Hi all. I have started Letrozole and Zoladax today. I am 42 years old and pre menopausal I am on this for 7 years now and wondered whether a Oopherectomy was better at my age as I don’t want anymore children.
I am wondering if pre menopausal younger women out there had many symptoms in this treatment? I am due to have radiotherapy soon and they are talking about me having the new drug Versenio {abemaciclib) but worrying about the side effects.
Any advice welcome.
Thanks
Natalie
Hi Natalie ,you could maybe also post in the hormone therapy section of the forum to chat about this issue?
An oopherectomy isn’t very common here in the US. The reason is that ovaries do have some use in older age by producing a tiny amount of estrogen. That estrogen is protective against dementia, osteoporosis, heart issues, and a host of other things. Studies show that women who get their ovaries removed have shorter life spans than those that don’t. Granted, right now, you don’t want any estrogen which is why you’re prescribed pills. But in 10 years or less it might be of some use. If you have ovaries removed you’ll lose that protective benefit and there’s no replacing it. So if you would be removing the ovaries just to avoid taking pills, we don’t consider that advisable. Now if you’re at risk for colon cancer in your family or find out that the pills don’t reduce your estrogen enough than that’s a different story. Anyway just some info from across the waters if it’s of any use.
Hi Natalie
I am 42 too, I have no children, but am on Zoladex, Anastrozole and Zolendronic Acid. It’s difficult to know what side effects are due to what.
I have also wondered about the Oopherectomy. I have been on all these medications for a year now and everyone is different, so no two people can be compared, but if you are asking about me specifically! I am struggling with headaches, dizziness, the usual muscle aches which I’ve had since tamoxifen in 2017, hot flushes, mood swings etc - amongst others, but then these are all menopausal symptoms and may be much worse after an Oopherectomy.
My decision not to have an Oopherectomy was because although I won’t have children, it somehow is very final and takes away the ’choice’ from you (not that there is much choice!) However, I know lots of women who have had hysterectomies and have been fine, but these woman are not also on aromatase inhibitors too, so the experience post Oopherectomy might be somewhat different for us.
Those are my thoughts right now anyway. There are other options for me (again… everyone is different, so you would need to enquire about you) but it was suggested that there is Zoladex monthly, Zoladex 3 monthly and Pro-stap (I know… no one tells you right?!) Pro-stap is not an implant, but is an injection 3 monthly, so albeit limited, we do have some choices.
Hope this helps.
That does help. Thank you! I never knew about post strap and will enquire ??. Did you ever try Letrozole? I know I agree an Oopherectomy can be final. It’s so hard to make these decisions isn’t it…? I have been on Letrozole and Zoladax for a week now and had the night sweats. I presume these symptoms get worse after a few weeks/months in? Hope your dizziness and headaches settle x
By the way I didn’t mean at risk for colon cancer. Estrogen has nothing to do with that although the BRCA gene is associated with it. It was ovarian cancer I meant. But even then in the US it’s not something we jump to. Both my mother and her sister have battled ovarian cancer. It’s a gene although we’re not sure which one. We have both an unknown brca1 variant and Bard1 mutation in our family but neither of those at this time have been conclusively linked to ovarian. I don’t have either and as a result despite my family history my oncologist is reticent about taking out my ovaries. Right now I’m on ovarian suppressants and doing well so we’re leaving it there at the moment.
Thank you and I am glad to hear that you are doing well.
Hi, no I asked if I should try other things, but my oncologist said I am tolerating anastrozole well so not to mess with it. They say you should get used to everything eventually, and thank you, I do too. I have concussion from a fall which is confusing the issue!