AIs after hysterectomy?

I have my bilateral salpingo oophorectomy (ovaries and tubes removed) two years ago and didn’t feel much different either. I hope you’re doing fine.
I met a mother and daughter. Mother had breast cancer and tested positive for brca after. She’s doing find and in remission for quite a few years. The daughter tested negative but she had ovarian cancer later and she’s not doing so well due to late stage. So you’re right, it’s a definite up-side to genetic testing and almost a blessing when you can take measure to prevent cancer. Wish you all the best.

@vegada

I did HRT and actually suspect that it contributed to my cancer. My doctor at the time did a breast cancer risk assessment and determined my risk was low.

I take Vitamin K2, Vitamin D and calcium supplements but I haven’t done weight training for a few years. I have asthma and have used oral steroids off and on for decades. There are so many contributing factors, pros and cons that it’s hard to know what’s best.

@dmr4ever it is very hard to know what to do. I am totally right there with you. I do weight lifting with a physical therapist who is trained in osteopenia/osteoporosis so that may be something for you to consider. I took HRT years ago before I was diagnosed with breast cancer. So it could have easily contributed to mine too, but I will never know nor do the doctors actually know what exactly causes breast cancers. They have some guesses and theories based on what they see clinically, but if we all knew exactly what would prevent breast cancer, boy would that ever be a tremendous medical win.

@vegada you can’t absorb calcium without estrogen. I am on a low dose estrogen for my spine since i was showing bone weakness at 35 due to a hysterectomy at 34 . Spine doc said “I want you on estrogen the rest of your life”

@vegada So I am post double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction 6/26/26 and have a very low risk for recurrence (5% with taking endocrine therapies and around maybe 8% without taking anything). I was stage 1 grade 1 invasive ductal carcinoma and with oncotype DX of just 13. I am having a very hard time agreeing to taking the medications due to all the side effects and my limited benefit... plus I already have osteopenia in my left hip I just found out.... I have the option of taking Tamoxifen as well but it does not have that risk but some other risks.... So many decisions but the medical oncologist is not pushing me to take due to my numbers... it does seem they downplay the risk of bone thinning but it seems a lot of women are affected with their bone health. I will know more on my decision when I get back genetic testing and also the Signatera lab as well. Wishing you and all reading the very best!

@janiern2 I hear you on all the difficult decisions we have to make for cancer treatment. My cancer was very similar to yours except my Oncotype was a 29, much higher than my doctors and I expected. I decided to also do the Mammaprint since the Oncotype was so unexpected and the Mammaprint came back with a low risk of recurrence. Until I took the Mammaprint my doctor said I should have chemo which I pushed back on because the Oncotype result was the outlier compared to all of my other clinical factors. After much debate and a really stressful time, and consulting the tumor board and two other external doctors for a second opinion(total of 10 doctors) they all agreed no chemo. It was a reversal of a recommendation that would not have occurred if I didn’t push for the Mammaprint. So I understand the real stress these difficult discussions place on all patients. How did you doctor determine your risk of recurrence? Did they use the RSCLIN model to determine your risk or was it determined by the score on the Oncotype? In terms of bone health, I totally agree with you that some oncologists don’t really discuss in detail the impacts on bone health and I really feel that is a big mistake. Bone health is so so critical and it is something I didn't pay much attention to all of my life. I was just blessed with good bones until my breast cancer diagnosis and taking the Anastrozole. My risk of recurrence according to my Oncotype with taking Anastrozole was much higher and two years post my cancer treatment they came out with the RSCLIN model which takes into consideration your age and other clinical factors that the Oncotype does not. The RSCLIN model showed that 95% of people with my age, tumor size and grade, are not expected to have a recurrence, and 5% of the people would have a recurrence and 3% of the people with a recurrence would benefit from chemo. I am just sharing all of this because it is just another example of difficult potentially life altering decisions we all have to make. You are very wise to think about your bone health and get comfortable with the direction you want to go.

@conchgirl I have done some research on this and there are conflicting opinions on it. I think for maximum benefit of collagen, you are likely correct that having some estrogen is ideal but the research I have seen still shows some benefit, albeit not likely as much benefit with a lack of sufficient estrogen. But I will take any bit of benefit it does provide.