Zoladex injections for endo

[lizzie1293]

Hi ladies, a little background about my journey - after years of suffering and several trips to A&E, I was finally diagnosed with endo in December 2018. I was rushed in to hospital after a 6cm chocolate cyst ruptured. It was drained and removed and the endo was lasered away. I was put on Cerazette and had nothing but trouble for the whole 3 months. Constant bleeding, terrible mood swings and depression. I went back to my GP and they put me on Norethisterone. The bleeding and mood swings have stopped but I have now been prescribed Zoladex injections for 3 months. My GP has been terrible; I know nothing about Zoladex and she couldn't tell me much either. I explained I have holidays and weddings in the next couple of months where I will be drinking alcohol - she told me this would be fine. However, the website says to avoid alcohol. Any advise? Nervous about the side effects, too.

[ccsmith]

I have just stopped zoladex after a year. I drank on it with no problems - not that I drink much but still enjoyed an occasional night out. My main issues was the menopause symptoms of hot flushes, mood swings and forgetfulness. I went on HRT a few months into it which helped. It’s a very strong drug and shouldn’t just be randomly given. Did the GP prescribe it for you as I would say a consultant should decide! Are you under a BSGE centre as the are the best to organise your treatment.

[lizzie1293 in reply to ccsmith]

Hello, thank you so much for replying! I don't drink much either, just birthdays, weddings, holidays etc. I didn't want to have a drink abroad and end up really ill. I'm sorry to hear you suffered with such awful symptoms; that's the part I'm dreading most. I have tried to explain to my colleagues that I might not be very well for a while, but they all dismissed it and said I'll be fine I'm exaggerating... Zoladex was prescribed by my consultant at the hospital. She has been so helpful I wish I could see her instead of my GP

[princessk09]

Hey, I didn’t drink whilst on zoladex as I was having really bad side effects anyways but everyone is different. You may not get any but I don’t think alcohol will have a massive effect so you should be fine xxx

[lizzie1293 in reply to princessk09]

Hello, thank you for replying I suppose I will have to see how I feel after a drink and listen to my body. Do you know if Zoladex is a type of chemo as it is used for treating certain types of cancer?

[princessk09 in reply to lizzie1293]

I think it is but it’s not as harsh as other chemotherapy treatments. Zoladex works in the same way as it shrinks the endometriosis and stops it’s growing but as soon as you soon, it can come back xxxxx

[Gabi8125]

Few years ago i was on zoladex for 6 months. Zoladex bringing the same symptoms as a menopause. I would recomended to ask your Gp to prescribe you a pils which help to reduce those symptoms. I think they are replacement hormone therapy. Zoladex for me works quite well until last injection. When treatment has finished my cysts came back😑.good luck😁

[MichieMoo]

Morning hun, I'm on zoladex 3.6mg monthly injections at the moment while I wait for a second lap to remove stage 4 endo. I am also in hrt to help with the systems, but I still get hit flushes and night sweats. I have been drinking on it, not heavy but a glass of fizz or so.

Zoladex stops you producing oestrogen, so stops the endo getting worse.

I would ask for hrt as well if they haven't prescribe it already to help reduce the use effects. Read the below link it has a bit if information on.

the national endometriosis society information - Endometriosis UK

PDFendometriosis-uk.org › files

Good luck hun xx

[elenaO]

Hi there! I had lots of fibroids and also went through a and e visits etc.. I had Zoladex to shrink them so I could have keyhole and it was so good. I got no physical symptoms the first 2 months at all. Only in the 3rd did I start with hot flushes and some mood swings. But it really worked so am very grateful this exists! Drinking on it was absolutely no problem. Of course it’s different for everyone. E

[jelleytots10]

Hi, i have stage 4 endometriosis. I was on Zoladex for 4 months up until Christmas to try and reduce the endometriosis before my surgery in January, however although the Zoladex and HRT were both brilliant and i felt amazing with only a few minor side effects it didn’t stop my endometriosis growing so i went into a 5 hour surgery with them finding a lot more than what they did in the first surgery 6 months before, they also forgot to remove the endometriosis off my bladder which was one of my main surgeries. If you have the Zoladex injections my advice would be to take HRT alongside it which will replace your hormones and reduced any side effects you may have, also i was told to stop taking HRT 4 weeks before my surgery as its dangerous while your under general anaesthetic (can’t remember why, sorry). I found my nurses gave me a lot of good information regarding the injections, more so than my surgeon but also they will give you all of the leaflets from the box too. I can’t help regarding drinking alcohol as I don’t drink but I wasn’t ever told not to 🤷🏼‍♀️.

I hope you are feeling better soon xx

[milly89]

I was prescribed zoladex just over a year ago by a specialist consultant alongside tibilone (hrt) it has changed my life in so many ways and though there are a lot of people with negative experience I have to say my life has transformed from it. I am no longer a shadow of myself, struggling from one horrendous period to the next. I have had issues with hot flushes and night sweats on occasion; though it seems par for the course with a medication that makes you menopausal. The only issue I have had is that it is with prolonged use affecting my bone density.

But you can eat and drink as you would do normally. I would however invest in some emla cream to apply pre-injection! that was a game changer for me!

E x

[lizzie1293]

Hey everyone, just thought I would give you an update. It's only been 4 days since I had my first Zoladex injection and I feel like its thrown my whole body out of whack. I had to stay home from work on Monday as I was so dizzy, nauseous and spaced out. I have been having hot flushes and terrible night sweats. I am now off work again due to awful leg cramps and pain through my pelvis. I feel like I'm about to come on my period. Im also sooo tired! I've been so unreliable at work the last year or so due to days off because of endo pain/A&E visits/surgery and now this. Have any of you ladies experienced side effects like this so soon after the injection? Hoping it eases off soon