How soon to start taking hormonal therapy after surgery?

Julia1987

Hello ladies,

I am very sorry if I have missed a similar topic.

Question: How soon should you start hormonal therapy after surgery if chemo is not going to be taken but radiation is going to be taken? Has anyone taken hormonal therapy while doing radiation?

Context: My mum has been diagnosed with stage 2 IDC Er+ Pr+ Her2-. She has had her surgery a couple of weeks ago and is going to start her radiation next week. She has decided against chemotherapy. Her doctor said that she is more than happy to prescribe her latrezol straight away but my mum is worried that taking both at the same time is going to create severe side effects.

Thank you very much!

Warm regards,

Julia

debiann

I did not do rads, but I don't think the combo of rads and hormone therapy is considered to be a problem. I did start AI's while I was still on Herceptin, and all was fine. It would be best for your mom to start the therapy as soon as possible, especially since she is skipping chemo.

Julia1987

Hello Debian,

Thank you very much for your reply. I greatly appreciate it.I completely agree with you that it is best to start the hormones asap if she is skipping chemo.

Many thanks

Best regards

Juli

AnniebNJ

I did not have chemo, did surgery, rads then arimidex. My onc wanted me to wait until after rads for the hormone therapy to minimize side effects. I believe I could have started hormone therapy right away and am sorry I waited.

Hopeful56

I did chemo, radiation and Herceptin. I was told I could not take an AI (arimidex and now exemestane) until after my radiation was complete. The explanation was because any stray cancer cells out there they wanted to destroy first with chemo and then radiation. So I had chemo, then radiation and then started the AI. I could take the AI along with my year of Herceptin.

BrooksideVT

If I am reading your post correctly, it does not sound as though your mother's onc particularly recommends undergoing both treatments simultaneously, but is willing to allow her to do so. I can tell you my onc strongly advised against my starting my aromatase inhibitor until a couple of weeks after my last rads treatment.

I suggest a conversation (in person or by telephone) with your mum and her onc (assuming she is open to this) about his recommendations, hesitations, and suggestions in this area. Each patient is different, and, while rads only lasts a few weeks, aromatase inhibitors represent a five-year (or longer) commitment, which can be difficult enough under the best of circumstances.

muska

If there are no specific contraindications AI can be started at any time and it can be taken through radiation. I started taking anastrozole two weeks before I began radiation. I did not notice any impact or adverse effect.

Kicks

I did neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemo so time after surgery wa. not play as 3 weeks after surgery I started 12 weekly Taxol. I started 25 rads a week after last Taxol. A week after starting rads, I started Femara (it was not then available as the generic form - letrozole then). Have been on Femara/letrozole for 5 1/2 yrs with no issues (will be on 'it' 'forever').

Rads were easy for me. I had been completely and utterly EXHAUSTED throughout Taxol but every day through rads, I felt better. I do not have (nor did I have during rads) any SE from Femara/letrozole. Some do but there is no way of knowing beforehand. A discussion with her Dr would be a good idea to discuss her concerns. Don't know how young your Mum is -I was 63 when DXd.

Reemember there is no 'One Size Fits All' when it comes treating BC. We are are each unique, as are our Drs. Not all BCs are the same same, even within similar DXs.

Julia1987

Hello ladies,

Thank you all very much for your replies and sharing your experiences. I greatly appreciate it. And I can see that everyones story and situation is unique. Thank you so much!I will make sure my mum reads all of your replies.

My mum's oncologist was more than happy for her to start taking AI straight away.However, it was my mum who herself suggested that it might be too hard for her to experience side effects from both. The problem is that in the city that we live New Zealand there is no private oncologists (not a single one) so most people go to public hospitals. All the doctors are overloaded with work so I think that doctors physically don't have much time to convince patients who are determined to do what they think is best for them. The main reason why I am worried is because the oncologist also suggested chemo as a small amount of cancer cells was in 2 of her nodes but the chemo only added extra 5% to her survival.

Thank you again for your replies! All the best wishes to you! Have a great day.

614

My MO told me to wait until after my radiation was completed before I started taking the Aromatase Inhibitor (Arimidex/Anastrazole).   However, in my case, I was no where near menopause at the time of my bc diagnosis.  I could only start taking the AI's once I was artificially induced into menopause.  My MO started my zoladex shots to suppress my ovaries immediately after I finished my radiation tx, and that is when I started the Arimidex/Anastrazole.  After 3 months of the zoladex shots, I had my ovaries removed.

Good luck to your mom.