Need to Improve Quality of Life!

As usual, very long - sorry! Read on or don't as you wish!

HI Marge,

I'm glad I took the time to click on your photo and read both your bio and posts to other topics.

We are so much alike - though the circumstances of our lives are vastly different - I'm single, don't have any offspring and am not overly stressed by financial and other worries.

Like you, I integrate holistic treatments, including homeopathic approaches to conventional cancer treatments.

Marge, I would like to encourage you to stay on the Femara, try different brands of the generic (they often have different side effect profiles), and find CAM and integrative methods for dealing with unwanted effects.

Here's a long and fascinating bco topic on Femara:

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/78/topics/726592

Afinitor is considered generally nasty by most patients and oncologists seldom prescribe it as a first line treatment for newly diagnosed metastatic breast cancer (MBC). These days they more typically prescribe Ibrance with the Femara at first, then maybe later with Faslodex or Aromasin.

Why are doctors concerned about your bones? Did mets show up in imaging exams? If so, most patients are usually prescribed a bisphosphonate like Zometa or similar Xgeva. If you have osteoporosis, then different treatments would be prescribed.

Metformin is sometimes added to the advanced cancer mix, but isn't typical. It is used for diabetes - is that something you're experiencing too?

Why do I encourage you to stay on the Femara?

aside: Maybe Tamoxifen would be a better next choice for you. It used to be the drug of choice for MBC, but has been replaced by the aromatase inhibitors (Femara, Arimedix,Aaromasin)...for some with MBC, it's remarkably effective with very few unwanted effects.

Back to Femara - If your cancer is hormone positive, it will use any bit of estrogen it can find as its food stuffs of choice. The AIs and Tamoxifen befuddle or block this cycle.

I've now engaged Femara thrice. The first time I experienced many unwanted effects, but it stalled my MBC for 3 years. The second time, I was drowning in mets, it didn't save me and made me feel miserable, so I stopped after a short time. The third time around, it's slowed down the breathing difficulties associated with lung and pleural mets without touching the liver mets. But, it doesn't cause extreme unwanted effects that can't be met with a variety of integrative and CAM approaches, so I continue it.

Many of my approaches detailed here: https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/79/topics...

Marge, I too have relied on nutrition, lifestyle modifications, homeopathy (and anthroposophical medicine), energy medicine (Reiki and Jin Shin Jyutsu), mind-body medicine and most of the key factors in Kelly Turner's book Radical Remission:

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/79/topics...

But, I think that if I (we? you too?) can find a balanced way to make peace with powerful conventional healing allies like Femara, then it makes sense to engage them. We must treat them and our bodies with great respect...it sounds like your doctor just threw the prescription pad at you and that's thrown you off balance and off center. There are many ways to approach MBC and you deserve to engage those that work best for you.

It's up to you to regain your life and well being again. Marge, I hope you find many healing allies, but don't throw out the baby with the bathwater of conventional medical approaches to MBC.

Please feel free to argue, disagree, ask for explanation, complain, agree, expand or illuminate...I'm not trying to control your actions or reactions, just want to urge you to work with all the healing allies at your disposal.

You're facing a huge challenge.

warmest healing wishes, Stephanie in blistering Sonoma County, CA.

MJG - It sounds like you are well on your way to living Anti Cancer a New Way of Life, but I thought I would share the link as it aligns so well with your thinking.

I have chosen to embrace functional medicine AND standard therapies.

When standard therapies and treatments undermine your basic health they are not supporting healing, IMO. However, not all of them are hard for all women. It's just a matter of where you draw the line and reject a treatment because of the side effects you experience. I would probably draw it sooner than some doctors would, but I don't reject all standard treatments out of hand.

Many doctors have been vocal about Affinitor, arguing that it does more harm than good. So much so that many argue that FDA approval should be withdraw. I would not write off all standard treatments based on your experience with a particularly hard drug.

I hope that you find a doctor or two who will work with you to achieve a balanced and gentle strategy that supports your healing. I work with both medical oncologists and integrative oncologists. Among many things, the integrative oncologists can help you navigate safely through the "standard of care" while adding complementary therapies that support the body and treat the cancer.

>Z<