Surgical menopause and Rheumatoid Arthritis

[girli1111]

Following having my ovaries removed I'm in surgical menopause since the end of May. I'm wondering if this could have contributed to the bad flare that I'm having at the moment. Anyone else experienced similar?

[Simba1992]

Two things may be contributing to your flare. The hormonal imbalance after your operation may still not been fixed(?). The most important being that estrogen is not dominant in relation to progesterone since it is very inflammatory. The other thing is ofcourse the operation in itself that was a huge stress for your body, and stress, physical or psychological often triggers flares. Hope you feel better soon.

demontecentre.com/articles/...

[girli1111 in reply to Simba1992]

Thank you. Definitely not oestrogen dominant any more (ovaries removed!).

[girli1111 in reply to girli1111]

Have I misunderstood - are you saying progesterone is very inflammatory?

[Simba1992 in reply to girli1111]

Sorry that I was unclear. After the operation you have wthout doubt received hormon replacement therapy? That usually means you are receiving both estrogen and progesterone. What is essential is that the balance between estrogen and progesterone is not estrogen dominant. Estrogen is inflammatory, as you can also read in the link.

[girli1111 in reply to Simba1992]

Ah ok thanks, actually I'm not yet on hrt - I have an appointment with menopause clinic in mid September! Delay was because they wanted to check if any functioning ovarian tissue had been left behind. So I'm definitely notmoestrogen dominant at the moment, thanks

[girli1111 in reply to girli1111]

My situation re hrt needs some specialist input as when I ruptured an ovarian cyst two years ago I also had a deep vein thrombosis (wasn't a good summer lol!)

[Simba1992 in reply to girli1111]

This is often a misconception. You still have estrogen production. It's not a question of how much estrogen you have rather a question how much estrogen in relation to progesterone. You can always supplement with natural progesterone without being afraid that it will have bad effects, just the contrary. You could probably decrease inflammation just by supplementing. I think it's really worth a try😊

[Simba1992 in reply to Simba1992]

Some reading that may clarify. Ovarien cysts are in fact one symptom of estrogen dominance.

maryvancenc.com/estrogen-do...

[Lucy11]

We can have a flare up for a whole variety of reasons but they do know that most woman diagnosed with RA happens to be during the time leading up to or in menopause so although they don't know the full connection yet the fluctuation of hormones does play some role. That, along with the fact that it was probably a pretty stressful time and having any kind of surgery increases the chance of flaring.

As a side note, I'm quite sure this is all taken care of for you but has your doctor checked your Vit D level? Has he suggested supplementing with Calcium and VitD?-you're probably all good there....

When we go into menopause, with or without RA a main concern is bone health. When they put you on HRT it will help and you only have to wait another month for your appointment.

With the start of your flare they may have started you on a course of prednisone to help calm it down.

Prednisone, as I'm sure you know, thins bone and it can happen very fast. If you're on steroids longer than 3 weeks it's worth trying to get off them or go onto the lowest dose possible and to make sure your vitD and calcium levels are squared away while you wait to go onto HRT. I'm happy to hear that a specialist will be prescribing your hormones so it will really be tailored for you.

I hope it all gets better soon.

Lucy.