How do you feel about oophorectomy?

hlya

Hi, any young ladies took oophorectomy ?  and how are you feeling?  I am scared of side effects such as bone loss, hair thin and joint pain most....any good treatment to "cure" those SEs?

Really need your advise and experience.  or should I just post it in Surgery forum? 

cancerkicker

I opted to have the full hysterectomy last June and so far I have not regretted it at all!  I am 37.  I do have minor hot flashes but that could also be from the hormonal therapy I am on.  I haven't experienced any hair loss and hardly any joint pain.  So I have been happy with my decision.

Daudine

I had a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy and oopphorectomy last year (37), no cancer but BRCA1 positive. I have all of the menopause sideeffects....hotflahes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, insomnia, arthritis. Bstill, I don't regret my decision. All these effects are nothing compared to cancer.

BMD

I second what Daudine said.

hlya

Hi, All, Thanks.

Daudine: Do you have family history? Will those SEs gradually go away or will them become more severe?  

Daudine

LuckyA,

 My mother and 2 of her sisters died of breasts cancer at a relatively young age.

Side effects are there to stay. It's like teenage years. It can last from 2 to 10 years. You can take hormones for a small period of time but I chose not to since BRCA1 and hormones don't get along!

I take Menocomfort, herbal medicine (hormone free) but I don't feel the difference.

 You get used to the SE and I find that exercice helps, less hotflashes.

 Wish you good luck! ;o))))

lovinmomma

I just had the bilateral mast with hyst and ooph. I am 42 and did not want to have to worry about cancer spreading. Chemo had put me into chemopause so I was already having mionor hot flashes and I am taking calcium.

Anonymous

I had a TAH/BSO with immediate surgical menopause, but not by choice--I had large ovarian cysts which ruptured. I agree with Daudine--you get used to the SEs, and as annoying as they are, invasive bc is much worse. I take Evista now as  a preventative medication (for bc), but it also helps with my early osteopenia. I use tylenol arthritis pain formula as needed for the achiness and melatonin to help with the insomnia. I take calcium with Vit D, eat yogurt daily, and try to do weight bearing exercise. I haven't had any hair thinning.

Anne

hlya

Thank you all!

Anne, may I know what TAH/BSO stands for? And how old were you when you remove your ovaries? 

Actually insomnia and bone loss are the 2 key things I worry about:   Sleepless will be harmful to your health directly,  if you don't sleep well how could you build up strong immune system to beat BC?  Bone loss sounds horrible but I hope there are some good medicaiton to minimize it.

Any good resource to share?  it's bad to get this disease at relative young age. *sigh*

Anonymous

Lucky---sorry---total abdominal hysterectomy/ bilateral salpingo-oopherectomy====removal of uterus, cervix, both ovaries and fallopian tubes (mine was all done abdominally at almost 48). I find the melatonin works very well to help me sleep; the evista is to help prevent bone loss, but there are many other osteoporosis meds as well. There's a website called hystersisters which deals with hysterectomy issues, which you might like to look at.

Anne

hlya

Hi, Anne,

Did you remove your healthy ovaries or did they already have any abnormal signs when you removed them? 

My surgeon fully supported me for bilateral mast although I have one healthy breast, but she doesn't really support me for oopherectomy, she said overtreatment is not good either,  once you remove the ovaries you won't get it back and bone loss would be a big problem....

It's such a hard decision for me but I am scared of cancer as well!.....

pk0199

Hair loss????!!!!! I was aware of the other se's but not that one. Please tell me weight gain is not an issue either, still can't lose what I gained going through tx. I have my surgery in Aug, taking everything, thought I knew what I was in for , obviously not. Will have to keep reading.

Anonymous

Lucky----I didn't have a choice--I had a large ovarian mass seen on CT scan (which I had due to severe abdominal pain) which  ruptured and kept growing. GYN suspected ovarian cancer due to my LCIS and family history of bc. Surgery had to be done abdominally as mass was too large for laproscopic surgery removal. Fortunately everything turned out benign, but I had to go thru immediate surgical menopause and recovery from major surgery at the same time. I have DEXA scans every 2 years now--I've already started with early osteopenia--I eat yogurt every day, do weight bearing exercise, and take calcium with Vit D; I finished my 5 years of tamox last fall, now taking Evista for further preventative measures (osteoporosis medication which also helps to prevent invasive bc). Weight gain definitely an issue--instant menopause messes up your metabolism and makes it much harder to lose weight.

anne

hollyann

I had a bilateral mastectomy in Feb 07....Dec 07 I had LAVH/BSO (mine was laproscopic assisted vaginal hyster).......I had the mastectomy because I had bc and so did 2 sisters and my mom......I had the hyster because the Tamoxifin I was on caused huge ovarian cysts and also some vaginal wall thickening that my gyn onc thought may be cancerous.......The weird thing is that 2 days prior to my hyster I "delivered" on eof the cysts vaginally and spontaneously.......I have hot flashes and night sweats and bone pain and joint pain......I attribute most of my symptoms to Arimidex...It causes all the above SE's.......Would I do anything differently?....No......I want to be as healthy as I can be and hopefully never go through what I have been through the last 2 1/2 years........