Zoladex implant

[Mali87]

First time poster alert!

Finally been diagnosed with endometriosis. My consultant has suggested I go on the Zoladex injections.

Just after people's experience with this, the good and the bad.

She also mentioned something about a tablet that can be taken at the same time, to reduce the side effects. I have a family history of osteoarthritis.

Any info would be treat!

[G3miniStar]

Hiya, I had a six month course of Zoladex. I'm not going to lie, it's not pleasant but if you get pain as your main symptom it will very likely help with that. The symptoms you get are your body going through a very sudden menopause, so there will be hot flushes, cloudy head, restlessness, possible insomnia, drastic mood changes. But not necessarily all of them, or all at once.

For me I think the insomnia was my main problem, I'd wake up at constantly throughout the night and then be fully awake from around 5am. I was lucky that my hot flushes weren't too bad, I'd just get a hot face for about 15 minutes. I've heard of worse though. Also the mood swings aren't fun, but I found I could always tell when my mood wasn't my mood, so I'd warn people lol.

But you also mentioned about being put on a tablet to help with the symptoms, I assume Tibolone? My GP would never give it to me so I can't say how that would have helped, but it's good they're considering it. I hope it all goes ok x

[Petalgirl]

I'm just about to get my 3rd zoladex injection, and I take tibolone daily. The first month I didn't notice any change. But I didn't get a period the second month, and honestly I feel great. I still have some niggles (deep infiltration stage 4 endo on bowel and basically every where, plus adeno, waiting for hysterectomy and bowel resection) like lower back pain, and what I call "cyst pain" the dragging feeling right down in my groin from my cysts. But it's nothing compared to what I got without the zoladex. I have energy again! And I can actually do what normal people do without needing a rest after. I've hardly had any side effects, some hot flashes in my ankle of all places, and some small mood swings but those have died down and are no worse than mild pms.I know not everyone has such a great experience but I'm very pleased I finally decided to do it, I was very against it for a long time but I was left with no choice and wish I'd done it sooner.

[My_adventures]

Hi

I've just had my third implant. The first was the worst, the pain was immense but they think it was on a nerve I felt like I was stabbed with a needle for a good 4 days. The last two haven't been as bad.

Mine is to stop my two large endometrial cysts from growing as they are putting pressure on my kidney and killing my right apparently.

I am taking 2.5mg of Tibolone as well with it.

[NW248]

I didn't get any side effects from Zoladex and the first bout of it I had, I didn't have tibolone as well. It changed my life, gave me back myself. I hadn't been diagnosed with endo at that time but was having huge period problems including flu like symptoms twice a month, banging headaches and immense pain. (I did have endo, they just didn't bother investigating the possibility.) The second time I was put on tibolone as well and then had a hysterectomy and stopped the zoladex but kept taking the tibolone. The tibolone was making me ill, and incidentally if you just stop taking that the withdrawel is pretty bad (I crushed tablets down and reduced the dose gradually).

[Ggrif]

Hiya. I had zoladex injections for a year. I had a fab time on them and can only say everything was brilliant. I had a few hot flushes but nothing to bad. So all positive from me.

Good luck

Gem x

[claudia_91 Moderator Endometriosis UK]

Hi Mali87

Welcome to the community! We hope that you can find support here, as coming to terms with an endo diagnosis isn't easy. You're not alone.

I'd like to direct you to our information pages which provide details about treatments such as Zoladex and the side effects that you might experience: endometriosis-uk.org/endome...

With regards to your family history of osteoarthritis, it is important to raise this with your consultant so that you can both make an informed decision about your treatment plan.

Hope your pain starts to ease soon, take care 😊

[Moonglo in reply to claudia_91]

Can I add that you should click on Hormonal treatment, then GnRH analogues to find more info?You should also be offered regular dexa scans if you’re getting the injections longer term.