BC with diabetics

SaveMyBoobsp

I'm taking Synthroid for hypothyroidism, Simvestatin for high cholesterol, and I have diet controlled type 2 diabetes. I'm three weeks post lumpectomy, cancer was stage0, grade1. No rads because clear margins and sentinel node clean, now will start Tamoxifen after first of year. Is there anyone who has a similar journey. I really hate taking all of these meds, but my health and life at 56 years is what I have to do to continue living BC clear.

Jelson

Hi there. I take synthroid, tamoxifen, lisinopril for blood pressure and ranitidine for reflux!

There is a study of the impact of metformin - a common Type 2 Diabetes drug on prevention of breast cancer recurrence. http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01101438   Not that you want to take more medications and congratulations for being able to control your diabetes with diets - but there are women without diabetes in the study and if not in the study, asking their doctors to prescribe metformin for them. check the thread(s) on metformin under clinical trials

Here is an article from last year on tamoxifen which mentions how it lowers cholesterol - scroll down to the section titled "Limitations" http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/summary/2011/tamoxifen0611

so yes, it is a pain to take all these pills - BUT! lucky we have the choice.

SaveMyBoobsp

Thanks Jelson, this was great information. The realization that there are others out there who have similar journeys is a relief. With all these drug interactions I have been wondering if I should get my GP to take me off the cholesterol med. now I feel it is an option. We also share acid reflux, it is a small world!

Moonflwr912

SMB, Hello there.  I have diabetes as well. the Steroids on chemo gave me hell!  But I made it through. I take Simvastatin, Metformin and Glimepiride.  BUT  I also take BP meds.  Make sure ALL your meds are listed.  I had a bad reaction to a combination when I was on Chemo and ended up with Renal Failure.  not good.  So just make sure your MO is aware of everything you take.  Ohm, yeah, I am also on Omeprezole. very small world!  LOL

SaveMyBoobsp

Moon, I now added Metformin to my daily meds. because after 2mo. my scab was just coming off. I had such high numbers glucose, I couldn't get my body to heal. I got sick with a sinus infection and am on my last day of antibiotics. I'm feeling much better now. I refused to start Tamoxifin, and have been doing DIM and green smoothies loaded with broccoli and berries. I've been studying the alternative med. site and other books. I've had the talk with my GP and he wants info. on what I have gathered, I feel this has been the right choice for me. Thanks for your post, and good luck in your journey! LOL one day at a time. :-D



DCIS Lumpectomy 11/29/12 Stage 0, Grade 1, SN biopsy negative

volekaT1

Hi. I am a type 1 diabetic (20 years), on April 12th I had a bilateral skin sparing simple mastectomy, and 5 sentinel nodes removed from under my right arm. My cancer was stage 0. I'm incredibly concerend about lymphedema. but what's a more pressing concern right now is that my chest is swelling. The first 6 days after my surgery, the swelling in my chest gradually decreased. Then on the evening of the seventh day, my chest swelled to day 1 size! i immediately sat down and raised my arms above my head for 30 minutes. This chest swelling has happened about 4 times since, and goes down after about 4-5 hours. Only on the first incident did my arm swell (and tingle) also. Today my chest swelled to day 1 size and 12+ hours later the swelling has not gone down! immediately after my surgery I had tissue expanders placed under the muscle, and expansion has not yet started. I'm worried!

Pessa

Discuss with the surgeon!

Moonflwr912

Voleka, you had better have already called your surgeon! That type of swelling is nothing to play with. did they place drains? Are they perhaps blocked? Please don't wait, get help it go ER. Let US know what happens. Praying for you.

