Will Endometriosis Return After Surgery? | PYHP 043

Endometriosis can be very painful. It can have a significant effect on a woman’s quality of life. Below are few of the common symptoms of Endometriosis.

• Painful periods
• Pain with intercourse
• Heavy period
• Mid Cycle spotting

Endometriosis occurs when the uterine tissue gets seeded outside the uterus. Removing the uterus can help tremendously with the following symptoms:

• Heavy periods lead to anemia
• Painful periods
• Mid Cycle spotting
• Bleeding outside of sync with your period
• Bloating

As you probably already know, a Hysterectomy is the removal of the uterus.  Leaving the ovaries inside and intact. Removal of ovaries is oophorectomy.

Usually, with the hysterectomy for endometriosis, your surgeon will clean up and remove any endometrial tissue she/he sees in the pelvic area.

Unfortunately, the endometrial tissue can grow back on the ovaries and elsewhere in the pelvic area in some people. It’s hard to say why. After a hysterectomy, you do not have the retrograde menstruation, but if there was any micro endometrial tissue, it can grow back.  You still can get endometrioid cysts on the ovaries. Or elsewhere such as colon and bladder.

The likelihood that endometriosis comes back or you experience the same pain as before the hysterectomy is much less. Women do say they have so much relief, but it can happen.  Could be genetics, hormonal imbalance, lifestyle, or just luck of the draw.

In the case of estrogen dominance that can exacerbate endometriosis. Estrogen likes to grow things.  So if estrogen is high or there is not enough progesterone to balance estrogen, that can make endometriosis worse.

Taking estrogen-only treatment or the dose of estrogen is high can cause endometriosis to flare to come back. The estrogen will grow the micro-lesions of endometriosis that your surgeon could not see.

There are many factors that can increase inflammation and exacerbate the symptoms of endometriosis. Below is a list of factors that can increase overall inflammation:

• Smoking
• Sugar / High fructose corn syrup
• Processed and refined carbohydrates
• Alcohol
• High glycemic index foods
• Lack of healthy fats

Below is a quick list of tips that can help endometriosis after hysterectomy:

• Reduce sugar
• Improve liver function (caffeine, alcohol, sugar)
• Low carb / ketogenic diet
• Increase healthy fats: olive oil, avocado, MCT, fish oil, Omega-3 fatty acids (EPA/DHA)
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Improve sleep quality

Sometimes a Hysterectomy is the final option for a woman with endometriosis to get some relief. Typically endometriosis will improve significantly, but in some situations, it can reoccur after a hysterectomy.  If you have any questions, please leave a comment below or you can send an email to [email protected]