Vitamins, supplements, foods to avoid/eat-What Do You Do?

curveball

I'm glad I found this thread. I've just finished chemo and will now be taking anastrozole for 5 years. Does anyone know whether there are vitamins and/or herbs that interact adversely with anastrozole? I haven't been taking it long enough to know whether I will have any SE to deal with.

Anonymous

Amelie,



I was told to use fish oil instead.

Also re: I understand thAt a number of supplements interact with aromatae inhibitors.

liv-

my list of bullets

vit -  b -c - d - e

vit -  b6 - b12

folic acid

iodine

potassium - slow k

magnesium citrate

iron

cats claw

curcumin

bicarb soda - honey

metformin

fluffqueen - curcumin & turmeric are the same, curcumin is active.. the concentration -  & if your not into spicy take the curcumin capsules, no taste at all.

shaneoak- it wont make any difference if your are her2+.

xx

Momine

Amelie, unfortunately the info available is contradictory. I am not sure what to tell you. Personally I avoid flax. Many people take chia seeds instead.

Amelie_Rose

Thank you, Momine and HVV.  I guess that it's a case of better safe than sorry.  I started back with it when I read that it wasn't thought to be harmful, but will stop again.  It's just that I hate to miss out on something that might help in the fight against cancer.  I do use most of the spices and vitamins mentioned on this thread, not all, but most.  I have also tried to reduce my exposure to chemicals by using organic products (soap, lotion, shampoo, toothpaste, even cleaning agents for the house, laundry, etc...) as much as possible.  Who knows if that makes any difference at all?  But, at least it makes me feel as if I am being proactive.  I am sure you all can relate. (-:

Momine

Yes, Amelie, I am sure we can all relate.

janiceB

I have noticed that many are taking curcumin supplements and I was also taking them for inflamation of my wrists. It was working quite well, but then I saw where it interferes with the effectiveness of Tamoxifen which I am also taking. Apparently curcumin is a good anti-breast cancer supplement if you don't already have it, and aren't being treated with Tamoxifen.

LtotheK

I've worked with holistic practioners, and had a lot of opinions from top hospitals because I was a young patient for whom they didn't quite know what the right protocol was.

One doctor sorta haunted me, she said that they will never be able to test all the herbal/supplement interactions with Tamoxifen, and so she recommended only doing 100% RDA of anything.  I was on a lot of stuff from the holistic doctor, and I rethought things.  First of all, I like to keep it simple, so I was thrilled with the idea of cutting my insane supplement budget. I decided to go with what I had consistently heard good things about.  So, to that end:

Fish oil--studies even indicate it increases the efficacy of Tamoxifen

D--a no brainer, though the actual blood serum levels are a source of contradictory studies

Magnesium--the only thing that keeps me regular with the Tamoxifen

Calcium--whole food, about 250 - 500 mgs a day per latest recommendations

Probiotic--when I travel

Melatonin--when I travel

Anonymous

Lto the K, Would you explain yoru chocies?  I understand and agree with yoru philosophy but could you expain the specifics especially with regard to items that you lable only when traveling?

Anonymous

LtotheK, I found an older thread that refers to tamoxifen and Vit E and says that it seems to interfere with, not enhance, Tamox's positive effect.  Here it is. 

http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/78/topic/752147

MelissaDallas

HVV, the probiotics help ward off G.I. Upsets while traveling & the melatonin helps you sleep when your body clock is messed up.

Momine

Probiotics also may help "purge" hormones from the intestines and are thought to protect against colon cancer. Ditto for fibre, of course, and along with whatever supplements I take, I am conscious of picking high-fibre foods whenever practical, so wholegrain bread over white, sweet potato over white, quinoa over white rice - notice a pattern, btw? 

tenaj

I love this thread. I have learned so much! Thanks to all of you who have posted. Apparently I didn't do enough research & started taking curcumin supplements a few weeks ago & now have read that it is not good to take with tamoxifen! Boy do I keep learning!

liv-

take cancer out of the scenario its always been the same, one decade they say 'this is good for you' next decade, sorry we were wrong.

now in australia they are saying coffee is good up to 3 cups a day, suits me fine, will always drink coffee.

xx

Anonymous

What? Curcumin and tamox not good?  Please provide a link, someone,that is credible.  I'm taking both...and am shocked to read this latest.  I thought I had extensively researched everything that could counteract effectiveness of tamox and now this.  I found research that claims the opposite, and that curcumin actually can prevent against tamoxifen resistance. 

http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/69/24_MeetingAbstracts/3098

[3098] Curcumin Modulates Tamoxifen Response in Resistant Breast Cancer Cells.

