Anyone taking Curcumin AND Tamoxifen?

I'm also taking tamoxifen and curcumin.  My naturopath recommended the curcumin and my oncologist said it was fine to take it with tamoxifen.  I'm also taking the Meriva-SR from Thorne Research.

ETA:  I order it from Amazon.

No, not really.  I'm not having any issues, though.  I feel perfectly fine. I decided to take turmeric/curcumin (among other things) because it's one of the main anti-cancer foods recommended in Anti-Cancer, a New Way of Life by David Servan-Schreiber.  (A great resource if you're not already familiar with it, by the way.)  I also try and eat a good hot curry every week and add turmeric in cooking as well.  It's great added to brown rice.  (Just remember to add black pepper if you're cooking with it.)

I wasn't taking any supplements when initially diagnosed, reducing my risk of breast cancer recurrence or new breast cancer are the  primary motivators in any supplements for me. Curcumin and Vitamin D3 were the first I began taking. In fact, I am taking the life extension brand that you are considering - recently stocked up! - it does contain whatever is in pepper to aid absorption. I have never seen any reference to curcumin being contraindicated while on tamoxifen. It was highly recommended by a physician/presenter at a Breast Cancer Research conference which I recently attended. I wasn't experiencing aches and pains before so I can't speak for its efficacy in that regard.  I would try it!

Chrys23, have you considered daily low dose aspirin?  I'd certainly consult your physician, but there may be some potential benefit to asa in both inflammation and cancer recurrance.

I was trying to read everything I could find on tamoxifen and curcumin interaction, as curcumin seems to offer some (speculative?)potential for benefit.  Next logical step is always to consider if there is some downside.  The area of potential interaction is the metabolism of tamoxifen into its active form, endoxifen.  The concern is that curcumin might inhibit the enzyme pathway that facilitate tamoxifen into its active form.  Similar to the fears that women who tested for altered cyp2d6 genetics might not receive full benefit from tamoxifen (something that went to the wayside after a lack of proof of a link).  Those enzymes fall into a group known as cyp2d6.  It gets more complicated the more you look into, but I couldn't find any evidence that it does inhibit the necessary enzymes.  It does interact with enzymes however.  At the same time, its impossible to give it a totally clear go ahead, without some actual study of women on tamoxifen who consumed curcumin regularly.  Unfortunately I couldn't find any such research.  So to sum it up, it appears there is no clear evidence against it, but at the same time none to prove it safe for tamoxifen users.  It's up to you to decide the level of evidence you need to make a decision.  So I guess what I'm saying is that there is no definitive answer that I could find.

http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/69/24_MeetingAbstracts/3098

Curcumin makes cancer cells more sensitive to tamoxifen according to this.

I take it. I also take the Life Extension 5-lox Inhibitor. Life Extension is a good company...

Curcumin is also supposed to inhibit cells from becoming tamoxifen-resistant over time (a good thing).

Hi everyone,

I am still not sure if I can take curcumin c3 that includes black pepper while taking Tamoxifen. Can you please let me know if you are taking it and if your doctor approved it?

Also, what other supplements are you taking with Tamoxifen? Dim? indole 3 carbinol?

Any input is appreciated even if you can answer partially.

I read that the fish oil thing was flawed. I still believe in my fish oil. I did learn to keep it in glass bottle, and not to use rancid oil.

Green Pastures makes an authentic, highly regarded old world fermented fish oil...best to take with their butter oil for better absorption...great company!  And, they welcome and answer any questions! Also is best for vitamin D and K.

http://www.greenpasture.org/public/Home/index.cfm

I came across this post while searching for Curcumin benefits. I gave my oncologist a list of all of the supplements I am taking and she said it is ok to take Curcumin. I take Jarrow Curcumin 95 500 mg every day. Does anyone else take this one?

I take several supplements (including fish oil, magnesium, EGCG, calcium, Vitiman D3 and glucosamine) and I hope they don't interfere with the tamoxifen absorption.

Tamoxifen is a prodrug of 4-hydroxytamoxifen, meaning an enzyme in the body modifies tamoxifen to create 4-hydroxytamoxifen. 4-hydroxytamoxifen is 50-100 times more potent than tamoxifen in its anti-cancer effects. The authors hypothesize that the increase in tamoxifen bio-availability is a direct result of curcumin's prevention of tamoxifen being converted into its more potent metabolite 4-hydroxytamoxifen.

While I haven't had a chance to read the full article, based on the abstract Timothy was quite right in his assessment.

That said, there are always going to be conflicting results. Trying to sort through everything and decide how much weight to give to each result is the hard part.

I found it:

The relevant post is the start of the thread - Maggs09.

Link

I suggest anyone taking Curcumin and Tamoxifen also read JohnSmith's post in the same thread. He has a February 2016 update that would make me stop taking Curcumin if I was on it and has prevented me from taking Curcumin despite my doctor and pharmacist saying I could.

When I asked about the herbs I take, my Dana Farber pharmacist recently stated that Cannabis (high THC, not CBDs), Elderberry, Echinacea,Valerian and Tumeric interfere with Tamoxifen.