Anne:

Just thought I'd give you my story, briefly.  I took tamoxifen for five
years. For some reason, while on it, I started having very large ovarian
cysts.  First one developed within 5 months of starting the tamoxifen.  So,
had surgery to remove it.  Then 6 months later, large cyst was back on
remaining ovary.  Tried lupron shots to get rid of it.  Lupron shots worked,
but I did not like the side effects (big time hot flashes, and lots of bone
pain/ache).  Then they put me on birth control shots for a year.  They
worked too, but I had major weight gain (20 lbs for a 5' person). Finally, I
said to heck with it.  I'm not having more children.  So they finally did a
complete hysterectomy. I wish I had done it earlier.  I still had to take
the tamoxifen for the rest of that five year period (about 1 1/2 yrs).  If
you are ER positive, removing ovaries does not stop estrogen production.
You still have it in your adrenal glands and pancreas I also think produces
it.  Fortunately, I never had any other side effects from tamoxifen.  I'd
take it again in a heartbeat.

I would talk to your oncologist about the hot flashes.  There is probably
something he/she can give you to help with those.

Robin

As the others have stated removing ovaries do not stop estrogen from being
produced. There are alternative drugs to tamoxphen and other drugs( such as
antidepressants) that help with the side effects.
Alex

Not as such.  It would mean you had more options, as you would be eligible
for aromatase inhibitors (eg Arimidex) as an alternative, which is in some
cases more effective.  Tamoxifen blocks estrogen receptors on breast
tissues,  Arimidex blocks the production of estrogen -outside- the ovaries.
So if you are menopausal or have no ovaries, it stops all estrogen
production.

There are treatments available to reduce the hot flashes.  And there are
alternative (albeit more expensive) drugs available to Tamoxifen.

Tamoxifen does give a small increase in risk of uterine cancers and some
other diseases such as stroke.  These are small compared to the risk of
recurrent breast cancer that it reduces significantly.  I'll leave the
subjective answers to the ladies present.

Tim Jackson