Post Menopause Ovary Problems

The painful and sometimes infertility-causing ovarian cysts that can be so troublesome to women during their menstruating years often disappear after menopause. Although the ovaries have essentially shut down the production of eggs and hormones, any later-in-life woman who hasn't had her ovaries removed needs to know she's still at risk for ovarian problems.

Cancer

• According to the American Cancer Society, ovarian cancer makes up 3 percent of all cancers in women. It is very much a post menopause disease; half of all women who develop ovarian cancer are older than 60. A little less than half of the women diagnosed with the disease are still alive five years later.

Symptoms

• Ovarian cancer used to be called "the silent killer" because women often experience no symptoms until the disease has spread. Women who do have symptoms often describe the symptoms as being so vague that they overlooked them or thought they were caused by some other, less serious illness. These difficulties include:
  • abdominal bloating, pain or pressure
  • frequent urination
  • feeling full after eating only a small amount of food
  • fatigue
  • constipation
  • back pain
  • pain during sex

  Several procedures are used to make a definitive diagnosis: pelvic examination, ultrasound or CT scan and either a laparotomy or laparoscopy (surgical procedures to remove an ovary or some ovarian tissue for biopsy). Two fairly new techniques designed to catch ovarian cancer earlier -- transvaginal sonography and the CA-125 blood test -- have not proven to be helpful tools in early diagnoses.

Considerations

• The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has concluded that post-menopausal women on hormone replacement should not worry that the therapy will increase their risk of ovarian cancer.

PCOS

• Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a condition where many fluid-filled sacs, or cysts, form in a woman's ovaries. It is a fairly common condition, affecting 1 in 10 women of childbearing age.

  Even though the ovaries of a post-menopausal woman aren't functioning any longer, the National Women's Health Information Center notes that women who had PCOS during their reproductive years can still have problems after menopause: "many symptoms persist even though ovarian function and hormone levels change as a woman nears menopause. For instance, excessive hair growth continues, and male pattern baldness or thinning hair gets worse after menopause. Also, the risks of complications from PCOS, such as heart attack, stroke and diabetes, increase as a woman gets older."

Unilocular Cysts

• This type of cyst can form on the ovaries of a post-menopausal woman but is rarely malignant, according to a study of 15,000 women that was presented to the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists. Unilocular cysts are simple cysts that have only one cavity or compartment.

  Because they aren't normally troublesome, unilocular cysts can be monitored via ultrasound. The cysts don't need to be removed unless they are painful. The study found that 70 percent of these cysts eventually went away on their own.