
http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/5248/endo.html
http://members.xoom.com/callisto_98...conspiracy.html
http://www.healthlinkusa.com/106.html
http://www.infoendo.homestead.com

Results for search on Endo, link contains several excellent links to articles and such:
http://webmd.lycos.com/search_results
http://www.womenssurgerygroup.com/c...is/overview.asp
http://www.usdoctor.com/endo.htm
http://www.reutershealth.com/wellconnected/doc74.html
http://www.womens-health.com/
http://www.healthywomen.org/
Endo support:
http://www.geocities.com/fightendo/treat.html

As well as some discussing Ovarian removal:

http://www.pelvicpain.org/Outcomes%...n%20Removal.ppt

What Ovarian Hormones do for you:

http://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/sh...d.php?threadid=

Old Ovaries still of value?

http://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/sh...p?threadid=8076

Surgical, Early & Premature Menopause:

http://www.menopausehysterectomy.com/Menopause.htm

http://www.project-aware.org/Experience/premature.shtml

http://webmd.lycos.com/content/article/1680.50792

http://my.webmd.com/content/dmk/dmk_article_5963052

http://members.tripod.com/fiona_51/faq.html

http://www.surgimenopause.com/NoFrames/surgi_4.html

http://womenshealth.about.com/cs/surgicalmenopause/

This is never an easy decision Smiley but you are doing the best thing you can for you by researching all your options a possibilities of each! Good Luck and I hope I was able to be of some help. Please keep us posted....((((hugs))))

i am wondering whether to have my ovaries out as well. but in my case, i am 40, and they are working a bit too well right now. in addition to the probelms from my uterus (lots of fibroids, all endo gone after lap 5 yrs ago) i am now SUFFERING from the my bodie's increasing sensitivity to my own hormones. i am at the point where i am throwing up for a day or two, twice a month...

i am wodnering if taking out one hormone (knowing the other will try to compensate) will help somewhat (can the remaining ovary FULLY compensate?)

here is another question, i am scheduled for a my vaginal hysterectomy on dec 12. can ovaries be removed with a vaginal hysterectomy (dr plans to use laparsocopy to assist the removal of ext4remely tilted uterus and the large fibroids)

thoughts?

mel-

At 37 I had one ovary removed. Until now I did fine with just one.
Two years ago I had a TAH and doc siad if she thought the other ovary needed to go, she would remove it. She didn't. Now, at 49 I just had the other ovary removed due to cysts. So, I feel I got another two years out of it. Would I have had it removed 2 years ago if I knew then what I know now?? Maybe. I had an uncomfortable summer due to the cysts. I went thru a "cancer" scare because she didn't like the look of it on the ultrasound and did a ca125 test. Also, I had started having hot flashes during the summer. So, really I had a good 18 months with it.
I think if the menopause goes well and I don't have a lot of problems with it I will probably look back and say I should have done it. But if the menopause stinks I will be glad I had 18 months more of normality.
Pam

Hi there,

Pam, I was interested, I also am having one ovary removed with LAVH, you did ok it sounds like? I think this scares me more than anything. I am adopted and I know zilch history, very frustrating, you had good workability for quite a few years after, hu?
Thanks for all your informational posts..

Lizzy

here is my real question (was writing yesterday during the worst of my period, so wasn't coherent)

my ovaries seem to be casuing the worst of the probelms (compared to the fibroids on my uterus) when i compare my physical issues side by side.

has anyone taken out an ovary just to reduce hormone probelms?

when i discussed this with gyns (before they learned about hrt issues) they pushed removal of ovaries, but i explained that i am very sensitive to hormones and i imagine that HRT would be horrible for me. the miniest pill makes me vomit and and a dab of progesterone cream makes me want to kill my porr husband.

i am sceduled to discss this at pre op with dr (i spoek to nurse) but i imagine he'll suggest wating to see how life without uterus is before i try to remove two healthy ovaries...

btw, i saw mention of lubpron above. i am sorry if this makes some panicky, but it is because of taking lupron (i took synarel, the nasal spray version, but same medication) 5 years ago that i was unable to carry a pregancy, need thyroid replacemnt, go to my doctors for remicade IV's every two months so i can walk without pain and wear glasses. i cannot say enough about the dangers of this drug. there are some that will be fine, but for some of us the probelms show up after and they are devestating.

if anyone out there is considering it, please know that lurpon (and equivalents) have huge risks that most gyns don;t yet understand becasue it is the immune system is affected later, not the hormones.

Hi Melw,
I'm having a SAH/BSO for suspected adeno, enlarged uterus. I have awful PMS which seems to get worse all the time. I am awful to live with, have ruined more trips out, holidays etc than I care to think about and feel suicidal at my worst.

My gyn said he'd normally leave ovaries at 43, with no apparent physical problems or history of ovarian ca.
However he said that a hyst alone will make no difference, nor will removing just 1 ovary. He's left the decision totally up to me, but when I pushed him he said that he thought I would be better without them. After masses of soul (and internet) searching I'm 99.9% sure that on 6th dec they're going.

My big fear is if I can't tolerate HRT, will I have made the biggest mistake of my life and what help will I get?

Today I've had my pre-op /assessment visit at the Castle. It was with a senior nurse who said that she has come across women who've had excellent results with alternative methods, herbal, homeopathic, aromatherapy, even acupuncture and she feels that if worst comes to worst, there are other options to try, and that at least I'll be in control rather than my hormones ruling me (and everyone around me).

Again, there was no pressure but she asked me how much worse I thought could my life be, even without the bleeding, pain etc. She also said that for women with bad PMS, a difficult menopause is more likely and at least I'd have a level baseline to start replacing things with rather than one which is all over the place and obviously disfunctional, though not obviously menopausal at present.

Here in the UK things are obviously different and I would find it hard to get someone to remove them after the hyst , plus the risk of ovarian cancer would be gone. She also said that replacement levels are pretty low compared to peak levels of all the hormones naturally. I've found recently that I've started to get bad nausea and dizziness just around the start of my period.
This is all just my opinion and you must be as sure in your own mind what's right for you. Have you been in "The Hormone jungle", as there is an amazing wealth of knowledge and experience amongst those ladies who've already struggled with this.

I feel like you that despite the physical things starting the ball rolling, the hormones are actually the greater problem, but no would address them properly earlier.
I hope this helps, message me if you'd like too
My thoughts are with you, I know how tough it all is, roll on the 6th-or maybe not!!!!!
s
Vicky