Zoladex vs Ovary Removal
Hi, I am a 45 year old breast cancer survivor. I completed treatment for stage 3, Estrogen and Progesterone positive HER2 Negative last year. Since then, I have been on Zoladex (Gosserelin) and Letrozole and I ACHE.
I've been told if I have my ovaries out, I can go off Zoladex and have options other than Letrozole; has anyone got any experience with this?
Thanks,
Darcie
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I’m almost 41 and recently stage 4 so just started with zoladex .. also debating this so I’m interested to hear other experiences and how they made the decision.
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I see no one has yet responded to your post, so thought I would do that and this will also bump it up so others may see it.
My experience is pretty dated as it was over 20 years ago that I had my oophorectomy. Even at that time, it was one of the easiest of the many surgeries I've had done. At that time, it was fairly rare and it is interesting to see that it has now become more common. I did it so that I could take Femara (Letrozole) which was just starting to be prescribed for early stage bc. It does send you into menopause, but perhaps zoladex does that also? I was 47 at the time, so figured I would soon be in menopause anyway. I don't know if zoladex was even around then, so my decision was between tamoxifen and having an ooph so I could take Letrozole.
I don't really understand what other options you would have other than Letrozole if you get an ooph, so you may want to follow up on that. There are other AIs that you could switch to, but I don't know why you couldn't do that now even on zoladex.
There are so many decisions with b.c. Good luck with making them.
Take care.
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Thank you so much for your responses. I'm so glad to hear the oovarectomy was the easiest of all your surgeries. I can't wait to have mine.
Yes, I have to be on Zoladex and Letrozole, the AIs unless I have my ovaries out, then I will no longer need Zoladex (it shuts down the ovaries). I'm not sure why I can't take one of the other options other than letrozole while I'm on Zoladex, I think it has to do with needing to be in full menopause, which ovarian removal would put me in.
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I just had my ovaries removed, so now I can stop zoladex... Hopefully this will help. Anyone else?
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How are you feeling after having your ovaries out? I am perimenopausal (well, "false menopause" now, thanks to the aromatase inhibitors) and am wondering what to expect...my male oncologist was somewhat discouraging, whereas my female OBGYN was quite encouraging about life post-ovaries...
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