Question for menopausal sleevers

 I'm wondering if there is much difference for women who have the sleeve and are menopausal or post meno?  You read alot about spikes in estrogen during weight loss..how has this impacted your health and mood?  Are there any other considerations like bone densisty.  I'm seeing the internal med dr on Thursday..one of the prerequesists from the surgeon. I have sleep apnea and nonalcohol fatty liver and had thyroid cancer..so I guess he has to figure out what all of this means with the surgery. I want to be armed with lots of questions for him regarding hormones and such.  I am very sensitive to many medications and have adverse or the opposite reactions. Antidepressants/anti-anxiety meds make me "squirrely" and suicidal, as do many hormone supplements...I really don't want to end up in that situation again..that is NOT a nice place to be. 
Just looking for feedback or advice from my OH community 

Im 43 ( I usually dont admit that in public) ... and apparently FAR from menopausal... my despised Aunt Flow shows up every 28 days with a vengence... I do have fibroids and some hormonal issues and if VSG releases even more estrogen I cant imagine how it will wreak havoc on my body... maybe I'll finally grow some boobs

 Sort of off topic..but have you considered ablation therapy?  As long as you are not wanting to get pregnant as this is irreversible it is really helpful for heavy periods.  I had it done at around your age and basically never had a period again! It was day surgery and not all that uncomfortable. Just a thought!

OT!  Ditto me too best thing.  Wish I had done it sooner if I could have.  DD had it done in 20's and she is having a much better life.

 Hi MyTurn,

I am a 54 y/o old woman who did not have a period for 14 months prior to the surgery. 2 months post op I started having regular periods again every 25 days just like I did prior to "menopause". 
Nobody, except the gals in this forum were able to explain to me what the heck was going on. 

When I saw my gyno about it, she did not have a clue about why this was happening. She also was clueless about how the surgery can effect your periods. i went to another GYNO and she too had no idea what I was talking about. Both also had never heard of a VSG and asked me more questions than I asked them. Both assumed I had uterine cancer and did biopsies to make sure i was not dying of cancer. I wasn't. One of these docs works at the number 1 university hospital in my area. Scary!

I now experience PMS again, and all of the issues like tender breasts, I had prior to my mini-menopause. 

The one thing my gyno did was insist that I have a bone density test to get a baseline reading since my diet was so different. She asked me to wait 6 mos after the surgery to do it. I am scheduled in October. 

I also had terrible constipation after the surgery that was completely the opposite of the previous me prior to the surgery. I was forced to see a gastoenterologist about it and he too had never heard of a VSG and could not explain why my body was acting so negatively to the hi-protein diet. He ordered me to eat less protein and more carbs. Of course i stalled and have not been the same since. 

I guess what I am trying to say is; don't be surprised if docs who do not specialize in WLS know little to nothing as to why our bodies are reacting to a rapid weight loss. Since our WLS docs send off to the specialists they expect them to know. They usually do not however.

Good Luck,

Sharon 

 Hi thanks for your info! I don't have to worry about the period part as I had ablation therapy. My worry is the hormonal effect on mood/brain chemistry. I wondered if this was going to be a tough area to get answers for from Dr's. Looks like that might be the case 

It can get a little rougher for us. Mood swings are common due to hormones released by the fat (but this is temporary).

Make sure you're taking a good calcium citrate supplement to address the bone density issue. My surgeon's office suggest this for everyone, not just menopausal women.

 My surgeon did say about taking a calcium citrate supplement.  My mother has severe osteoporosis..so I need to be really on top of that. 

 61 here. Ten years post menopause.  I was put on thyroid meds at six months post op.  I was taken off cholelesterol meds.  Those were the only med changes that I had post op.  

The younger gals at my support group are warned that birth controll must be closely monitored because there have been surprise post WLS babies.

 Wow surprise babies after you think you will never have to worry about that again! I have 6 kids and couldn't imagine going there again 

Hope your thyroid issues are under control..know how awful you can feel if they aren't