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Goserelin vs Leuprorelin

ZOLADEX (Goserelin) vs PROSTAP (Leuprorelin)

I've been on Zoladex (hormone therapy) for 7 months. Today I turned up at the GP surgery for my pre-booked Zoladex implant, and was suddenly told by the nurse that I've been changed to a different drug! ("Prostap 3 dcs" - I think it's primarily for prostate cancer in men, hence the name. I was the nurse's only female patient on Zoladex, all the rest were men. I suspect that's the reason for the change, administrative convenience, but who knows.)

I asked why the change, but could get no explanation from the GP nurse, she just said the Oncologist at the hospital approved it. I asked why, when i had been told by my Onc that Zoladex with Letrazole is the most effective combination of therapies for my particular cancer and for my age, and again the nurse evaded answering the question. She insisted it was exactly the same drug as Zoladex. But having looked it up since the appointment, it's not the same drug at all. It still shuts my ovaries down which is what Zoladex is supposed to do, but it's a different medication, administered in a different way and with some different side effects/warnings. It's supposed to be preceded by and used alongside regular hormone blood tests too, but I've had none since my mastectomy over a year ago. It's impossible to get hold of my Oncologist to ask why the change and what to expect, so I feel a bit lost.

It's taken me months to get used to the side effects of the Zoladex (in combination with Letrazole aka Femara) and to literally have to plan my life around the timing of the worst of those side effects. So I'm a bit peeved at the change without any information or notice. It's also the fifth different combination of hormone therapies I've been on since December, each combo bringing different and pretty horrible side effects. I can't bear all the changes, I just want some kind of regularity so I can live my life. It'll take me yet another 6 months to identify repeating patterns of side effects of this new drug, or the rate at which this wears off between injections, and how to manage the difficulties those create.


Has anyone else had Leuprorelin injections for their breast cancer? Do you know anything about it? What's your experience been like?

Thanks

Comments

  • ladyc2020
    ladyc2020 Member Posts: 87
    edited July 2022

    I think in the US it’s called Leuprolide. I am given Eligard each month which is a brand name, often used for prostate cancer, though I see others been given brand name Lupron.I questioned my MO but it had something to do with insurance what they will pay for, though originally he had mentioned Goserelin.

  • Too-Ticky
    Too-Ticky Member Posts: 19
    edited July 2022

    Thanks for your reply, ladyc. How have you gotten on with Lupron? I'm having awful side effects which I wasn't with the Gosrelin. How do you manage any side effects that you get?

    (Incidentally, I'm in the UK so there's no insurance companies here making those decisions (yet! Sadly, it wont be lo gvtull there are) I was on Gosrelin for the first 7 months so it's odd to have had it changed to something else, Gosrelin is the standard drug for ovarian supresdion for BC here, or so my Onc told me before I started it)

  • sondraf
    sondraf Member Posts: 1,695
    edited July 2022

    too-ticky - that is a strange change and I would be hollering down the phone at someone in the oncology department until they could answer my question. Im also in the UK but was goserelin from late 2019 to mid 2021 when I had the ovaries out. I was very unhappy with the NHS decision making process and how the patient was always the last to find out anything and never a chance to ask a question. Make no mistake, the NHS makes profit-based decisions that are just as harsh, if not more harsh, than a US medical insurance company.

    There is a thread down forum titled Triple Negative Ladies in the UK - most of them are TNBC, but some are HR+ and all may have an idea as to how you can get the system to work for you or at the very least get some answers. You may want to post your dilema in there and see what they say.