Has anyone had prostap/ zoladex immediately before ivf?

[Poppy12]

I will be having my 5th lap to treat stage 4 endo in Oct. Ive been advised to have zoladex straight after surgery for 6 months, then straight into ivf. Ive previously had 6 months prostap and felt awful, but then a gap before the trials and tribulations of ivf. Just wondering about the benefits of doing everything so close together and whether i would just feel so awful and stressed it would be counter productive. Thank you.

[Impatient]

This really is a controversial option.

The problem is that the evidence is clear that these drugs are toxic to any pregnancy, so being pregnant while traces of the drug are in the body is to be avoided.

and the research has shown that traces of the drug can be detected in the body up to 4 months after the last dose was implanted or injected.

Therefore the manufacturers of the drugs recommend that patients continue to practice safe sex ie use a condom, for that 4 months after the last dose to avoid any accidental pregnancy.

They would not be advising this unless it was an essential piece of advice.

And because the independent research and records show that the drug can cause foetal deformity and spontaneous abortions, we advocate the 'avoiding pregnancy for 4 months' as a general rule on this forum.

There was a recent discussion on this very topic

healthunlocked.com/endometr......

I posted there links to both sides of the story -the manufacturers advice and the NHS leaflet that does advocate IVF straight after stopping the drug.

Perhaps the best thing to do is take print outs of the patient advice leaflets and the info that states 12 weeks or 4 months after last implant went in being the safest time to start trying for a pregnancy and discuss that evidence with your gynaecologist.

Ask him or her why they think it would now be safe to try IVF sooner when the evidence indicates high risk. Perhaps they may have access to more recent studies and can provide that information to you. Do your homework is the key.

You may not last the 6 months anyway even if you do decideyou want to give the GnRH drugs a go. These are chemo hormone drugs and none of us can predict what the reaction of our bodies will be to the drug. Many of us have a really bad time on them and have to stop before the 6 months is up because we just cannot cope anymore with the catalogue of horrid side effects. It may be that after researching it, you don't want to try it at all, that is entirely up to you. It won't kill or cure the endo, just puts it in to a coma which once you stop the drug and your pituitary gland wakes some time afterwards, will reactivate all that endo once again.

Another thing to check online for is Lupron, which is exact same thing as Prostap. Prostap is the name used for the drug in the UK, but worldwide it is known as Lupron and most websites dealing with patients listing their experiences refer to it as Lupron.

the Lupron Victims Hub website carries an enormous amount of information about the hazards of using any of these GnRH drugs. It doesn't matter what name they go by, they all work the same way and all are toxic to pregnancy.

You have a lot of homework to do, before deciding whether to have the drugs or not.

And remember to inform your partner and family members of the side effects to be watching out for, so your strange changes in behaviour and mood and all the other main side effects are known to them and won't catch them out, if you suddenly have a whopping fight for no reason out of the blue and cannot control your anger or get really depressed or your hair falls out everywhere you go,or you suddenly have a weird rash, or find yourself in bed most of the day and night feeling far too unwell to do things. Your carer network can be absolutely essential in bad days and you will need extra support to get you through the experience.

It's not like other drugs that you take daily and can quickly stop taking if you hve a bad reaction, these drugs stay in the body for 4months per dose, though the main side effects are definitely felt in the 1st 4weeks before you get the next top up ifyou decide to carry on.

Very very best of luck - you may all of it and more if my own experience is anything to go by. It was nothing short of hell for me, being on Zoladex, and there are more ladies on the forum who have had a bad time, than report having a good experience with GnRH drugs. Use the search box on the green bar at the top of the page to lookup Lupron, Prostap, GnRH, Goserlin, Zoladex, Decapeptyl etc.

Get a whole range of first hand experiences and do checkout the many other forums for these drugs, including lawsuits, side effects and so on. There is a huge amount online discussing these drugs.