Question for all the ladies out there. Since having surgery and losing about 1/3 of my goal I've noticed my periods have been much heavier, lasting a day or so longer, and cramps are more painful and last throughout where as before if I had cramps it was only day one. Has this happened to anyone else? When you get to a more normal (ie not obese) weight does it get better?

Question for all the ladies out there. Since having surgery and losing about 1/3 of my goal I've noticed my periods have been much heavier, lasting a day or so longer, and cramps are more painful and last throughout where as before if I had cramps it was only day one. Has this happened to anyone else? When you get to a more normal (ie not obese) weight does it get better?

same thing happened to me, my periods got much worse (bleeding / pain). in july when i had lost most of what i needed to i went and had novasure (endometrial ablation). it's taken about 4 months since that procedure - but my periods are barely there; maybe a 72hr period. i still get a tad PMS - but NOTHING like before.

i've read this happen to several ladies here; it's not all together unique,

lulu

Estrogen is stored in fat. I have read there are two processes that happen when you lose weight, your body is still used to cranking out more estrogen then you now need and continues to do so and also estrogen is being released from the fat as you lose the weight. I had menstrual irregularities everytime I lost a significant amount of weight even before I was banded. At my current age losing weight with the band I am having fewer problems since I am so close to full menopause but I still have some. I can tell you in the past when I stopped losing weight the symptoms resolved so I think the best thing we can do is get to our goal weight and stay there. My wish for all of us!

I have the same issue. I was warned that with the extra release of estrogen my period would be a lot differnet and they were correct. It's heavier and lasts a little longer.

Since my surgery in June of this year, I basically have 3 weeks on my period and 1 week off. It's annoying as all get out.

I have an appointment with my OB/Gyn to make sure that I don't have a cyst or anything, but my surgeon says that it most likely IS from the weight loss and the sudden release of all of that estrogen.

Which would also explain my moodiness . . . . hahaha! Oh well.

I've never had great times of the month anyways, so this isn't much of a surprise -- it's just REALLY annoying.

Oh, and when I'm ON my period, I lose weight like a madwoman. When I'm off my period, it sort of stalls. Weird!

i find im on my period all the time now ...i hope it settles down soon

Estrogen is stored in your body fat. I would imagine that losing a good amount of that storage space could affect your periods. I'm in the overweight category now and while my periods were always pretty moderate, it seems they have gotten even lighter. I have heavy flow the first day and then light to spotting the next 2-3 days after that.

Maybe once you're at a stable weight for awhile, your body can figure out what's going on and readjust itself. :thumbup:

I hope so I'm so over this

Thanks everyone. I didn't even know that about estrogen in my fat! My surgeon never said anything and there's nothing about it in the literature. But then again I keep forgetting to ask her about it. I'm going to go to my gyn and talk to her about my options because the PMS is what is really really troublesome, the period stuff I can deal with. Thanks again!

Same thing happened to me so I went and got on birth control to regulate them. Now I have one for about 72 hours. I take Monessa or something like that.

I started Depo shots at the first of July. I'm still regulating on that. They say it takes a few shots to get to completely no periods. I'm having weird stuff going on and figure it's a combo of just starting the Depo and having surgery in August and losing the weight. My estrogen levels are out of whack!

I go for my 3rd shot tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Each shot has made things better than before. I've always had horrid periods, lots of bleeding, pain, bloating (upwards of 5-7lbs worth!), and migraines. UGH! The migraines!

My periods lately have actually been weekly. Bloat, breakthrough bleeding, PMS w/migraines, etc in a week. It's like a regular cycle but shorten the whole entire thing and stick into a week. Very strange. Oh and then do that every week!

It doesn't take much to throw my system out of whack so I've been trying to be patient.

Thanks everyone for answering my question... I too have been having a monthly every two weeks, with breakthrough bleeding as well... a lot of tummy period pain all the time... I did not know estrogen was stored in the fat, so you have confirmed what I thought might be happening... thanks to you all. My weight has been stalled last few weeks, but since second fill is on the way again... so I expect I will have a lot of this going on for a while... it's great to understand what is causing it. Trish

yeah i had my period on the 1st and then i started having alot of loer pain and scheduled pelvic exam to check for cysts and then wham period again 15 days later and that lasted 8 days so had to reschedule for tues the 25th so hopefully it wont come back till next month ughh

Does anyone get cramps during the TOM? I never got them before being banded. I haven't lost enough weight to warrant any Estrogen changes.

I haven't been eating right lately I'm so worried my cramps are from a slippage? Am I just being scolding by the band for eating so badly. I haven't even had a fill yet. I am due for period soon but have been irregular due to Menopause ....don't know what this is but I have port pain and cramps almost like mild labor or period cramps but worse than I've ever experienced.

I actually saw an IMPROVEMENT in my periods. They are less heavy and last slightly less time than before surgery.