Hi
I’m 46 & 2 years post diagnosis. I’ve been on Tamoxifen for a year following surgery, chemo & rads but have been really struggling. Bloods indicated post menopausal so oncologist has switched me to zoladex & arimidex. Has anyone been through the same & knows what I’ve let myself in for?
Mildredx
Hi,
Yep, been there, done that! Please don’t let my experiences put you off though! Everyone is different with side effects etc. I do have to say that so far this combo seems to be controlling the cancer for now for me.
I was diagnosed July 07 aged 42,had chemo,mx,anc,rads and then tamoxifen. Lasted 7 months on that but struggled and the side effects were too much so I was swopped to the zoladex/arimidex combo as I hadn’t hit menopause yet according to blood tests. I started on them Oct 08 and it seemed better at first but then got gradually worse. Not sure whether it was just the drugs or the fact that I had other stresses going on, but I got to the stage where I wanted a break from these too. As I am at very high risk of recurrence and have bone secondaries, that wasn’t an option realistically so having tried several natural remedies that didn’t work, my onc put me on low dose prozac and the difference has been amazing. I now feel like I’m back to my old self and am finally settled at last.
Word of warning - the needle for zoladex is quite large so make sure you get EMLA cream prescribed. You put it on about an hour or so beforehand and I never feel a thing as the emla is an anaesthetic cream.
If you want to know more, just shout or pm me.
Liz
Thanks for your post Liz. I’ve had my first injection & it wasn’t too bad. Plenty of fat for them to prod at. I’ll give it 6 months & see how I’m feeling. I surely can’t fill any worse than I did on Tamoxifen. It was nearly as bad as during chemo! Mildred
I was told of the bad side effects of zoladex, and tamoxifen , but cut out dairy products and had no sweats at all-and I really mean none. At xmas found myself in awkward situations to refuse and had some dairy because it was very hard to avoid without embarrassment-had sweats then-have avoided ever since and no sweats
Daisydog
I found the extra fat layer on my stomach has its benefits, ha,ha.
You may not have any side effects or they may be mild, fingers crossed - my onc and surgeon have both said I’ve had exceptionally strong reactions to the hormone rubbish. At least the prozac help and have made me feel ‘normal’ and if the drugs do their work, that’s all that counts, isn’t it?
Liz