Can you ask your consultant to remove your ovary??

[smiley1]

I had a TAH LSO in 2006 and had further endo removed in 2007. Have my endo symptoms back again and wondering if I can now ask my consultant about removing my remaining ovary to give me a better quality of life. Can I do that??

[Beks04]

You can always ask! Of course, removal of your remaining ovary will mean that you will need to consider HRT (I'm presuming you are under the age of 50). But yes, you can certainly ask your Consultant whether removal of your ovary is possible and he/she will be able to discuss the pros and cons of such surgery etc.

All the best with it!

[stevieflp]

Hi - I don't want to unsettle you but have you considered excision surgery to remove the endo? A gynea told me a hysterectomy and oophrectory were my best option but I researched and decided otherwise. I switched to seeing a specialist endo consultant and had radical excision surgery (removal of the whole lining of the peritoneum which removed all seen and unseen endo). As a result was able to keep both my ovaries and pelvis was unfrozen but I lost the endo. Otherwise you lose a healthy organ and are still left with endo and reliant upon drugs.

Like Beks said, you will need to take HRT if you have no ovaries to make hormones for you. Ovaries continue to provide hormones after monopause which your body makes good use of. There are different types of HRT but you will not want to have an eostrogen based one or it will defeat the whole point of the op. I only use caution because my friend found she could not tolerate HRT (I am sure that is quite rare) but you are not going to know until after the event.

General gynaes tend to offer what they are trained at which is menopause inducing drugs (which are only short term), hysterectomies and removal of ovaries, sometimes laser treatment and sometimes they are trained in patch excision. They rarely do radical excision as this needs a dedicated Endo surgeon. I would recommend that you make sure you are seeing an Endo consultant.

Have a look at the website of Mr A K Trehan. You might not be in his area but it is informative and might give you a wider view before you make a decision as to the way forward.

Best wishes