Early onset menopause after ectopic pregnancy

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1

Hi, first time here.

I had open abdominal surgery to remove an ectopic pregnancy in my left tube at 7-weeks in Nov 2023. It was not my first loss but felt like the most painful because there was a heartbeat this time. I’d had two previous pregnancies, one early miscarriage and one birth (currently 4 years old) prior to this ectopic.

My period has been irregular since the ectopic pregnancy, three missed periods in 2024 and one chemical pregnancy in Dec. I haven’t had a period since the chemical pregnancy in Dec last year. I saw a gynae last month and he found very little ovarian activity, with about 5 follicles on my right ovary and one on the left ovary. My uterine lining appeared to be very think as well. I appear to be in early onset menopause at 36 years old. This is devastating because we have one child and have been trying again for a while now. The gynae had some questions regarding my ectopic pregnancy surgery, asking about complications and so on. We have been trying to get the surgical report for forward to the gynae but still working through the process.

I am now wondering if the early onset of menopause is linked to surgical complications. The doctor who operated on me didn’t inform us of any complications that had occurred during surgery, only that there is higher likelihood of having another ectopic pregnancy but he was positive that we would be able to conceive again. He later disregarded my concerns regarding my periods being irregular, saying there’s nothing to worry about. But I knew that something was different in my body and so we decided to see a specialist OB/GYN.

I understand that laparoscopic surgery is the normal and preferred surgical option when there are no complications. Has anyone here experienced anything similar to this? Is there any correlation between the different surgical options and reduced ovarian function afterwards?
I continue to have hope that I will conceive again, with all the hormonal therapy I am currently on to support my ovaries. It is hard though and sometimes, I just want to stop trying.

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Dear Jazik,
I am so sorry to hear of your ectopic pregnancy loss and previous losses.
Unfortunately we are not fertility specialists so are unable to provide any evidence based information on this. From reading it looks like ovarian reserve can be affected by many things including hormones, smoking, environmental factors and even by what our mum ate or if she was malnourished whilst we were in her womb. It does look like surgery that directly affects the ovary of if there was compromise to the blood supply of the ovary may affect ovarian reserve, but it might be hard to find a cause with so many other potential factors.
Surgery for ectopic pregnancy is also completed if there is signs of rupture which can be life threatening, so it maybe difficult to balance this up at the time.
I would certainly advise talking this through with your fertility specialist as they may have access to more up to date research in this specific area.
Best wishes,
Karen x

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