Hormone therapy vs. mastectomy?

First and foremost menopause is no big deal. Not a fun time to be sure but for me it's mainly hot flashes and even those are manageable. Of course every woman is different. Don't know about hormone therapy. That will b your doctor's decision. You still don't have enough info to know. My sister has ILC and she had a MX. She dodged treatment but takes Arimidex. 

Gotta admit if it came down to breasts vs hormones, hormones would b a distant second. But that's me. 

Good luck - keep us posted. 

Diane 

Iwannacookie:  There is still so much information that you do not have.  Once you gather all the info about your particular breast cancer, your choices, recommendations, etc will help you to decide what is best for you.  And no, your preferences and priorities are extremely important and have absolutely nothing to do with what others think or believe.  There is nothing crazy about it!

You will learn what the actual benefit of using an anti-hormonal is for you.  If it reduces a chance of a recurrence by a huge margin, then you may want to look at this option a bit closer.  But often the actual benefit may be quite low, depending on your situation.  It is impossible for you to make that decision without more info.  Try not to stress about this until you need to face it as given whatever your dx is, it may not even become an option.  Why worry for nothing.  You will have more than enough to worry about.  Lol

Iwanna -- Cutting off your breasts won't help you avoid chemo or hormonal therapy. It is a very specific treatment for women who have a generic predisposition to breast cancer, or whose breast cancer is large, or is in multiple places.
Right now, mastectomies are sort of like C-sections - everybody's doing them. But you really should consult with your breast surgeon as to what is right FOR YOU.
For most women, a lumpectomy plus radiation is much easier on the body, and has fewer long-term consequences.

Good luck - you are in the time frame that sucks. Once you and your docs have agreed on a treatment plan, it gets much easier

I agree with TB90. Wait until you have the facts on your own personal diagnosis.....research your options from there. There are too many variables to make a blanket statement and say that everyone should do X, Y, or Z.

No one  here are medical staff seeing you in person so can not tell you what  you will be doing.  We are each unique as are our Drs.  We can tell you our personal experiences but can not say what you will.

There are MANY horror stories about going through menopause - those are not true for all of us.  I have never had a 'hot flash' and I went through naturaly menopause at 44 (DXd IBC at 63).  I have been on Femara/letrozole for 4 1/2 yrs for ER+/PR- and have never had a 'hot flash' on it either.  As I understand it very basically - Estrogen blockers are to prevent cells from picking up estrogen to feed/fuel them. Post menopause (natural or surgical), our bodies do produce estrogen and we get it in many foods.  Different  meds are used for different ones of us.   You do not have to be Stage IV (metatstaic/ spread to other areas), to be on Hormone Therapy  - it is related to your original DX.  

With some types - neoadjuvant chemo (pre-surgery) is now being recommended  to shrink the 'monster' but with others of us,t is a necessity.   There are no absolutes no matter what the TX plan will be.  Talk to your Drs before you start 'borrowing' problems that don't exist (or assuming they will).

Yay! I'm so glad you're feeling more in control! And, yes, being ER positive gives you so many treatment options!

I had already gone through menopause but I hope more women will post here that are in a similar situation regarding that.

Much love to you! Keep us posted!

Tamoxifen won't shut down your ovaries or hormone production. It will just "block" the estrogen receptors in the breast cancer cells so they don't have the "food" that they thrive on. Some women do have unpleasant side effects, but many don't or have more tolerable side effects.

As others have said, it is not a one or the other decision. Tamoxifen is taken to reduce risk of recurrence (either local or distant, such as in organs or bones). It can also be take on as a preventative for new primaries, and so is sometimes taken by high risk women who have never had a breast cancer diagnosis. Surgery itself just removes the tumour; it does not affect risk of distant recurrence. Lumpectomy + rads and mastectomy have similar recurrence rates though mastectomy may reduce risk of local recurrence or new primary (but it is not foolproof, as local recurrences/new primaries can still arise).

Your oncologist should review with you your recurrence risk and how treatment options affect it. You DO have a choice, but it needs to be an informed one.

I am sorry you need to be here, but there is a lot of information and support so you have come to a good place!

I was shocked to learn after my double mastectomy that I would need hormone therapy. Surgeon told me I was cured and would not need anything else. Yes, menopause for me sucked. It sucked when I went through it the first time and again with the hormone therapy. I still cant come to grips with taking arimidex and then taking more drugs to counteract the side effects...for this I do go to therapy.