Alternative to Tamoxifen

Anastrazole is Arimidex which is an AL, not natural.

gosh no worries Tami! I don't know about Red Clover, but I am sure either Lisa Sayers, Vivre or FloridaLady will know more and will chime in soon!! Have a good one!

L

ox

I found this on Red Clover

Cancer

Based on its traditional use for cancer, researchers have begun to study isoflavones from red clover. There is some preliminary evidence that they may stop cancer cells from growing or kill cancer cells in test tubes. It's been proposed that red clover may help prevent some forms of cancer, such as prostate and endometrial cancer. But because of the herb's estrogen-like effects, it might also contribute to the growth of some cancers, just as estrogen does. Until further research is done, red clover cannot be recommended to prevent cancer. Women with a history of breast cancer should not take red clover.

Alternatives to AIs or Tamox:

Iodine

Progesterone

DIM (with iodine so the DIM cabbage chemicals don't suppress the thyroid)

Or you could take all three.

Just food for thought on supplementing with iodine. As you know, iodine is intimately associated with thyroid function and in manners yet unknown, with thyroid dysfunction too.

Iodine supplementation as we age may incite thyroid activity one way or the other, good or  bad! 

If you take it as an alternative in ER+ bc, please keep in mind its effect on the thyroid gland. A good endocrinologist and oncologist-patient discussion seems very reasonable during decision making.

Best to you all,

Tender 

This version published online on February 3, 2009
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, doi:10.1210/jc.2008-2390
Submitted on November 3, 2008
Accepted on January 26, 2009

Association of High Iodine Intake with the T1799A BRAF Mutation in PapillaryThyroid Cancer

Haixia Guan, Meiju Ji, Rong Bao, Hongyu Yu, Yangang Wang, Peng Hou, Yong Zhang, Zhongyan Shan, Weiping Teng,and Mingzhao Xing*
Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism (H.G., M.J., Y.W., P.H., M.X.), The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287; Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism and Institute of Endocrinology (H.G., Z.S., W.T.), The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, the People's Republic of China; Department of Pathology (R.B.), Chongqing No.9 People's Hospital, Chongqing, the People's Republic of China; Changzheng Hospital (Y.Y.), The Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, the People's Republic of China; The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University School of Medicine (Y.W.), Qingdao, the People's Republic of China; and Department of Pathology (Y.Z.), China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, the People's Republic of China

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mxing1@jhmi.edu.

Context: Epidemiological studies have indicated that high iodine intake might be a risk factor for papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), which commonly harbors the oncogenic T1799A BRAF mutation.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between BRAF mutation in PTC and iodine intake in patients.

Materials and Methods: We analyzed and compared the prevalences of the T1799A BRAF mutation in classical PTC of 1,032 patients from five regions in China that uniquely harbor different iodine contents in natural drinking water, ranging from normal (10 - 21 µg/L) to high (104 - 287 µg/L). The BRAF mutation was identified by direct DNA sequencing.

Results: The prevalence of BRAF mutation was significantly higher in any of the regions with high iodine content than any of the regions with normal iodine content. Overall, BRAF mutation was found in 387/559 (69%) PTC with high iodine content vs. 252/473 (53%) PTC with normal iodine content, with an odds ratio of 1.97 (95% CI = 1.53 - 2.55) for the association of BRAFmutation with high iodine content (P <0.0001). In addition, clinicopathological correlation analysis — the largest one of its type ever — showed that BRAF mutation was significantly associated with extrathyroidal invasion, lymph node metastasis and advanced tumor stages of PTC.

Conclusions: High iodine intake seems to be a significant risk factor for the occurrence of BRAF mutation in thyroid gland and may therefore be a risk factor for the development of PTC. This large study also confirmed the association of BRAF mutation with poorer clinicopathological outcomes of PTC.

Open-mindedness on this bc.org forum, especially with newbies joining each day, is often valuable in responsible community discourse. T.

Tender- I do not understand the relevance of that study. It seems that it is about high iodine supplements. It does not seem to talk about lower dosages of iodine, which is what most of us would be likely to use. I do not think any of us would just randomly start taking lots of iodine without working with a doctor and having regular urinalysis to make sure we are not overdoing it. The fact is, as we have previously had long discussions on other theads, there is lots of evidence that low thyroid, low progesterone, and bc are all inter related. There are links to research that has been done, and current studies at bcaction. org.

Hi,

I started taking DIM plus after a very bad reaction to Arimidex (short term memory loss, tendinitis in both hands, joint pain and very bad headaches).  DIM is short for diindolylmethane, is natural and is an estrogen metabolism mechanism.......it's another way of decreasing the estrogen "overload" that causes and feeds estrogen positive cancers.  I also take Vitimin D3 ( 2000mg), kelp, fish oil 4 grams. a multivitimin, Vitamin E 400mg, and beta carotene. I have eliminated dairy products, wheat and almost all meats.  Hope this helps........BTW, I feel great and all my checkups are fine.

Incidentally,  I too have done research on iodine.  There is evidence that shows Lugol's iodine which , incidentally, is simply potassium iodine in distilled water,has been proven to erradicate fybrocystic breasts and NOT allow carcinogenic tumors to grow in lab rats.  There has also been studies where women who took the Lugol's fybrocystic symptoms went away altogther.  Lugol's iodine  is what they used to treat thyroid with prior to synthroid.  In fact it is what my dr. treated "my" thyroid with in the late 60's.  There is an abundance of information on it on the net. 

My oncologist happens to also be a personal friend of mine whom I have known many years.  The first thing she said to me, was she thought my thyroid was related to my bc.  She has no problem with me taking the Lugols.  I also had another physician encourage me to take the Lugol's iodine.  

As many of you know.... the problem is it is very inexpensive, therefore the pharmaceutical companies don't bother with it for lack of profits!  Imagine that!!

Thank You for the info on DIM, I will do some research on i as well.  I get very frustrated when I hear of so many women who are on so many prescription drugs to counter the se's of them.  I will go holistic before that!  

For those of you who don't know... I have a dear friend who is 11 years cancer free and did it w/ surgery, but then totally holistically!  That speaks to my heart!

Incidentally for those who may have much faith in the Medical world....mammogram missed my 6.5 cm tumor!  My gyno found it. It was between 2 cysts... so to me just felt like another cyst.  So, like Ronald Reagan said, Trust, but verify!!  And most importantly... Trust your heart!!