CarolynVM

I have had Type 2 Diabetes for several years.  It was well controlled with Janumet and Actos.  Last summer I switched to vegan eating and it brought my sugars so low that I was able to drop that scary Actos.  I was diagnosed with bc in November and had a lumpectomy Nov. 21, 2012.  I started radiation in February and completed it March 22, 2013.  I then started exemestane.  I stopped eating vegan during radiation and my sugars rose a little but nothing alarming.  Roughly a month after completing radiation my sugars started going higher and higher and higher.  I'm now taking two Janumet, two injections of Byetta, an injection of a fast-acting insulin and an injection of slow-acting insulin.  I started with 15 units of slow-acting and am now up to 22 units nightly.  My morning sugars are still about 275 and evening about 375.  Could the cancer, surgery, radiation or exemestane have anything to do with this?  I don't have an endocrinologist yet and my primary care doesn't seem real sharp about diabetes.

Moonflwr912

Carolyn. Are you taking any type of Steroids? My fasting sugars flew up over 300 the days I took them.

You could call the diabetic nurse, most health plans have one. Otherwise talk to your onc. He should have some knowledge of comorbidities. Good luck. Maybe someone else will have another idea. I know stress can raise numbers too. And radition is tough on your body and might have caused high sugars. I know when I had an infection, my sugars jumped too. You may have to go back to the other med until its back under control. Good luck, and let me know how you're doing, ok? Much love.

CarolynVM

Moonflower, exemestane is described as "an irreversible, steroidal aromatase inactivator".  I can't learn the meaning of "steroidal" but if it means in the steroid family like prednisone, it could account for the amazing rise in blood glucose reading.  The information regarding exemestane doesn't indicate anything about affects on blood glucose or advisability for diabetics.  I don't know what to make of it.  I talk with the diabetic nurse weekly but she only advises me to pump up the insulin.  I will call my medical oncologist Tuesday and see if he would recommend a different aromatase inhibitor.  I'm also going to insist that my primary care doc give me a referral to an endocrinologist.  This is NOT a pooh-pooh matter!!!!!!

CarolynVM

Moonflower, exemestane is described as "an irreversible, steroidal aromatase inactivator".  I can't learn the meaning of "steroidal" but if it means in the steroid family like prednisone, it could account for the amazing rise in blood glucose reading.  The information regarding exemestane doesn't indicate anything about affects on blood glucose or advisability for diabetics.  I don't know what to make of it.  I talk with the diabetic nurse weekly but she only advises me to pump up the insulin.  I will call my medical oncologist Tuesday and see if he would recommend a different aromatase inhibitor.  I'm also going to insist that my primary care doc give me a referral to an endocrinologist.  This is NOT a pooh-pooh matter!!!!!!

Moonflwr912

Carolyn, sounds like a plan but if its steroidal, itust have steroids in it, I would think. And my blood sugar readings would go up to over 500 when I ate anything, but just for the steroids days. My my numbers took a while to settle down after tx, but a year pfc, my A1 C is 6.9. I'll take it. LOL. Good luck, and keep pushing to figure it out. Much love.

savgigi

Carolyn, I was on Aromasin 4 months and seeing the discussion here and in other threads made me concerned about my blood sugar. I just had my A1c done right before getting off Aromasin and it was 5.5 - consistent with where it has been running. So any steroidal component has not caused an issue for me. I hope you figure it out for yourself.

CarolynVM

I was told by my new endocrinologist that the steroidal aromatase inactivator is highly targeted to estrogen-producing "things" (that's all I can remember) and wouldn't affect my diabetes. I keep pumping the insulin up and up and up and my morning sugars are now in the mid-200s. My A1C was 12 a few weeks ago. I'm trying to remain optimistic but I'm more worried about my diabetes than my cancer. My cancer is gone. The diabetes will never be gone.

Moonflwr912

I think you really need to go back to your endo and let him know that you are having trouble controlling this. I have only recently gotten back to good numbers. But I am type 2 and its not so bad for me. Good luck.

shuf

new bc patient - don't have all recepter numbers yet - I am a diabetic 2 - just learning wanting basic inf

Pessa

bump

Moonflwr912

shuff, sorry you have to be here. Pessa thanks for bumping this up so people could see it.

The worst for me was the steroids. My sugars soared up to 400 on those days. But PCP was kept up to date and we worked through tt. My A1C was 6.5 during chemo. Now that I'm eating more it's 6.9. PCP is ok with that.

