Ovarian Suppression vs. Oopherectomy

JRNJ

Who has had Lupron injections with bad side effects and later oopherectomy and found that they felt better not doing the Lupron anymore. I know some side effects will occur with both options, but I feel Lupron has it's own set of side effects.

ShetlandPony

My gynecologist way back when told me that it did indeed seem that patients had side effects from Lupron itself, separate from the resulting menopause.

FarAwayToo

I had 6 monthly Lupron shots then oophorectomy. I didn't feel that Lupron had any additional side effects. I also suspect that, perhaps, my ovaries weren't suppressed fully by Lupron: my menopausal symptoms were a lot worse after the surgery than before, even with Lupron.

I was very anxious about having my ovaries effectively suppressed since I am on AI and was very much premenopausal before starting chemo. This, in part, contributed to my decision to have oophorectomy. I did, however, have a sensitive estrogen blood test while on Lupron that showed my estradiol below level of detection (<2.5 pg/mL).

I should mention that my periods stopped immediately with chemo, and I started Lupron after chemo was over, so the order of events for me was Chemopause -> OS with Lupron -> Surgical Menopause. Surgical menopause was the hardest: my hot flashes got a LOT worse and I was lightheaded for several months. I am glad though to put my worry of incomplete ovarian suppression to rest.

JRNJ

Thanks for the feedback! Based on this and other threads it sounds like it just may be different for different people. I had a Lupron shot two weeks ago and have felt really horrible and haven't taken my Aromosin yet because I want to assess what the Lupron is doing. I am starting to feel better and read it can increase estrogen for the first two weeks, and that is what it feels like, high estrogen not low estrogen. My path is almost the same, premenopausal, had two periods on chemo, than chemopause, radiation, 3 months on Lupron than ooph. The hot flashes and night sweats on chemo were insane. Then I did 7 weeks of radiation. Not as bad now. I assume it may get worse again with meds and surgery. But what's bothering me now is agitation, headache, can't sleep, and of course aches and pains throughout my body, but that's a given at this point.

JRNJ

FarAwayToo, My sequence of events has been very similar to yours. Now 9 days after ovaries out I am also experiencing massive hot flashes, which I didn't have on lupron, aches and pains throughout my body, and extremely tired all the time. And I have not yet started my Arimidex again. Starting to freak out I made a mistake. But the bad headaches I had on lupron and Aromasin are currently gone, but may come back when I start Arimidex again. Is this just healing from the surgery still? Will I ever feel better again, like my old self? or am I now going to suffer without estrogen for the rest of my life?

FarAwayToo

JRNJ, I'm sorry you are having lots of SEs. I very much hope they will subside for you. I think surgery can definitely add to the tiredness, and aches and pains just come naturally with that.

In my case, the surge in hot flashes took several months to normalize, but it eventually did. And with drop in hot flashes my lightheadednesss improved. To be specific, I had 10-15 hot flashes a day on Lupron and prior to Lupron during chemo. After ooph I had 30-40 hot flashes a day, easily every 20-30 min while awake and several drenching ones during the night. In 2-3 months I was back to 10-15 a day, and now (2 years after oopherctomy) I may not even get any during the day (especially if it's a cooler weather and cold in the house). I still have a reliable hot flash when I get out of the shower every morning! And also a few in the evening.

Hang in there, it will get better! My oncologist indicated that if hot flashes would get unbearable, she had something to give me for them. I decided to stick it out as I don't like taking antyhing I don't absolutely have to, but I see mentioning of Effexor (?) for hot flashes in these forums. Also, I should add, I was on letrozole the entire time, no breaks in the last 2.5 years, and I do see some improvements in SE (but also I see some SE getting worse, but maybe it's just aging? The lack of estrogen aged me quite a bit, but I am willing to endure it hoping it lowers the risk of recurrence)