Chemical vs surgical menopause

[Sunset-lady]

I'm in chemical menopause at the moment ( without addback HRT) but just wondered how it compares to surgical menopause? Is it similar or is surgical menopause better or worse?

[Sunset-lady]

WITH ADDBACK HRT - don't know why it did that. I'm on HRT.

[Elaine91]

Hi Sunset_lady

I was on Prostap for 12 months, at age 45, prior to surgery (with hysterectomy, BSO and bowel resection)

This is my experience in case it’s of help, although everyone is different

For the first 3 months Prostap worked brilliantly for endo (and interstitial cystitis). It caused some mild menopause symptoms (headaches, mild insomnia) but not much. I was told to take tibolone to prevent osteoporosis, but the tibolone made my endo (and I.C.) symptoms come back, so I stopped taking the tibolone pretty quickly.

The 2nd injection, Prostap worked, but only for 2 months, by the 4th injection it barely worked at all, as in it didn’t stop my cycles.

In terms of endo (and I.C.) the surgery was great, but left me with severe insomnia, much worse than Prostap. I tried HRT (various pills and patches), but got endo (and I.C.) symptoms back – I was told that everything had been removed, but there’s definitely some remaining.

It took over 2 years for my sleep to recover somewhat, but then long term hormone deficiency problems kicked in...long story, I’m not in a good place... Anyway, I’ve never been able to get HRT that works well for me and whenever I’ve tried it flares up my bowel endo and when I come off HRT I get withdrawal symptoms even worse that post surgery.

[Sunset-lady in reply to Elaine91]

Wow you've been through a lot: I'm so sorry you've had such a difficult journey. The only symptoms I have are bleeding - unstoppable bleeding that takes all my iron reserves and leaves me exhausted. When zoladex works i feel fantastic but I only get 4 weeks out of 12 when I stop bleeding and the headaches go. Then in week 9 I hemorrhage and need the injection. It's so frustrating but I'm scared of reactivating endometriosis through surgery x