Surgical ablation & arimidex

Hi,

If you have a surgical ablation of your ovaries, uterus, etc and you had
been on Tamoxifen, would you still need to go on Arimidex? I'm curious as
only post menopausal women can take Arimidex but they stopped producing
estrogen from their ovaries - haven't they?

Thanks.

Tammy

R. Fizek wrote:
> Hi,
>
> If you have a surgical ablation of your ovaries, uterus, etc and you had
> been on Tamoxifen, would you still need to go on Arimidex? I'm curious as
> only post menopausal women can take Arimidex but they stopped producing
> estrogen from their ovaries - haven't they?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Tammy
>
>
Yes and yes.

Estrogen is not only produced by the ovaries. The other production
route is through the enzyme aromatase, which converts other hormones to
estrogen in various tissues, particularly fat and muscle. It is this
path that aromatase-inhibitors such as Arimidex block, whereas Tamoxifen
blocks the estrogen receptors on breast cells, thus blocking estrogen
from all sources, but leaving the hormone in the bloodstream to affect
other tissues (eg bone).

Aromatase inhibitors have no effect on estrogen produced by the ovaries,
that is why they are unsuitable for pre-menopausal women (unless they
have had ovarian ablation etc.).


Tim Jackson

"Tim Jackson" <tim@tim-jackson.co.uk> wrote in message
news:464894c2$0$8740$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net...


> Estrogen is not only produced by the ovaries. The other production route
> is through the enzyme aromatase, which converts other hormones to estrogen
> in various tissues, particularly fat and muscle. It is this path that
> aromatase-inhibitors such as Arimidex block, whereas Tamoxifen blocks the
> estrogen receptors on breast cells, thus blocking estrogen from all
> sources, but leaving the hormone in the bloodstream to affect other
> tissues (eg bone).
>
> Aromatase inhibitors have no effect on estrogen produced by the ovaries,
> that is why they are unsuitable for pre-menopausal women (unless they have
> had ovarian ablation etc.).

That's very interesting, thank you!

Except that it probably means that my excess of oestrogen is because I'm fat
.... :-(

Mary
>
>
> Tim Jackson
>