De Gasperi MJ, Cavazos D, deGraffenried LA University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

Despite significant improvement in both detection and treatment, breast cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer deaths for women in the United States. Tamoxifen is the most commonly used treatment for estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast carcinoma, yet up to 50% of patients with metastatic disease present with de novo resistance to tamoxifen, and almost all patients will eventually become resistant to tamoxifen treatment. The mechanism(s) for this resistance appear to be largely dependent upon activation of growth factor signaling pathways. Aberrant activation of the PI3K/Akt and MAPK pathways and their cross talk with both the genomic and nongenomic activity of the ER is implicated in tamoxifen resistance. Breast cancer cell lines with constitutively activated Akt are characterized by high levels of the pro-survival transcription factor Nuclear Factor kappa B (NF-kB), estrogen-independent growth, and resistance to tamoxifen treatment. Studies have shown that curcumin, a polyphenol derived from the rhizome of the perennial herb Curcuma longa, is able to inhibit the activation of NF-kB, which is implicated as one mechanism by which breast cancer cells become resistant to tamoxifen treatment. Previous studies in our laboratory have demonstrated that inhibition of NF-kB is sufficient to sensitize MCF-7 cells that have constitutively activated Akt and elevated NF-kB levels to tamoxifen treatment. However, clinical NF-kB inhibitors such as Velcade generally involve suppression of the proteosome, leading to severe toxicities. Therefore, identification of alternative approaches for suppressing NF-kB activity in the absence of toxicity could prove beneficial for enhancing response to tamoxifen. In the present study, we assessed the efficacy of curcumin at inhibiting breast cancer cell proliferation and survival both as a single agent and in combination with tamoxifen in MCF-7 cells that expressed both "normal" levels of Akt (Control) activity as well as those that expressed the constitutively active form of Akt (myrAkt). As has been previously reported, curcumin treatment inhibited survival and proliferation in the Control MCF-7 cells, but importantly curcumin was also able to suppress survival and proliferation in the myrAKT MCF-7 cells. Curcumin and tamoxifen co-treatment was found to synergistically inhibit survival in myrAKT MCF-7 cells. These findings demonstrate that curcumin can sensitize myrAKT MCF-7 cells to tamoxifen treatment. This preliminary data suggests that the combination of natural NF-kB inhibitors such as curcumin with tamoxifen may be a viable strategy to either prevent tamoxifen resistant disease or to re-sensitize refractory disease to tamoxifen treatment.

Friday, December 11, 2009 5:30 PM

Claire

pip57

Claire, it will take a few good sized studies to keep me from taking my turmeric.

Anonymous

Me too, pip!

Rhiannon78

HI everyone:  I am new to commenting on these boards, although I read a lot of posts when I was first diagnosed with DCIS on the right side in late November 2012.  Long story short, I had a lumpectomy on Jan. 3, path reports came back that everything was removed with 9mm margins (most likely during the stereotactic biopsy!), no rads recommended.  For the left side, first path report came back hyperplasia no atypia, then 2nd path report suggested ADH, so my surgeon would like to take that stuff out as well to confirm that nothing worse is lurking.

I met with my MO this week, fully anticipating that she would push Tamox on me becasue of both breasts being involved, but to my surprise, what she told me was that 8 out of 10 months she would say not to take it for someone with my diagnosis!  She said in the months where she sees more recurrences with women who did not take Tamox, then she worries!  I am 52, pre-menopausal and no family history. She said I have to decide if I am more worried by the fairly low possibility of recurrence, or more worried about taking a pil that might have unpleasant side-effects.

I am not a big believer in supplements in general, as I know that getting vitamins, etc is best done through food consumption. That said, before my diagnosis, I was taking a black cohash/vitex based hormone blancer, Evening Primrose oil (both to manage extreme cyclical breast tenderness) and Omegas. Stopped everything except Omegas becasue I didn't know if they were contraindicated.  I have a very helathy diet overall, am probably a bit underweight if anything-we have a vegetable garden, buy organic for what we don't grow, all meats we consume are organic/pasture-raised, lots of veggies, beans, etc.  I drink a bit of wine and eat some dark chocolate, but not a lot of "white" stuff (e.g. breads, sugar, dairy etc). I juice nearly every morning with carrot, apple, kale, cucumber ginger and tumeric. Based on this, the MO felt that there was not much more that I could do to improve my eating habits in terms of risk reduction. So I asked her about supplements to help reduce/eliminate circulating estrogen-such as calcium d-glucarate and DIM. I am also considering olive leaf extract and/or green tea extract and tumeric.  I ordered them but have not started taking them.  She basically confirmed my belief and said that because supplements are not regulated like pharmaceuticals, there is no way to really know the levels and purity of many supplements.  Lot of ingredients come from China and are even less regulated.  She recommened Michael Pollan's books as well (which I have read), as well as "The Blue Zones", and trying to conume as much of the healthy stuff in original form as possible.  She did say that it would be great if there could be more studies on the value supplements (assuming that the ingredients could be regulated).  She said there was one breast cancer study going on with some supplement (can't recall which) in Australia that had to be halted becasue participants were suffering from renal failure from bad ingredients.

