Lost my boobs...now my ovaries too?

mela4409
mela4409 Member Posts: 103
edited June 2014 in Young With Breast Cancer

Hey all,

 I haven't been on here in a while.  I was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer at the age of 24 and after treatments, a bilateral mastectomy, and remission, I'm still having side effects and issues with the treatment and medication (I'm 27 now).  Back in the Fall I started to have a lot of issues with pain in my groin and abdomen area.  It turned out that I had a complex cyst on my right ovary that they needed to remove.  When they went it they found that it was benign and also found a few more benign cysts to remove.  Finally after months, I felt better, but shortly after the pain and bloating came back.  After a few tests, the cysts had come back as well.  My doctor took me off of Tamoxifen to see if it was causing the cysts and also because my husband and I want to conceive.  My last ultrasound showed that some cysts had shrunk while another cyst and uterine fibroid has popped up.  After my appt today the surgeon told me that my best option is to have children sooner than later and then have my ovaries removed to reduce my chance of reoccurance and the chance of having more cysts.  Is anyone else going through the same thing, or have any advice for me?  I guess I just feel that as a young woman, losing my breasts was hard enough and now within a few years I'm going to lose my ovaries too?  I'm already having fatigue, weight gain, etc, and I can only imagine how bad it will be when my ovaries are gone.  I  have also heard that women who have their ovaries removed early on in life are at higher risk of bone fractures and have a higher mortality rate!  So much to think about at one time!

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Comments

  • rgiuff
    rgiuff Member Posts: 1,094
    edited May 2011

    Mela, you are way too young to give up your ovaries.  You don't need to deal with bone, cardiovascular, and sexual difficulties this early in life.  Sounds like your hormones are out of balance. There are natural remedies you can try to get your body into better balance.  You can check on the Natural Girls forum.  There would be lots of good advice on there about non pharmaceutical ways to get your estrogen, progesterone and testosterone levels into a better balance.  Many of them are taking a supplement called DIM, which is supposed to modulate the estrogen levels in the body.  There are also herbal remedies and phytoestrogen food items, such as soy and flaxseed which have been shown in studies to block out some of the stronger estrogens which create so much havoc in the body.

    Also diet and exercise can be helpful as well.

    I sincerely hope you are able to conceive and have as many children as you want!

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  • cheshirecatsgrin
    cheshirecatsgrin Member Posts: 11
    edited July 2011

    same boat , i dont want kids tho, but its just madding "hey lets take this out to make that better, oh oops we broke some thing else" well thats how it feels ....

    thats my little rant its like 3am and i so should be asleep , but dam side effects from the meds are putting a stop to that

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  • sundermom
    sundermom Member Posts: 463
    edited July 2011

    I'm 37 and actually asked about getting an oopherectomy since I was so strongly ER+. All of my docs told me that was not necessary and that the issues caused by the loss of my ovaries (bone & card) would outweigh any benefits. So ... Tamoxifen for me. I've already had my kids though. I wish you the best as you contemplate this difficult decision.



    Tammy

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