Hi all, saw GP Mon, and he says all this crying is entirely normal reaction to Zoladex, and that he’s lost count of thw women who have come to see him after the first one saying “I am NOT having any more of THAT!” He always persuades them to continue, he says the reaction to it gets less severe. Have had several more crying spates - is truly hideous, all in manner of heart-broken teenager, real big wrenching sobs, horrible.
Re Dippy Dora-ness - oh tell me about it! Rang dentist on Mon, explained about chemo starting on Fri and need to get three little chips out of my teeth fixed before chemo, and they said - I’m SURE they said - come in tomorrow, ie Tues. So off we toddled yesterday at 2, whereupon the receptionist said, “Are you sure it’s today? Only I don’t see how it can be, because the dentist doesn’t get back from lunch til 3 on Tuesdays…oh look, you’re in the book for Wednesday.” D’uh.
GP also said, pretty much, we’re giving you this, and the rest, to stop you from dying, so get a grip and get on with it, however awful you feel in the next few months, it’s better than the cancer killing you off. I said something along the lines of “Yes, with all the chemo, Zoladex, Tamoxifen and rads, my survival chances go up to 89%, which is good,” and he said “Yes, as long as you aren’t in the 11%.” !!! I could have done without that comment, I think.
Also, for everyone worried about getting hairy - it’s actually too much oestrogen and too little progesterone that causes the hairiness we all dread (that and sometimes too much testosterone in comparison to the other sex hormones). In theory, reducing oestrogen should reduce hairiness, but only if progesterone levels stay comparitively higher. The body reads relative levels, so no matter how low your oestrogen goes, as long as you have even less progesterone, the body will reckon it has too much oestrogen and produce those charming bristles! I know all this because this has been the state of my hormones for years, and I worked alongside a private doctor for a while who dealt with thyroid and adrenal and other hormonal probs, and did a lot of his research for him. If you read any of the John Lee books (Natural Progesterone, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer, and others), it explains it all in there.
I’ve already asked my GP to officially ascertain if I can continue using my progesterone cream whilst on Zoladex - I don’t see how it can do anything other than benefit, because of its oestrogen balancing effects (its “unopposed oestrogen” ie oestrogen without enough progesterone to balance it that drives our oestrogen +ve cancers, which my BC is), and he’s going to find out the official word on it. The progesterone also helps with the crying. (if any of you have non-cancer mates who have alwful PMS with swollen boobs, bloating, headaches, crying, rages, etc, it helps 100% with that, because those are all oestrogen-dominance signs too). And by the way, the much touted Wild Yam cream, Mexican or otherwise, does NOT convert to progesterone in the body, and is a total waste of money. Synthetic progestins do NOT work in the same way as natural progesterone either, the ONLY kind of progesterone that works is natural progesterone USP. See John Lee books for details.
I’ve had another reaction to the Zoladex too - which may be due to my BF insisting on feeling whether he could find the implant under my skin with his fingers - the injection site has got very inflamed, so GP’s given me fucidin-H (antibiotic + hydrocortisone) to put on. Am having better results with good old Tea Tree!
Kelly100 - sounds like your GP has his head screwed on right, I agree totally not to go with the 3 month one, far too much chance of oestrogen bouncing up again.
Thanks for all the replies, it does help hearing other people’s expeiences.
Love,
Nicola x
