No Hormonals??

barbe1958

loriio, how is muscle tone going to help you avoid cancer?? (If only it were that easy!! - I am FAR stronger than a lot of men I've met. I have GREAT upper body strength, but still got cancer!) Is he just saying to lose weight - as body fat naturally produces estrogen? Make sure you don't all of a sudden throw soy and flax seed into your diet unless you've been eating them all along. Your nutritionist should be aware of the ramifications of some of the "healthy" foods on our hormonal breast cancer. Do you know your ER/PR stats? That would help you tremendously in figuring out your diet. Please do not assume that what is good for the general population is good for you now.

dogsandjogs

This is off-topic, but it is my understanding that hormonals don't prevent a recurrence. They just help starve the new tumor (if it is estrogen positive) so it can't survive.

barbe1958

Well, if it starves the new tumour, then that would prevent a recurrence...wouldn't it?

kira1234

That's my understanding barbie, at least that'show my onc. put it.

CatFromFL

Please go to this website to put in your specific details. And please understand that anyone with a history of Breast Cancer is always high risk for a second breast cancer, even with Mastectomy! Know your specifics, before you make decisions that can alowant tter your survival.

http://www.adjuvantonline.com/index.jsp

I had an Oncotype of "0" with my first BC in 2006, so I qit my Tamoxifen at year 4 thinking I was "home free" and hated my side effects. In 2012 I again faced BC again. No family history, no other risk factors except a previous BC. I will be going  on an AI soon, after my Rads are complete. I will stay on it as long as I can.

barbe1958

Cat, I had to have an account or ID to access that page....hmmm. I do know I'd done some online test in the past and my type of cancer (Papillary) wasn't even on the list!! Had to use IDC as a generalization. Now Papillary is more common, though it's still less than 2% off all breast cancers. When I got it, there was only ONE google hit of an 83 year old woman!! As well, Oncotype testing (not your link) assumes you'll take the 5 years of Tamoxifen, so if you stopped, they you changed the outcome.

mybee333

Cat- I wouldn't blame yourself if that is what I was hearing in your post. You did 4 yrs. It doesn't sound like 1 more would've made the big difference. We can't always control all of this. My onc told me that my chance of getting BC in the unaffected breast was 1% for each yr lived. So 20 more years, 20%. Yes the longer you stay on an anti hormonal the longer that possible recurrence is pushed forward. Nevertheless it is there. If we know of any proven ways to reduce estrogen naturally through diet it could be very helpful as far as fighting this recurrence.

dogsandjogs

Are those statistics for a recurrence or a new primary?.  I was told at the time of my 1982 mastectomy that my chances of getting a new primary was more than if I had never had cancer. But he didn't give me any percentages. He did say that in most cases if a cancer is going to metastisize it usually happens within a year and a half.

I went for 28 years without a recurrence; never thought of a NEW cancer. But it happened. However, the onc said a new one is better than a recurrence.

By the way, no treatments after my 1982 mastectomy; just yearly blood tests.