Progesterone for stage 4

I am taking a synthetic form of progesterone, Megace. This drug has been studied and has been shown to be beneficial with HR+ breast cancer. It's an old drug, and not used alone much because there are so many more effective drugs out now. Best Bird has it on her list as a Stage IV drug sometimes used when everything else fails.

My oncologist prescribed it to increase my appetite, as I've lost too much weight this year. I am also taking Falodex and Verzenio, which seem to be working for me. The Megace will probably not make too much difference to my cancer in my case ( I am very low PR ( 1%) and high HR). I am enjoying my meals for the first time in months, so it is probably helping in that way.

Because docs gloss over the PR+ part of the equation, us BC ladies often are left to assume that PR+ means the same thing as ER+ with just a different hormone feeding/fueling the cancer. In actuality, this is not the case. PR+ is actually a very good thing as it means there are PR receptors on the cancer cells. Why is that good? Because the progesterone interaction at the receptor actually works to break down cells with DNA errors in them which is what cancer cells are. Here's a great visual on how that works:

By increasing the amount of PR in the body it ups the amount of cancer cell interruption/breakdownthe body can do and slows its ability to grow/replicate. The biggest side effect of this is as a therapy is significant weight gain as increasing PR makes you VERY hungry ALL the time - 24/7 feeling like you're starving. And from what I've read, bio-identical PR is the way to go vs synthetic PR. If your BC is PR-, this process does not happen as there are no receptors to make it happen.Hope this helps!

Most commercially available progesterone/progestin creams are synthetic. Synthetic has shown increased risk of breast cancer. The question then becomes how much you’re using, how often you’re using it and how much is getting into the blood stream which can have an adverse effect. Bio-identical progesterone does not increase breast cancer risk and has the protective effect like the progesterone your body makes naturally. (It turns out Suzanne Somers was actually on to something with bio-identical hormones—at least when it comes to progesterone.) Check with your OB/GYN and see if they have been inserviced on intrarosa. (If not ask them to contact the local rep and get inserviced.) If they have been inserviced ask if intrarosa might be a good solution to your issues. Or see if you can find bioidentical progesterone cream to use. Here’s a helpful link on the difference in action bio-identical vs synthetic PR:

https://breastcancerconqueror.com/exciting-discovery-natural-progesterone-may-prevent-breast-cancer/

snooky- yes she did. I was only commenting on the bio-identical progestin hormone though. In that case what we see is that bio-identicalprogrstin does not promote breast cancer while synthetic progestin does. there’s 0 evidence that her cancer was caused by the bioidentical hormones she took. Sometimes cancers happen that are ER+ that have absolutely nothing to do with hormone therapy one may or may not have taken.

Lulu and JFL

     Thank you for the food for thought! There's so much to know about this disease that it's mind-blowing. Please, keep sharing your info, it keeps me humble. And boosts my admiration for Onc and all others in the field.  Many Blessings