Good luck. If you have specific questions post them or feel free to PM me.

Much love

shuf

how often did you go to pcp during this time and did other dr check with each other? Mine is up for the first time been running steady at 5.7 now 8.2. Have been under a lot of stress taking care of parents but this is a big jump. How did you keep up with breast cancer information and second guessing sugar levels during all this.

Moonflwr912

i saw my onco every treatment. I saw my PCP every 3 months during this time but would call if any problems came up. Stress will raise blood sugar. Both docs are in the same system so saw the reports.

I did run into a problem with my meds though. I was taking an anti inflammatory and high blood pressure meds, along with chemo.. The interaction put me into kidney failure. Oops! LOL. Ended up hospitalized for 4 days. So warning, when they ask what meds you are taking, make sure you ell them! The interaction of my meds is now noted and they will notice it if someone else has that combination now! LOL

Some PCP use insulin to keep blood sugar under control during chemo. Talk with your Docs and ask what are they thinking you should do. But it will e up to you to test more often. I I'd once a day unless it was steroid days. Then I checked 2-3 times. If t went over 500 I was o go to ER. Luckily it never got there. But hen I had n infection it sure went p oo. So keep an eye n it.

mom2threeboys

Any other type 1 diabetics out there? I've been diabetic for 38 years  managed with multiple daily injections (and switching to a pump and continuous glucose monitor as soon as insurance authorizes).  I have taken steroid injections two times in the past and each time my blood sugar skyrocketed to over 500 and remained there for 3+ days despite injecting over 3x my normal daily insulin requirements.  My core sample pathology diagnosed DCIS 3.6cm in left breast, but I opted for double mastectomy as my breasts are dense and the other breast had "benign" calcifications just as my DCIS breast had on previous mammo.  Surgical path revealed two very small areas of invasive ductal cancer in my left breast and the actual size of the DCIS area was 6cm.  ER+ at 100%/PR+ at 40%/HER2+.  So much for a goodbye to thinking about cancer.  I'm considering the ATEMPT trial which may or may not involve  chemo + Herceptin depending on which group I am randomly assigned. 

Moonflwr912

I think there are a couple of type 1 out there but I haven't seen them around lately. I'm type 2 and my BS did the 450 routine after every steroid tx too. Not fun. 3 days is about what my BS did too. Then it settled down and then I got diarrhea. LOL! Tx was not fun. I hope someone will jump in for you!

Much love

Spookiesmom

I'm T2 on the OmniPod Love it! On chemo/steroid days the pods PDM took care of all the calculations, everything was ok. Don't care for the Dex.

auntienance

T2 here too. Primary doc was happy if I stayed under 300 on steroid days which I sometimes did. Extra insulin helped but I stayed high for about 4 days each treatment.

Hope you hear from some T1s.

Ddw79

Any T1s on Tamoxefin or Raloxefine. I am on insulin 24/7 and really scared to start on any more drugs . If you are type 1 and have any experience to share about these drugs, I would really appreciate it.

Moonflwr912

DD, i hope someone sees your question about type 1's! Goodluck!

Ddw79

Thanks

Hopefully no one else has this deadly unlucky duo. So much more too.

Moonflwr912

bump

kathy1925

I have type 1 diabetes and am on an insulin pump. My A1C's have run in the 6.7 to 7.0 range since my BC diagnosis(not too much different from before my BC diagnosis). Arimidex has not had an effect on my blood glucose numbersand I was able to wear my pump during the BMX surgery. BTW, I may be delusional, but I consider myself to be more or less healthy, and I am fortunate enough to feel great. Type 1 diabetes along with breast cancer is not a fun combination, but it is very doable and manageable. Just my opinion......

Ddw79

good to hear about Armidex and bs. My doc suggested Aromasin and I'm not going there as it being looks like it acts as steroid. I am also a type 1 diabetic many very concerned about bs control which is pretty tight at 5.4 a1c