High LDL as a result of chemo....

climbergirl

I am so angry I could smash my Onc....so one of the other lovely things that I have to worry about now is a high LDL level from the fact that chemo has destroyed my ovaries! NO ONE told me about this and now my levels are that of someone who sits on the couch eating potato chips all day. Ok, so tit is bordeline high but my Gen PT doctor sends me some insane form letter telling me that he wants me to start eating better and throw in some excercise. I F**king climb for Pete's sake and do yoga all the time and eat healthier than anyone else as well! This is a known issue with pre-men women that are thrown into menopause ~ LDL levels go up. And guess what.....Tamoxifen lowers it back....SWELL, not taking that THANKS FOR SCREWING UP MY HEART HEALTH!!! I will not take anything to lower it chemically either....am done with all the poison. Estrogen is the thing that keeps the LDL low.

I swear I am going to a doc and start taking bioidentical hormones if I don't get my period back soon. Has anyone tried that or looked into it? It really makes me wonder why Onc's are not more tuned in to how Estrogen levels effect us both before (causing the initial cancer) and after BC. I am so estrogen deprived it is not even funny....last period was July 2007, which makes my Onc happy but it makes me really pissed off.

~climbergirl

wishiwere

Hmmmm....Not sure as you don't say if you are hormone positive in the tumour department, but taking a bioidentical estrogen, isn't the best of thougths if you are.  I know when mine was borderline high I was instructed to start on an omega 3 fish oil as that is supposed to help in lowering it.  Hope you can back on level ground. It's frustrating and without estrogen we can be quick to tempers, but surely it will settle.  Try to give it time. 

cp418

I've also had issues with my cholesterol levels last year 199 and this year 214.  However, I've been taking Omega 3 and CoQ10 daily and my HDL levels are super high.  Last year HDL 87 and this year 103.  My PCP says because my HDL is so high it elevates my total cholesterol and she is not as concerned with the total value.  If I did not take these supplements and change my eating habits, exercise I believe my lab results would be really bad.  I feel I will always have to struggle now with these health issues due to bc and the side effects of treatments.

anondenet

I've been taking bioidentical hormones for years. It is great for keeping arterial plaque down as well as cholesterol. Breast cancer patients who take hormones survive as long as or LONGER than women who don't take hormones. My surgeon said she expected her patients taking hormones to recur but they haven't. She called the HRT-cancer connection "a perception, not a reality."

The idea that hormones feed hormone-positive cancer is a myth. Many women on the Amazon group have studied this and a lot of the long term survivors take them. You can check the studies on www.breastcancerchoices.org/hrt There must be twenty or more studies there that followed breast cancer patients taking HRT.

Even Suzanne Somers has been taking hormones for years and never took chemo either.

BTW, they don't recommend taking oral estrogens. Transdermal hormones (creams or patches) are best according to studies. I would be afraid to stop taking my hormones.

 Anom

cp418

Curious what stages these women are who take bioidentical hormones?  Any with positive lymph nodes and strong ER+, PR+ and /or HER2+?

anondenet

I don't know what exact stage most of Amazon Group are. But most of them are ER+, PR+. Some have had positive nodes.

If you can get the full text of some of those research articles, they may say the exact status/ staging of those they followed.

cp418

Thank you for the information.  Very interesting because I have also read research articles for patients on AI who become resistant and and are given hormones to resensitive if I'm understanding it correctly.  Hormones are certainly a very complex science.

althea

This is news to me that chemo affects LDL cholesterol.  I was disappointed in my cholesterol results last december.  The cumlative number is all I can recall, and it was roughly the same as it was 3 years prior, pre bc.  At the time of the test, I had been eating flaxseed for breakfast almost daily for 6 months, and one of the purported benefits of eating flaxseed is lower LDL.  And tamoxifen helps keep cholesterol in check?  I stopped taking that in january and had a higher cholesterol reading in feb.  I knew taking oatmeal in the form of cookies was bound for failure, but I just had to test it for myself.  Now I have to wonder if absense of tamoxifen factored in.  I haven't read anything about the amazon group either.  This learning curve never ends, does it. 

climbergirl

I came across some literature that shows that women who have experienced chemical ablation of the ovaries (from chelmo in this case) can often have issues with elevated LDL.  Also read that taking fish oil for some people can raise LDL levels. Who knew? So I am off of my daily dose of fish oil and taking it less frequently.

I actually feel like my ovaries are trying to wake up this week ....my hot flashes have decreased and I cannot pinpoint this to any changes except that I started taking DIM. This makes no sense to me....but am I mistaken about how DIM works. Thoughts? 

climbergirl

Yes indeed, I am estrogen positive...sorry for leaving that important detail out.