I had endo in my navel and have had it removed last year, so far so good. I am also experiencing menopause symptoms, hot flashes, generally hot, plus other symptoms, I have regular periods that have been heavy and am nearly 50. My query is, if endo is feeding off oestrogen BUT oestrogen is the hormone we lose during menopause, can you have menopause and endo "together" ???
Thanks
Unfortuantely oestrogen doesn't go completely during or after menopause, and endo when large enough adhesions can produce it's own oestrogen, which just creates a circle. So yes you can have endo during and after menopause 
the symptoms may be lessened
Oh I see, that makes more sense, thank you.
Hi, I’m 51 and going through the menopause with endo. My experience has been that it gets worse before it gets better. I had a very nasty flare up last year. So far this year, it’s been better.
The menopause actually occurs over many years - some people say 6-8y. I think we mostly notice it for just 2-3y, although it varies a lot. I guess the effects on a condition like endo will change a lot over this period. There is very little research on it and my gynae says there have been no trials on treatments to help. It seems to be a question of hanging in there and hoping the endo will be better on the other side!
Thanks for your reply, it is a tricky one to get your head around and endo can be evil, from what I have read on here. I have been advised to go on an HRT (when my periods stop) with low estrogen because of endo and have tried progesterone only pill, but won't know if it has worked to stop the endo in my navel coming back as that took 4 years to grow.... hopefully one day someone will get the funds to do more research on it all as it debilitates so many women, many who do not even know they have it Best wishes
I’m surprised you are being advised to go on HRT. I’m not. I thought it wasn’t recommended for endo? What was the reasoning?
I have the Mirena and was advised to keep this one in for the full five years so that the progesterone remains at a low dose even after the completion of the menopause. My gynae says that if I’m still in pain at that point, he’ll recommend surgery to remove the remaining endometrioma.
The consultant suggested I speak to my GP and just said you can go on the POP pill or mirena to help stop the endo returning and once I get to the stage where I might require HRT to make sure I have one with low estrogen due to still having my womb, I am guessing it's different if you have had a hysterectomy? I am one of the lucky ones and only had the endo in my belly button, none was found inside or around my womb, bowel, bladder, etc.
My GP wasn't keen to put me on any hormone meds, but I said my periods were heavy, which they were so I tried the POP for 6 mths and I just can't tell if it's helped the endo or not, so I don't see the point, it didn't help my periods either so I have stopped.
Just got confused with the endo and estrogen and menopause and estrogen I am guessing the levels change ever so slightly and ever so gradually over the years and the fact that endo can produce its own estrogen.... So if a lady has bad endo, would she have less menopause symptoms as her estrogen is not lowered, I am very confused by this.....
That makes sense to me. Sounds like the consultant was suggesting you top up with extra progesterone until you’ve completed the menopause, which is very standard advice for managing endo. I went for the Mirena because it’s low dose and safer for long term use (I started using it in 2003). It’s almost stopped my periods and controlled my endo for years.
Having done a bit of reading, it seems that in the early stages of the menopause progesterone declines before oestrogen, which accounts for why endo can flare up. I suspect the Mirena wasn’t giving me quite enough progesterone to control my symptoms last year, but now (hopefully) it’s OK again.
These days they only recommend HRT if women have a really bad time of it during menopause. So hopefully not needed. If you do feel you need it, then sounds like the advice is to go for one with a low dose of oestrogen to prevent it re-activating the endo.
Thank you, I do worry about the atrophy and bone degradation with menopause so would be happy to take HRT when the time is right. I tried the Mirena and it was great until it got lost, that was quite scary, it hadn't gone far but I got it removed and then realised quite how tiny they are, but it put me off LOL. Best wishes Fabbird x
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