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Aromatase Inhibitors: Did you decide to go on them or not?
Breast Cancer | Last Active: May 12, 2023 | Replies (1190)Comment receiving replies
Hi everyone - new to this forum - in fact, first time posting in a medical forum of any kind. I normally would not do so but I feel a bit trapped. I am a caretaker for my wife (51) who had Stage 2b breast cancer - after going thru surgery, chemo and radio, she went thru estrogen blockers (Aromasen, Arimidex, Letrozole, Tamoxifen. And Lupron). All had devastating anxiety and depression.
The devastating side effects: Every other day (yes this is very weird), we get deep and crippling anxiety and depression. Despite ramping up the anti-depressants to 30 MG per day, it doesn’t help - we still get the same results.
What are our options? People keep saying medicine is quite advanced these days but when I look at these estrogen blockers - they're decades old. Where is all this oncology research going? who has answers?
Are there estrogen blockers that do not have anxiety / depression as a side effect?
Replies to "Hi everyone - new to this forum - in fact, first time posting in a medical..."
I love the idea of crowd-sourcing ideas to find answers! Guessing you've already looked into how diet can affect hormone levels. There is a ton of info out there and so I decided to focus my research on websites such as PubMed & the NIH that are not profit driven. I watched the movie Forks over Knives and started on a path to whole foods, plant based eating. To learn more about how to make this change, I get weekly updates & watch the short videos on this website from the Center for Science in the Public Interest: https://cspinet.org/nutrition-action-healthletter. They have a compilation of some of the best scientific based info out there on how what we eat affects our health. Here's one of their videos on the effects of hormones in dairy products on cancer. \https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-effects-of-hormones-in-dairy-milk-on-cancer/
Since learning of this, I've eliminated almost all dairy, meat and "factory-made" foods from my diet. This may seem extreme but it was not so hard at all. In fact, I absolutely love my "new" food choices & find my old cravings for the fatty, sugary foods has almost disappeared. I have a much different shopping list and my food costs are way down too. At 65, my breast cancer is in remission and my health, energy level and outlook seem so much better. Of course this is an idea that worked for me but everyone is different. I wish you and your wife all the best!
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@johnvivian
Very sorry to hear of your wife's struggles (and yours, by extension). Speaking only for myself, I chose to take a half dose of Arimidex because I'm so hypersensitive to most pharmaceuticals. Nonetheless, the Arimidex gave me multiple side effects (the arthralgia being the worst part). I was told to keep exercising daily, take fish oil (which helps with depression), take Ubiquinol for the muscle aches (nothing helps the bone/joint aches)... and keep going. Some days are not bad.
I realize that isn't a lot of help, but, under the circumstances, you might want to consider half a dose of one of the AIs (Arimidex/Anastrozole seems to have the fewest side effects). Your oncologist will not be amused, but it's better than nothing.
As to where does all the research money go to? Breast cancer trials take years/decades to observe useful results for oncologists, and pharmaceutical companies are only looking at what has the highest profit margins, so survivors do the best they can with what is available to them. Yes, it's discouraging, but your wife is lucky to have you in her corner. Stay strong for her.