No ovaries, on letrozole, but estrogen increases
Right after I started ovarian suppression and letrozole they checked my estrodial levels and they were not detectable. A few months later they checked them again and they still weren't detectable. Last year I had my ovaries removed and we all assumed with that we no longer needed to worry about estrogen so I discontinued ovarian suppression and continued with the letrozole. A few weeks ago I noticed new hair growth. Cool of course but it also made me pause so I today at my six month checkup I mentioned it to my oncologist and we decided to check my estrodial levels just to see. Well I'm now at 93pg which takes me well out of menopause. I am waiting to hear back what to do now but has anyone heard of this? I'm on prozac so tamoxifen isn't a good option unless I switch my anti-depressant which I loathe to do. I'll do it though but even so, why the higher estrodial levels AFTER ovarian removal?
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I may be wrong, but I think the estradiol as measured in the blood test is irrelevant re effectivity of aromatase inhibitors. So maybe there will be no change in your treatment.
It does sound strange, though, but maybe there is a reasonable explanation. Maybe your ovarian surgery left some ovarian tissue behind? Does the pathology report of that surgery mention tissue left behind? Maybe the estrogen produced in other tissues is not being blocked by the aromatase inhibitor?
Same as you, I would be wondering and looking for an explanation.
Sorry you are dealing with these worries.
Take care,
LaughingGull
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I checked my pathology report after my ovarian surgery and it was said the ovaries were removed intact. Plus she was a well respected oncologist/gynocologist so I can't imagine her not being thorough. There are sometimes adrenal tumors that cause estrogen production but my estrogen is just back to a normal range and not hugely high. Do you know if you can just develop a tolerance for letrozole and it stops blocking estrogen made by other tissues than the ovaries? It's rather high for other tissue production but I suspect I have always made a lot of estrogen in general which accounts for my breast cancer so for all I know 93pg could actually be low for me. But it's not low enough to protect against a recurrence. I do have a tamoxifen prescription now which I will start tonight but I can't take my prozac on it. I will need something else to replace it very soon.
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