Anti-Depressants

Where does it say anti-depressants cause cancer? I have been using Effexor for 7 years I love it

I urge you to take your medical advice from a doctor, not your daughter (unless she is a medical professional specializing in oncology and/or psychiatry). Sorry if that sounds harsh. I'm sure she wants what is best for you. But untreated, or under-treated, depression and anxiety are nothing to mess with. If you are fortunate to have treatment that works, its hard to imagine a doctor advising you to alter what you are doing, particularly on concerns that are at best speculative.

Even if antidepressants caused BC for sure, I wouldn't stop taking them. I've had 4 major depressive episodes. The last went on for 3 years. I have a 90% chance of another and they have all been life-threatening. IMO BC is a lot easier to treat than depression. My shrink thinks remaining on my antidepressants are the best insurance against another episode, and I'm taking his advice.

Wow, I am glad I found this thread.  I have been on antidepressants for many many yrs also and i am freaked out about changing or stopping them.  i stopped the hrt when dx in Feb and frankly i am a wreck.  everything hurts my feelings, i don't feel like the same person.  I was doing SO good, great at work home family gonna run a 5k before my 50th birthday and WHAM bc.   i keep telling the doctors that it is a VERY BAD IDEA for me to be off meds and I really feel very discounted.  of course that could be me minus hrt!   am rambling but glad to be here

I had never taken anti-depressants until I had BC.  My DH had a brain aneurysm 9 months before my BC diagnosis, quite frankly I don't know how I survived without any from that event alone . (He's fine BTW, we were very lucky).  I started Effexor after finishing chemo, I'm on a low dose, the Effexor XR 75 mg./day - I told my onc. I have no intention of ever going off it... lol.. I am going to wait until I am off Femara which will be July of this year, 2012.  Then I may revisit the issue of weaning of Effexor, as one of the SEs is weight gain, and I certainly have that one.

Extra benefit of it is that my horrible hot flashes basically disappeared once I started it.

hoping to find a decent way to control depression and anxiety myself

I've been on zoloft for about 10 years. Before that I had a lot of panic and anxiety, irritability, and occasional depression. Being on zoloft helped me get through menopause (never had much of a hot flash as far as I can tell), and it helped me through BC. I also had a lot of therapy which helped me (this was all before BC). 

As for weight gain.... I lost weight on zoloft at first, then it all came back, but lost it again. Then I gained weight with steroids and chemo, lost that and despite being on arimidex, my weight is still going down very slowly, and still no hot flashes to speak of. I've always had weight issues, but they feel more controlled.

 I've never taken effexor. But I can tell you that an effective anti-depressant makes you feel better, more like doing things. It connects you to the world. If anxiety is an issue, effective meds make things feel less threatening. In a sense, you may not notice everything around you as a potential threat. When I'm anxious, I feel as though I'm walking through jagged glass...looking forward, looking back with no time for the present, the now. When my anxiety is controlled, I'm here, and things are smoother and I feel that I can deal with life. I think everyone has their own feelings, of course. 

Exercise can achieve the same results in some people. Fish oil can help too, but for some, meds and therapy are required.

 I don't know if antidepressants can cause cancer. Like so many things, you have to look at the sample of individuals studied, and their other characteristcs. There is an enormous stigma against psychiatric meds and treatments, and while they don't work for everyone, and aren't perfect, they can help. 

As for sugar, I think it has more to do with insulin - insulin encourages cells to grow, and cancer cells don't seem to know how to shut off. So by limiting sugar, carbs, etc, you limit the production of insulin, if that makes sense. Diabetes and cancer may share some risk factors, too.