OVARIAN ABLATION - HAS ANYONE HAD ONE

Hi all,

I have just had my chemo stopped due to really bad side effects. I was devastated when this happened as I felt like my treatment had been compromised. I have since been told that I have to have an Ovarian Ablation which they say will help a lot has anyone else had one of these. Not sure how this will help.

Debh x

Hi Deb,
What is an ovarian ablation.
Can’t believe they stopped it but if it was that bad its prob the best thing but I’m no expect.
Hope you are ok? Pm me if you want
I’m due my next on tuesday and dreading it don’t want to end up back in hosp for a week.
Lots of love
Fran xx

debh,

hope your ok. are they suggesting ovarian ablation with radiotherapy or to remove ovaries or something?.
i am deciding whether to have zoladax to supress ovaries after raising issue with onc. onc has said as low risk (supposedly) i dont need to, but is happy to perscribe as long as i am aware of side affects. i am going to have a second opinion first. maybe you could do zoladax option first/instead?

have they explained benefits then to you of oblation??

TTM xxx

Hi TTM,

They have said due to the fact that my chemo has stopped, it would be the best way forward, I am going for radiation due to the fact that I am at the age of menopause anyway, they have told me it helps cut risk of reoccurence or it coming into the other breast, plus after tamoxifen they can then put me onto another drug for another five years so it evens itself out by not having the chemo. Not sure how true this is, not feeling very confident about not having chemo at the mo.

Debh

Hi deb
I’m assuming you are highly ER and PR positive which is why removing your ovaries can give good results. Hormone treatment can give as good results as chemo, although the results can take longer to show, this is from what my onc told me. I had primary BC in 2003, treated with WLE, rads, Tamoxinfen and had zoladex for 2 years. I had a great prognosis so chemo wasn’t on the cards. After 2 years I came off zoladex and kept on tamoxifen. All was OK until nearly 5 years down the line when a local recurrence showed on a routine mammo and then unfortunately bone mets were found. I am convinced that these new and secondary BC areas were due to my hormones having come rushing back after zoladex was stopped. Luckily my BC is low grade and slow growing so nothing has changed in the last 4 years since this dx. I had chemo for the local recurrence, which also treated the secondary areas. After that I’m still not sure I would have been post menopausal, a blood test showed I might be but not conclusive, and I wanted to make sure I got rid of all the hormones I could and therefore get rid of my ovaries. I couldn’t have surgery due to some other problems so had ablation, where about 5 sessions of radiotherapy target the ovaries to kill them off. I had zoladex for a month after as they don’t switch off immediately. I needed to be definitely post menopausal as tamoxifen had stopped working with my primary and I needed to take the Aromatase Inhibitors, which you mention. I can’t say the procedure was without its problems for me, I had IBS type side effects for about a month but they can be far less than this. For me it’s the best part of proactive treatment I’ve insisted on and I wish I’d had it done after my primary, as I’d wanted but was told wasn’t needed! The side effects of AI’s have been no worse than with tamoxifen and I know there are 2 other types of AI’s I can take if the one I’m currently on fails, so there are more options with these than tamoxifen.
I hope this helps a bit with some background, as I’ve had both zoladex and ablation, and feel free to PM me if you want any more info.
Nicky