Zoladex to protect ovaries

Hi Darbydoo, I am on zoladex, but I have had it to shut my ovaries down which has put me into menopause. My mood has been ok, but full on hot flushes, and zero libido, horrendous weight gain (all round my middle) and everything has become dry, even my eyes and inside my nose. It is not pleasant, but has kept me in the stable bracket for 6 years. 

Wishing you all the best with your treatment x 

Thanks Chelle. I’m sorry to hear about your side effects. 

would you say these were immediate? I’m likely only to be on it for four months. 

The hot flushes yes, the rest has built up over the 6 years x 

If your oncologist is saying it is worth it and If it’s only for 4 months and can help with your future family plans, then I think it is worth considering x 

Side effects are really just menopausal ones, but can be quite intense as you've stopped everything so suddenly. So you will be having those side effects at some point in your life anyway. At least this way you know what it is!

I started on zoladex during chemo, but not to protect ovaries (I'm mid-40s) but because I chose to go down the post-menopause and Aromatase Inhibiter route as my hormone therapy rather than tamoxifen. Although the chemo probably would have had the same effect of shutting of my ovaries anyway, they wanted to be sure of it, plus keep me that way.

I was the same as chellesimo, my mood was OK, but hot flushes and night sweats were intense from about 3 weeks after the first injection. Having chemo at the same time makes these worse as chemo can give you flushes too. I had quite high levels of anxiety with them at one point too, again I think because they were at the same time as chemo and everything felt out of control. Having said all that, I coped and got through it and I worked throughout chemo (at home) so they are manageable.

At first, my flashes and night sweats were intense and every 20 mins 24/7 which was quite tough. But they gradually get better and by the end of chemo, I did notice that they were worse just after my chemo cycle and gradually improved again.

I started zoladex in October and now, the flushes are very manageable. I get them every 2-3 hours now, and they are not intense and I no longer have anxiety with them. I do lots of things to help (get a chillax pillow - they are cheap and do wonders at night for cooling you down! Plus a fan). 

If it gives you a chance to protect your ovaries then it would definitely be worth it. Chemo will likely make you feel like that anyway, so why not try and protect your ovaries and give yourself a chance once you're through treatment.

Good luck with chemo, it can be tough at times but you will get through it. You end up living from one cycle to the next, but then suddenly you're through the whole thing and starting to recover. I recommend keeping a diary of symptoms - I found that so useful looking back to previous cycles

Hi Chellismo

have started tamoxifen 10 days and will start zoladex Tuesday as they told me I have to go into early menopause. When do side effects start?

Hi sunny25, the side effects started very quickly for me. The hot flushes started almost straight away. They have got easier as time has gone on, that might just be that I am used to them now. X