(Ladies only) Endometriosis, period and surgery? Help please!

[rolosmom7 740]

Hi ladies!

Bit of a back story - I have had horrible periods since I got them at 12. Very very heavy. At 22, I had a ruptured ovarian cyst. Since then, I've been diagnosed with endometriosis - confirmed via lap last year. Due to the pain I'm on continuous BCP. I haven't had a period in over 2 years.

Until last week - sleeved 9/15. Started out just light spotting but has turned into one of the most painful, heaviest periods I've ever had. Been going about 10 days.

Does anyone have any info or experience about this? I would really appreciate it! I have no surgery pain, but this endo pain is horrid.

[bitingcat 87]

I don't have any kind of official hormone dx except "jacked". Several years ago started having cripplingly heavy periods. Found awesome hormone doctor, discovered I had no testosterone, very low progesterone, and was swimming in estrogen. Started natural hormones and have been mostly functional since. I get tested every three months and we make micro-adjustments. I went off all hormones a couple of months ago and it was *horrible*. So, back on the hormones and it calmed down again.

And then I started the pre-op diet. My surgeon just wanted low carb, so I decided to go straight into ketosis - I even started a week early to try and get the hang of it. Diet went well, but period hit like a ton of bricks. I was so anemic from blood loss I could barely walk up the stairs. I was tanking Iron like a crazy person trying to be ready for surgery.

The Keto bloggers claim this is your body basically doing a giant fat related estrogen dump. (Some also call it "Shark Week" and claim it's not unusual when you first go into low carb ketosis.) Their theory is that fat is full of estrogen; you're now burning tons of fat; hence your body is now swimming in excess estrogen and messing everything up.

Is there any truth to this? I have no idea. In my case, my estrogen levels had been falling off (I'm 45) and spiked right back up again last month. So my hormone doc is going to keep testing and adjusting to try and keep things reasonable. I was only sleeved a few days ago, so we'll see how it goes.

Consider going to see your hormone doctor, if you have one, or discuss it with your surgical team. Everyone says your hormones will be crazy after surgery, but it's good to have a plan in case things don't settle down on their own. My niece was like you - heavy periods eventually turning into ruptured cysts - and they must have had her on four or five types of birth control before they found one that helped. Don't be afraid to push people to find something that works for you and your new body

Good luck!

Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

[rolosmom7 740]

I don't have any kind of official hormone dx except "jacked". Several years ago started having cripplingly heavy periods. Found awesome hormone doctor, discovered I had no testosterone, very low progesterone, and was swimming in estrogen. Started natural hormones and have been mostly functional since. I get tested every three months and we make micro-adjustments. I went off all hormones a couple of months ago and it was *horrible*. So, back on the hormones and it calmed down again.

And then I started the pre-op diet. My surgeon just wanted low carb, so I decided to go straight into ketosis - I even started a week early to try and get the hang of it. Diet went well, but period hit like a ton of bricks. I was so anemic from blood loss I could barely walk up the stairs. I was tanking Iron like a crazy person trying to be ready for surgery.

The Keto bloggers claim this is your body basically doing a giant fat related estrogen dump. (Some also call it "Shark Week" and claim it's not unusual when you first go into low carb ketosis.) Their theory is that fat is full of estrogen; you're now burning tons of fat; hence your body is now swimming in excess estrogen and messing everything up.

Is there any truth to this? I have no idea. In my case, my estrogen levels had been falling off (I'm 45) and spiked right back up again last month. So my hormone doc is going to keep testing and adjusting to try and keep things reasonable. I was only sleeved a few days ago, so we'll see how it goes.

Consider going to see your hormone doctor, if you have one, or discuss it with your surgical team. Everyone says your hormones will be crazy after surgery, but it's good to have a plan in case things don't settle down on their own. My niece was like you - heavy periods eventually turning into ruptured cysts - and they must have had her on four or five types of birth control before they found one that helped. Don't be afraid to push people to find something that works for you and your new body

Good luck!

Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

Thanks! I'm 27 so there's no shortage of estrogen around here. I have an obgyn and a pcp, they've checked hormone levels before but I'm thinking I need to do it again now.