Female issue fury - need consolation and information

Okay, so I had heard that when a woman has WLS she can end up getting her period again. I knew this had to do with all the estrogen that was stored in the fat cells being lost due to the weight loss. Fine. But that was about, well, other women, not me. I'm 49 and my periods had petered out nicely, and I truly believed I was just about fully into menopause. I hadn't had a real period since 5/06. So thank you very much WLS for giving the "new me" a demotion from sagehood  back into insane peri-menopausal freakoid!! Okay, so I remembered how to use the glorious sanitary products (which have thankfully come a long way since the belts of armor of my teenage days!), and I coped with 5 long days of hell, cramps and backaches. Luckily, no pimples appeared. I thought, "it darn well better not happen again!" Now here it is two weeks later and I am having an ovarian cyst from hell threatening to walk into my uterus and take off on a vacation. What the f*%&^?  Question to you all who have already been here, how am I supposed to deal with this? What can I do with the pain when I can only take liquid tylenol? Are cysts common in peri-menopause? I went through it only a few times in 2005 and then it stopped. Why did it take more than 100 lbs to get started? Why me???????? I just needed to whine and whimper because there's no one hear to listen to me. Thanks for letting me do that. -Julie

oh my julie, that really SUCKS! i wish i had some advice for you, but i had a hysterectomy 10 years ago (at age 41), so i haven't dealt with periods for a long, long time...and couldn't be happier about it! i still have ovaries, so i've had some menopause-symptoms the last couples years...hot flashes, night sweats, usual stuff. but if i had to go back to having periods, well, the very thought leaves me speechless. i'm so sorry. deb

Thanks, Deb. Someone told me this may be a last shot and I might not get another one, but really my body feels so much like it did when I was a teenager (the last time I was near this size) I am worried it will just think I am that young and begin to make up for lost time (Ha!). How's your healing going? It must be wonderful to have a body that resembles something normal again. I feel so much better clothed, but if I stand in front of the mirror and turn side to side everything gets a-swinging and I just have to laugh or I'd cry. -Julie

i feel great -- no problems at all with healing. i took my tape measure the other day and measured all the incision lines with curves and verticals-- i have 60" of incisions! that rather shocked me - i thought, wow this should hurt a lot more! sometimes i just feel like this incredibly lucky person -- i had open rny with a bmi of 66 - no complications; and now 60" of incisions that are healing beautifully.  life is good. deb

Funny that you mention that - my doc warned me it would happen to me too. The period, not cysts. I did have a bunch of cycts removed 30 years ago, but no trouble since. I sure hope THAT does not recur.

I haven't even had WLS surgery yet, and "Aunt Rosie" (as Mom called it) is back. I think it is the increased exercise. I just turned 55 and was liking my crone phase too.

Grumble.

Oh good grief, Patty. I have no right to complain now. That is SO unfair!! I guess I should be grateful it took such a large weight loss before it began again?????? -Julie

Poor Julie!!  I feel your pain!  While its no fun having a cyst...it could get you the outcome you want....if it ends up more than 6cm they will have to remove it and possibly the ovary too. You could probably talk your GYN into taking both ovaries (since you are not childbearing age) then you'd have no more Auntie Flo.  Our bodies are complex machines...but sometimes we can outfox them.  I hope you have an easy time until this is all resolved. Let us know how things are going.  HUGS to you!!  Jeanine

Thanks, Jeanine. I never thought I'd want to be rid of those parts, but once I stopped my period and felt so much better physically and emotionally, I think differently now. I am calling today to get an appointment to discuss the issue. The picture of you in your avatar is great!!! -Julie

Good luck...I'll keep good thoughts for you along the way...and thanks for the avatar compliment.    HUGS  Jeanine

Dear Julie, I had to laugh--not at your pain--but at your writing.  While I don't have the cysts, I do still get pimples.  I asked my PCP at my last check-up about when to expect signs of menopause.  He said the average age is 51, so you're offically still ahead of the game.   I am experiencing the flood of estrogen now and have become, shall we say "friskier" than I ever was before.  Well, not like I ever acted upon it when I was younger and the size of an elephant seal.  But now I'm starting to date, so there's another fun talk with the doctor--a middle-aged woman needing birth control for the first time in her life!  And just how red can I blush. Can your doctor give you something better for the pain? Take care, Sally