Suzanne Somors hormone replacement???

Dear Barry:

Please do not lose your temper. We owe you this fantastic subject, which is giving everybody here so much to think about. I, for one, am truly grateful for that. Your starting this thread has got me reviewing issues that never really crossed my mind before. This thread is turning into one of the "locomotive" subjects of this forum (along with, I think, the "Mojo" subject from Mena, and the "Success Stories" one, without forgetting marejo's wonderful "calling all survivors" thread).

I believe you had mentioned somewhere that you were getting frustrated and thinking about leaving the forum (please pardon me if I have you confused with someone else). Please do not leave: your contributions are invaluable.

Also: I do believe that LJ13's last post was a simple remark, I was not under the impression that this was an attack on anybody or anything?

Barry

We have a lot of the same questions. My cholesterol went up too after rads and I have a very good diet. I read that low estrogen raises cholesterol and this is why lack of estrogen has adverse effects on the heart, also why taking arimidex raises cholesterol. I too have an underactive thyroid. Hopefully when I see my doctor this week, I will have some answers and I will let you know. If you want to pm me what area you are in, I can also ask her if she can recommend any docs in your area. She seems to be very involved with an organization of other doctors, so she might know of someone else.

I know finding these answers is frustrating for all of us, and I really appreciate everyone who is willing to share their wisdom here and not be scared off by the naysayers.

From American Society of Clinical Oncology

Abstract:

Background: Anecdotal studies and isolated case reports have observed an association between thyroid disease and breast cancer. This purported association remains controversial. We describe a retrospective case-control study on the prevalence of breast cancer in patients with abnormal thyroid function studies. Age-matched subjects served as controls. Methods: We reviewed 6,211 cases of abnormal TSH values between January 2004 and December 2005 and determined the number of cases with breast cancer. We compared those data to 3,151 control subjects with normal TSH seen during the same period. We excluded patients with thyroid cancer from the total number of malignancies in both groups because abnormal TSH would be expected to result from its treatment. We also reviewed the ER, PR, HER2/neu status and free thyroxine of patients with breast cancers. Results: Breast cancer rate of 36% of all cancers (37/102) in the abnormal TSH group was significantly higher than that of 18% (14/77) in the normal TSH group (p= 0.012). Breast cancers in the study group with abnormal thyroid function were more frequently hormone receptor positive (74% vs. 67%) and HER2/neu negative (67% vs. 50%). Conclusions: The data suggest that there is an increased rate of breast cancer in patients with abnormal thyroid function. The trend of hormone receptor positive disease in the abnormal TSH group suggests that the IGF receptor may play an important role in the relationship between thyroid disease and breast cancer. The IGF receptor may be a potential target for therapeutic drug development for breast cancer prevention and management. Further studies are warranted

Thanks Yazmin.  I have her book...a lot of great information in it!

Wahine:

I have sent Dr. Sellman an email to find out if transcripts of the teleclass will be available, and I am waiting to hear from her.

Hopefully, they will, but I am sure that they will post a paper on that subject on the web site afterwards. 

Of course, we will have time to talk about that teleclass right here after the session.

Thanks LJ13--I was going to Google her and forgot. Always good to know who your source is...

Vivre - you go girl.  Tell the hall monitor what you think.

Hi, hopefully someone will answer my question... I have a thyroid specialist (MD), but really believes in some holistic intervention. I tried armour a long time ago ( didn'T help), thus now on synthroid. My question. I was told that most people that are hypo have an autoimmune disorder and not a problem with low iodine. Therefore adding iodine to the diet will not help and probably would hurt my thyroid. If you have hypothyroidism that is not auto-immune, than it would not be a problem adding iodine. That didn't apply to me. This was 18 years ago, but I'm wondering. I asked recently to have my iodine levels checked but she said my bloodwork was excellent, so it wasn't necessary. I just can't imagine that low iodine, or synthroid, or hypothyroidism could cause my DCIS. Thyoid disease affects millions of women. BC (thank God) much, much less.

In Prevention magazine March 2009

Article on Compound Drugs.  Had this article as a insert along with it.

Bioidenticals have become the most visible targets of the FDA's recent actions on compounding. Last year, it sent warning letters to seven pharmacies charging their Web sites made unsubstantiated claims about bioidenticals.  It warned pharmacies they shouldn't be compounding any prescriptions containing estriol, a week estrogen that's promoted as safer than other hormones but isn't a component of any FDA-approved products.

Compounders and their customers are fighting back. Last fall, in an orchestrated campaign, over 25,000 patients, pharmacists, and physicians called their legislators to ask them to preserve their right to compounded medications, particularly bioidenticals, and to pass legislation to reverse the FDA's position on estriol.

Compounding proponents accuse the FDA of caving in to complaints by Wyeth Pharm., the makers of Prempro, the estrogen-progestin combo deemed risky in the Women's Health Initiative study.  This legislation is pending right now.

Vivre, you crack me up .....  Are you a Suicide Blonde???

Barry, hang in there babe ......  

Anyway: here is a message from Sherrill Sellman (talking about the upcoming telecast, as I have told her that others are interested in the subject):

This teleclass will be recorded and made available to my e-list.  So, please invite them to sign up on my website and then they will receive notification when the recording will be available!
Thanks so much for your interest!!!

I am thinking that, whatever our beliefs in hormones and other treatments, it is always good to try and learn as much as we can. There's got to be a way for us to take something away from the panel that will be present, one step more towards deciding one way or the other what we should do, maybe?

I had noticed that Dr. Sellman is a doctor in naturopathic medicine, and I normally prefer naturopaths that are previously trained in "regular" medicine. Nevertheless, my motto is: "never miss an opportunity to learn." 

It is a fact that we have to be exceedingly careful even with our dear "regular" doctors, since experience has shown time and again that a name followed by the coveted "MD" is not necessarily a sign of real knowledge, let alone good judgment. There's just too many sock puppet MDs out there, who are unable to think beyond blindly implementing the BBBoard's latest decisions (just one Capital B seems inadequate to describe these doctors' reverence for what they call "the literature").

Those are the sock puppets that put me and millions and millions of other women through chemotherapy, thus setting us up with a 3% chance of acquiring leukemia in our lifetime, only to go back and tell us in 2006 that chemotherapy has no effect on ER+ tumors, and therefore, is now discontinued for those.

Okay fellow suicide blonders(and brunettes like me, and redheads, or tie dyes or whatever), I went to see my new doctor. When I walked in, there she is with a photo of Suzanne Somers. We had a long discussion on my medical history and she looked at all the blood work I have had so far and agreed my thyroid and progesterone is too low. I am going to do a urine test, and then we will decide what kind of hormone therapy we will do. I am so relieved that I finally have a doctor who has the experience in this. She is an ob/gyn who now specializes in hormone treatment. She also said that she has met Dr. Northrup, whose book "The wisdom of Menopause", I credit with putting me on the path to good health. So I will keep you all posted. Meanwhile, FlaLady, and Anom, keep showing us the results of your great research. It has been a real help for me.

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Great news! Sounds like you hit the jackpot. I wonder what thyroid and progesterone she will give you. Progesterone helps the thyroid work too according to Ronald Hoffman, MD. It helps the uptake of iodine into the tissues.

Let us know her thinking on testosterione too. Does she do blood or saliva tests for hormones?

Well done, Vivre!

Anom