Stage III but stopped Hormonal Therapy

How much more likely to recur if you use thins like I3C? I am finding letrozole made me utterly miserable as well as all the aches and pains etc but as 95 percent pos i need something.....

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I completely understand where you are coming from, I'm so tired of feeling bad.  I still have fears but the further away from BC I get the more I want to do the same.  I've thought the samething myself....is it worth it and truely going to matter, am I just filling the pockets of the medicine company, is my BC mutating due to taking it...who knows.  Maybe taking it is just a false sense of security and thinking I can still control this monster.  I hope I'm as brave as you are one day, I'm not there yet but I wish you all the best with your decision and good health.

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One had to balance whether they can handle the SE of the meds, rather short term, or handle recurrence and possible mets and more treatment plans long term. I have chosen the first. I am on tamoxifen but also a compatible anti-depressant that took care of SE...but if you have thought it through, then the decision is up to you. Since you asked if it would make you more likely to recur....yes. That's why the anti-hormonals are used and can reduce recurrences about 50%. No one knows if and when something will happen....but you just have to weight risks and benefits. I don't see chemo as a therapy either. I'd be a bit scared. I have had BC twice; the first time no tamoxifen, second time, started taking it as soon as I found out.

I'm 54 and I'm hoping for another 30 to 40 years. I take my letrozole faithfully. I do not want a recurrence. I figure that there is no side effect that would be as bad as mets, further chemo, complications from mets and death. I have hot flashes and lots of joint stiffness. That's about it. Really at this point my fear of recurrence is my biggest psychological battle.

I can understand quitting when you are in such pain.  I was having such joint pain I could hardly walk on

Arimidex.  Taking Apple Cider Vinegar helped quite a bit, but it was still bad.  Finally, I decided to go

gluten free for one week to see the difference.  IT WAS A MIRACLE for me!  Joint pain lessened by

about 80% and all of my other SEs have lessened dramatically.  I highly recommend giving it a test trial!!

ShanagirlBarb sounds like you have made the same decision as my mom did. It's a tough one, but has worked for her so far. 

She was diagnosed with BC in Jan, 2011 at age 68, went on hormone therapy in Mar, 2011, and had a unilateral MX in April 2011.  Despite being Stage IIIb and having a high Onco score, and despite being recommended to have chemo and rads after surgery, she decided to not do the chemo and rads, and only to do HT which she did for 11 months.  In Feb 2012, she went off the HT completely due to severe SEs with all three types that she'd been prescribed.  I thought then that she was making a huge mistake, but hey, it is her decision.

For her, it was all about the lack of quality of life that she was having due to side effects with the HT.  Fast forward now, she's almost 70 and she's doing well -- still NED!!  I am so thankful for this as it has been a huge concern that she's flying by the seat of her pants, but so far, so good. 

Hey Barb!



Hope you don't mind me popping in here. You have tried so very, very hard to stay on the hormonals and put up with significant side effects. I completely agree with you that QOL is very important. In my case, I got bone mets despite being on tamoxifen. I won't go into the details but instead just wanted to reinforce that each of us is unique. Our cancers are unique and what we need to do to reduce risks are unique. So if you don't earnestly believe, with all your heart, that the hormonal treatments are keeping the cancer away then it is your decision to stop taking them. Your onc cannot guarantee that you won't get cancer whether you keep taking them or not.



Back when I was stage IIIc I really felt, deep in my heart, that I still had cancer cells floating around. I felt the genetic tie between myself and my sister was very strong so her experience really influenced me to believe that stage IV was a real possibility. I tried Aromasin until I was getting to the point of needing a cane or walker. I would have gone through all the hormonals if given a chance. But for me it just didn't matter. I do have to say that the bone mets were worse than any SEs from the treatments but they are now under control and taking pain meds everyday allows me to have a pretty active life.



Do what your heart tells you is right.



Wishing you the best!



Christy