Anyway, was wanting to get some insight from you ladies to see if you are aware of any supplement companies that take extra steps to ensure that ingedients are local and that purity is tested?  This is a link I found that might seem like some kind of FDA scare tactic, but that also makes sense.  Thanks in advance for any insights!

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/09/10-surprising-dangers-of-vitamins-and-supplements/index.htm

ReneeinOH

As with food, only certified organic items have a third party verification process.  To maintain certification, compliance to organic production and processing requires annual recordingkeeping and onsite inspection of practices and paperwork.  "All natural" and other similar claims are not rigorously (or at all) authenticated by a third party.  

LtotheK

HVV got it right.  Someone mentioned Vitamin E, I don't take that, I take fish oil.  Any additional information on that welcomed! Probiotics are super-helpful when traveling for a lot of things, including general travel upset, and even parasites in certain locations.  Melatonin sometimes helps me sleep.  Doesn't always work.

Eliza22

Evening Primrose Oil- how long does one need to take this in order to determine its effectiveness for pain relief?



Ie- I've been on it daily for two weeks. Is that long enough to say it isn't helping? Or should people give it more time- a month, two months, etc...? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Rhiannon78

Eliza22: it is my understanding that EPO needs to be taken for months before an effect can be seen ( and there are a few studies that have failed to prove its effectiveness for breast pain).



I started taking it again a month or so ago, and am sorry to report that my breast tenderness may be worse than ever, which leads me to belirvr that what was really helping me was the black cohosh/vitex which balances the ratio between estorgen and progesterone. I'm begininng to feel that I may be low in progesterone and am going to explore the risks/benefits of progesterone cream, since black cohosh appears to be contraindicated for BC.



Bes of luck!

Eliza22

Rhiannon, thank you so much for your reply! I've been looking online for a "timeline" and couldn't find one.



I'll keep the faith that it will work. The pain woke me up in the middle of the night last week :-(



Good luck with the black cohosh!



Take care,

Elizabeth

mysunshine48

This thread has been inactive for a couple of years, but I am wondering about interaction of Cucumin/Tumeric and Arimidex?

PeggySull

Yes, Sunshine,

Let's start this thread up again! In addition to answering sunshine's question, maybe we could start by listing the supplements we take in hopes to prevent recurrence.

I'll start: turmeric/curcumin, Vitamin D3 (5,000 IU) at night and in the morning, Metformin (850mg) at night and in the morning.

There are other supplements that would likely be helpful, but I am recently retired and can't afford them (e.g., ginger, cinnamon, etc).

Still I'd love to hear about other's supplemental regimen!

Hugs,

Peggy

gciriani

My wife has been taking since March 2014:

• Metformin, 850 mg, twice a day;
• Curcumin complex 500 mg, three times/day;
• Ashwagandha 1200 mg, 5 caplets/day.

Besides the above, she's been taking the more usual vitmains and mineral complexes for years. Recently, her primary-care physician prescribed daily monitoring of her glycemia with a home gadget, perhaps because she's taking metformin; has anybody on metformin been suggested to monitor the glycemic index?

mysunshine48

Happy to see this thread again.

Peggy, Try to add Calcium and Vitamin K2, if possible. K2 puts the calcium into the bones where it needs to go.

In addition to Arimidex, I take Bone Health. It is a little pricy, but has vitamin D and K2 in it. Also, Tumeric/Curcumin, B complex, multi vitamin and fish oil.

I am eating very healthy, as much organic as I can. Lots of green, leafy vegetables, 2 or 3 fruits a day, chicken and wild caught fish. No red meat. No refined white sugar and only a glass of wine on a special occasion. I have a big bowl of organic oatmeal, with fruit every morning.Sounds boring, I know, but from all my research, this is the best for us.

Fran1969

I am very concerned over the heart effects of doxorubicin. What does everyone take to counteract the damage? Still trying to find my way ... fran

MLP3

I'm new here and just diagnosed and waiting to see my team on 1/6.

I'm vegan and I prefer to get my vitamins through foods. But it sounds like I may need supplements!

I did just start drinking Chaga tea. I also add schrizandra berries to it for their amazing anti-inflammatory properties. I also just bought maca capsules for energy. But I'm wondering about the Maca going to my tumors... Would they give them the energy to spread? I do know that it's a hormonal balancer but I've also read that it's an estrogen booster. Something I do not need

mysunshine48

MLP3, I would suggest you wait on adding supplements until you talk with your doctors. No, being estrogen positive, you need to get rid of estrogen, not add to it. Best of luck to you!