Legs ache with lower adominal pain for 4 years after a total hysterectomy

[Fonda]

Its been 4 years since my total hysterectomy and I have achey calf pain down towards my ankles. My legs feel heavy and constricted with some thrombing at time. It gets worst when I'm standing, walking and running. I had two MRI on the low back with no sign of nerve damage.  Should I get an ultra sound and what kind?  My 5 inch scar is still painful especially deep inside where my ovaries were.  Is this related to the ache in the calfs? I had servere endometriosis for years and had 3 cysts on my ovaries when I had the total hysterectomy.  I have gained 25 lbs and my stomach looks like I'm 4 months pregnant.  I take .5 mg of estrace and don't have any more hot flashes. How do I stop gaining so much weight and what do I do with my leg pain?
Fonda

[Robert_alan1]

These abdominal symptoms sound very familiar.  Are the adhesion exercises with the ball something a male shoud try too? Thanks

[lazydog]

Hi.  This may be way out of the ball park but those symptoms of aching legs, weight gain, throbbing remind me of me pre Hashimoto's thyroiditis diagnosis.  Have you had thyroid checked at all?  If not make sure they check for antibodies and not just the rubbish TSH test.
...J

[Mary 53]

First of all, I am not a doctor. But, I am a 53 yr. old woman who had a radical hysterectomy six years ago for ovarian cancer (early stage...did not need chemo after the surgery).

I have had the same symptoms as you. I will steer you in the direction that gave me hope and then relief...but, I would advise that you commit to doing research (which you are...really) and learn as much as you can about menopausal sypmtoms (which can be very dibilitating especially after surgical menopause) which it sounds like you have (menopausal symptoms that is). Again, I am not a doctor...just steering here.

Learn the difference between what we think of generally when we hear about HRT and learn all that you possibly can about Bioidentical hormones.

My hope is that in ten years or sooner, these will be the mainstream choices for treatments for women such as you and me. I am not talking about drugs...but bioidentcal hormones to replenish your system. Bio estrogen (not premarin or prempro, but bi-est which you get through a compounding pharmacy, or vivelle patch, a bio estrogen that can be gotten at a regular pharmacy..there are other ones too), bioidentical progesterone (which is critical to be used with the estrogen to balance the hormones). You are still making estrogen in your system, but the loss of the ovaries means practically zero progesterone and testosterone. I am not talking about progestins...the icky synthetic that is not needed but that many people will think you are asking for and you will get a blank stare...Learn about why or why not you might be having certain symptoms (after time your body stops expecting a hormone when you are not getting it)...of course, if the only sypmtom you are having is the leg pain, that is great...but, it is worth investigating if only to get relief from the leg pain. MOre on that now.

I take the bio's for libido issues, vag. dryness, word-retrieval problems, brain fog, cholesterol and thyroid issues and troublesome and very annoying bladder problems....AND, for leg cramps. When my bio progesterone (learn to call it this if you persue this issue because of all the confusion that is out there regarding the hormone issue) is low...I have horrible leg cramps...day and night.

Google Bioidentical hormones...look into work by Christianne Northrup, MD (The Wisdom of Menopause) awesome book....work by Dr. Erika Schwartz, Suzanne Somers, I think there is a blurb on the website for Dr. Phil since his wife uses these and she and Suzanne Somers (check the website forums on her site) are both very proactive regarding women's health and the right to know all there is to know about the help that is out there but is sometimes hard to find...and, a lot of doctors are not at all familiar with them, or they don't know much about them and you get the brush-off. Fortunetly I didn't get the brush off, as my oncologist started me on the Vivelle Patch, a bio estrogen, but I had to do the research myself on the progesterone and testosterone....and now I see a specialist and the visits are actually covered by insurance....but, I tell you, I could get my investigator's license after all of this research!

Now to the pain in your ab area (ah yes)...the MRI's ...I had one of them myself to see what the problem was...all that horrible pain where the ovaries once were...all over the pelvic area.

They thought maybe colon cancer so I went in for a colonoscopy...well, they found so many surgical adhesions that the instrument for the colonoscopy actually snapped them open
:(    but, I did get relief and I was told that I could have a colonoscopy every six months to help with the pain of the adhesions since I was told they would grow back. Ah, no thanks.

My exercise instructor introduced me to a thing called Yumana's body rolling (Yumana is the name of the woman who studies and promotes this type of help). It is a deep deep massage that uses a ball that you roll on and it essentially gets blood to the bone and not just the muscle and it breaks up the adhesions. I am living testimony that it works. I used to have about 40 to 50 sharp painful twinges of pain per hour. Well, after the first session (twenty min. on the ball...done in a specific way using the pubic bone ...the ball, breathing) I had such relief I could feel a ton of blood rushing to that area. A week later I did another session and I had pain about once an hour. I am virtually pain free now and I use the ball about once a year if I start to feel a problematic adhesion pain starting.

You could call around to exersice or spas to see if anyone offers this type of massage (it is a smallish ball not a big palataes ball) or you can check on line and try to find the information.

Of course, again, I am steering you in these directions....It sounds like you are working with doctors to rule out other big problems regarding the pain. And, by the way, adhesions cannot be seen on MRI's...my doctor was surprised when I found out what my problem was and how I was able to finally get help for it.

Gosh...well, welcome to a better quality of life...I hope. Hope this information has been helpful. Just keep being an advocate for yourself and arm yourself with knowledge.

Best of luck,

Mary

[Machelle Seibel, MD]

A. Your problems have caused you a lot of difficulty for some time.  Having a vaginal ultrasound might tell if there is any endometriosis left that is causing your pain. It is also possible that endometriosis or some other problem of the intestine is causing pain and that might require getting a barium enema x-ray.  You might want to see a neurologist about your leg pain. They might do studies of the nerves or veins in your legs.  You can try taking 400 to 800mg of magnesium supplements from the drugstore daily. In some women, that will help reduce leg pain.
Machelle M. Seibel, MD