Complementary and integrative approaches

Thanks for the clarification,2tzus...........Looks like for many of us, the treatment is a bit of a crap-shoot, then......

It can only said to be working if we do not relapse;I have experienced many oncs simply going by 'the guidelines' and never questioning what they are prescribing.

Britchick, you said, "By the way, AIs are effective for premenopausal women as far as breast cancer is concerned." 

That's a curious statement, considering that the AI's are not used for BC treatment in premenopausal women unless they've been surgically or chemically oophorectomized.  OTOH, letrozole is used (off-label) to induce ovulation in women with PCOS and other ovulatory disorders (e.g., http://www.ivfnewsdirect.com/?p=182 and http://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(00)01705-2/abstract).

So.... I would love to see the evidence on which you've based your statement.  I'm not trying to be argumentative -- I just really like to read stuff like this.  I've read quite a few of the original, pre-marketing studies documenting the pharmacologic effects of the AI's and their benefit against BC.  I've never seen any trials showing that letrozole is "effective" against breast cancer in premenopausal women.

Thanks in advance!  And, I'm sorry if I'm not keeping up with the discussion.  I'm trying to pay attention to the FIFA Women's World Cup soccer final.  Japan just tied the score at 1 - 1.

otter

[And, Merilee, I apologize for contributing to this off-topic discussion about AI efficacy, which has nothing to do with the subject of your thread.]

Yazmin, hugs sweetie

Luan: I wished I were a little mouse in the corner of the officer when you go to show all these posts to your onc.........LOL LOL LOL

Hey, you,re all invited to my neck of the woods for a big party !

2ztus

Have you tried raising your vitamin D levels? An article came out this week showing higher vitamin D levels reduced AI- induced arthralgia.

Also, years ago, I took a similar pain med (naproxen/Aleve). The doctor suggested I take an over the counter Zantac at the same time to keep it from upsetting my stomach. It worked.

Gurlzzz, no beach, sorry, I wish !!!! Merilee, pot luck, u can bring some of that oil , 2tzus, bring your dancing shoes



For the girls with the aches and pain, have you tried boswelia, there,s a thread where many stage iv women swear by it, i take it and it works wonders

Welcome PinkButterfly.!. Thanks for sharing your info. Great, our bodies producing more estrogen because of an upregulation mechanism....I have not found the secret in trying to lower estrogen except to try to avoid as much as possible phytoestrogens, environmental estrogens, etc. Logically, i think we should try to maintain as much as possible our estrogen/progesterone ratio on an even keel. Maybe if a few of us could report back on our findings,we could arrive at some kind of conclusion. What i do not understand is the fact that they bothered to biopsy my tumours for both er and pr, but seem to be totally ignoring the pr factor. One has to conclude that if our estrogen is being wacked around by tamox or AIs, our progesterone is also being affected. PS, i no longer bother asking my onco, his answer is always the same "we don,t know"

Thanks, Luan and Merilee.

Exercise is the big one, as far as I can tell. I was completely sedentary before my diagnosis, and I strive for at least 30 min everyday ( but I usually miss one, so I make it 35 minutes) but I am hoping I can manage to do more. Hard with a full time job and 2 young kids. Oh well, we do the best we can.

britchick, thanks for your note about a day ago, that's it's the metabolite of tamoxifen that does the work (the lock and key comparision makes sense for me. The metabolite of tamox sits in the estrogen-receptor of the tumor). It sounds like you already know this, but when my hubby did some research on the chemistry of tamox, he was suprised at how long those metabolites can stick around (plug up the estrogen receptors). He'd been skeptical of the some of the studies we'd read (one showed that taking tamox for 5 yrs can reduce the risk of recurrence in the 10-15 yr range) but now that he understands the chemistry of the drug, it make sense to him + me.

merilee, that's great that you're reducing supplements and getting what you need from food.  I'm need to do that too. All this discussion caused me to review my notes from my meeting with the nutritionist at the Stanford Cancer Center, and that's exactly what she recommended: get it from food.   I've behind reading this thread (so this may be have been discussed) but she recommends a plant based diet (6-9 servings of fruits and veggies a day), low on meat and dairy, high on fiber. I have a note that says "go beyond whole wheat pasta" (ha!)  Despite all this, she's a fan of not getting stressed out by this, and recommends trying something new at the grocery store every week. (a new grain we'd never heard of before, etc). Thanks for starting this helpful thread.

From the Mayo Clinic website:

The use of red yeast rice in China was first documented in the Tang Dynasty in 800 A.D. A detailed description of its manufacture is found in the ancient Chinese pharmacopoeia, Ben Cao Gang Mu-Dan Shi Bu Yi, published during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). In this text, red yeast rice is proposed to be a mild aid for gastric problems (indigestion, diarrhea), blood circulation, and spleen and stomach health. Red yeast rice in a dried, powdered form is called Zhi Tai. When extracted with alcohol it is called Xue Zhi Kang.