Anyone who had breast cancer recurrence after an oopherectomy?

Luttece

I'm getting ready to have a oopherectomy as a preventative of breast cancer recurrence.

Anyone in the same situation here??

ElaineTherese

Hi!

I just discussed oopherectomies with my OB/GYN today. He said that recent studies show that women who keep their ovaries tend to live longer than those who have them removed. He said that I could have my ovaries out if I wanted to stop taking my ovulation suppressor. But, he said I might as well just take Zoladex for another two years and then they'd test to see whether I am still premenopausal. I was somewhat surprised about how indifferent he was about the surgery.

TarheelMichelle

Luttece, you can look in the Stage IV forums at the signatures of ladies, which lists their surgeries, and see how many of them had their ovaries removed. In my view, a lot of women had their ovaries removed/breasts removed/chemo and had a recurrence.

I think all early stages should take a look, to avoid false sense of safety, these treatments and surgeries may not have any positive effect at all.

I was pressured endlessly to have my ovaries removed after my Stage I. Here's why I didn't.

Ovaries do a lot more than produce estrogen. Scientists aren't even sure what all ovaries so, they have data that shows women with their ovaries live longer, so there's that.

The body makes estrogen in several parts, not just the ovaries. Even the intestines make estrogen. Removing the ovaries could possibly send signals for other parts of body to make more estrogen. I can't think of any reason to doubt this. How else to explain recurrence in a woman with estrogen positive tumors who has her ovaries removed and is on anti-hormonal drugs? If estrogen fuels the tumors, how do the tumors grow if you don't have your ovaries?

Doctors know this, they just don't seem to want to admit that their previous recommendations were wrong.

I'm not trying to disparage doctors, my point is, breast cancer is tricky, and things that oncologists thought to be gospel appear to be unproven or false. So people shouldn't feel pressured into getting their ovaries removed, without evidence that proves this is beneficial