What complementary tx can I take with Tamoxifen?

Diane,  What I suggest is for you to do lots of research.  I recommend Dr. Patrick Quillin's Beating Cancer With Nutrition.  He is former VP of Cancer Treatment Center of America.  His book is very helpful and based on your supplemental needs, helps you to prioritize including when money is an issue.  He tells you, for instance when money is an issue: take A, B, or C, and tells what things may be most beneficial.

For me, since I have fybrocystic breasts, I am also taking Lugol's iodine which has been proven to erradicate fybrocystic breast.  My oncologist approves of this and in fact said she thinks the Lugol's may be responsible for my lumps being smaller in my remaining breast.

You may also want to check out Susan Weed, who is an herbalist.  Trust that the right information will come to you.

I have a friend who is a 12 year survivor who did it holistically.  She had surgery and then refused chemo and rads and did alternative things.

Good Luck in your research and remember to trust your heart.

Melatonin, green tea extract and palm oil derived tocotrienols all have some suggestion that they act to improve the effectiveness of tamoxifen.  The green tea extract (ECGC) and tocotrienols appear in vitro ("test tube" studies) and animal studies to act synergistically with tamoxifen.  Clinical data is awaiting review before publishing on the palm oil tocotrienols.  Melatonin has some laboratory and case studies showing its effectiveness, but no clinical trials as far as I know.

hi ladies - fyi I just discovered that Walgreens are having their flax seed powder on sale for half the original price.  I purchased 8 bottles! 

Timothy, my onc said stay away from both flax and soy, I am still doing my own research on both of these, I just don't know......

L

WadiRum, thanks for your detailed post!

Do you have links to or names of the studies showing conflict w/curcumin?

I came across this from SABC 2009:

[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