Ovaries removed -Hrt/Raised liver enzymes /thyroid problems

[BBBOA]

Hi. I had my ovaries removed a couple of weeks ago and am on hrt patches. I have loads of nausea and frequent headaches which seem to be common side effects of hrt. On top of that a recent blood test showed I had raised liver enzymes. The GP I spoke to about the results was clueless and wasn't sure whether I should stop the hrt and suggested I spoke to another GP.... Yes really! I have an enlarged thyroid gland, high antibodies and am hypothyroid. Has anyone had similar issues where they have had to stop hrt or had problems with it? Anyone hypothyroid and on hrt? Any advice or comments gratefully received! THANKS.

[Brownlow]

I'm not hypothyroid but the healthunlocked forum run by Thyroid UK is excellent. Lots of very knowledgeable and helpful people. Try asking questions there too. healthunlocked.com/thyroiduk

Endo is driven by oestrogen. Ovaries produce oestrogen but so do many other parts of our body. Adding HRT into the mix will increase your oestrogen and any remaining endo that was not removed will continue to grow. Not all endo can be seen during an op. Was all the seen endo removed? I'm very surprised that HRT has been prescribed. Was this prescribed by a gynaecologist, an endometriosis specialist or a GP.

Removing the ovaries is not a guaranteed method of dealing with endo conclusively. Were you told that?

[BBBOA in reply to Brownlow]

Hi Brownlow.

Thanks for your reply. The hrt was prescribed by the gynaecological consultant. There was no endo left /visible this time. The hrt is to counteract the surgical menopause that I find myself with following ovary removal. Googling my issues I can see that this hrt isn't for me and as I now have the raised liver enzymes, it will be interesting to hear the next step!

Will definitely check out the thyroid forum. Thanks!

[Brownlow in reply to BBBOA]

Hi BBBOA,

I understand why the HRT was prescribed but there is still quite a big risk that any unseen endometriosis will develop in the presence of oestrogen in the HRT. It seems very peculiar to me to remove ovaries that were producing oestrogen and then undo that by adding in synthetic oestrogen. There are many women on this site who have had a recurrence of endo after both ovaries were removed even without HRT. It's a very tricky area.

The lowest dose of oestrogen in HRT is Livial/Tibilone. Anything else will have a higher dose of oestrogen.

There are more natural ways of dealing with the menopause but you still need to be careful as the action of some of them has an oestrogenic effect in the body. A good naturopath should be able to help you.

I wish you well in finding your way through this.