Ibrance and Letrozole: Newly Diagnosed Treatment

I am 70 with three kids in transition, nowhere near having houses or family. That is exactly the kind of personal consideration that comes into play. If I were you, I would feel the same 🙂

I tool Letrazole for 4 years after receiving all of my tax for Her2+ (chemo and radiation). I think it’s an added bonus to help prevent recurrence bit decided not to finish the 5th year. The prevention stats are minimal in terms of 4 and 5 years and I could no longer stand how I felt on that medication. Gained weight, incredible fatigue that prevented me from exercising, and chronic muscle, joint, bone pain. I take a lot of vitamins now and eat plant based diet. I have so much more energy and can exercise, etc. I feel like It’s much better for me to be physically active and reduce weight which can contribute to cancer and use diet and vitamins rather than feel like I’m 20 years older. I’m 69 and wish western medical approaches emphasized diet and vitamins over these other drugs. Their IS a lot of research that does prove it helps.

I don't have an opinion (for anyone else but myself) about the anti-hormone therapy, but my oncology surgeon told me that many older women skip them for myriad reasons, the primary one being 'quality time remaining' versus side effects. Have fun at the reunion!

Hi Monigue, I think that I saw a post from you requesting the links to just a few of the studies that cite the statistic that 50% of the women who begin taking anti-hormone therapy quit taking the drugs within 5 years due to side effects. [The so-called "non-compliance" issue that the industry is trying to address.] If you did request the links, I'll message them to you. I don't want to inadvertently start a topic about non-compliance though I think acknowledgement of it is actually helpful in that, if someone does find the drugs difficult to tolerate, she might feel reassured that it's not a personal failure but just an inconvenient reality that they are very powerful drugs...and fighting a wily cancer foe.

Thank you
Agree!!

My oncologist recommended the lumpectomy first, then I took Taxol during chemo , which laid me low until it was adjusted 20 percent lower, and the Herceptin. I'd do the Herceptin and radiation again, but not Taxol. Feeling so horribly sick (my daughter stayed with me 2 months and said she would walk into my bedroom to see if I was still alive) and watching all of my hair fall out was awful. My cancer showed up after 10 years of taking care of my husband who died with Parkinson's. That is another subject, but I wonder if stress had anything to do with it as I know of no one else in my family who had cancer.

Rae, So sorry to hear about you suffering do much after lumpectomy.
Perhaps your lump was big and you have metastatic??
I did bilateral lumpectomy and refused chemo and rad, weighting
the side effects on body, on heart arrhythmia ,and possible prevention for reoccurrence.
I also have taking care of my late Alzheimer’s husband for 18 years .
Don’t have cancer history in the family.
Yes, stress is the huge factor for cancer shows up .
I am taking only Tamoxifen for er/pr positive as anti hormonal therapy.
And go holistic for immunity support. I do check the blood cells,
and don’t care about cancer reoccurrence for now.
Why should you go for radiation again? Are you on any med?
Take care !
And thank you for your post

There is a lot of conversation here about the letrozole, but the Ibrance is part of this equation as well. This is a combination given to women who have metastatic breast cancer. The considerations of taking or not taking this combination is more than just considering the side effects from estrogen deprivation. The considerations I have used about treatments is the fact that I am younger than I would like, and yes I do consider quality of life but also some quantity. There are side effects to these drugs and the combination of drugs more than either one alone, but the alternative is a less appealing option.
How are you dealing with the MBC diagnosis? What are your motivations for taking this combination?

I've been told by oncologists that the current thinking is that anti-hormone therapy can reduce the risk of loco-regional recurrence by an estimated 42-45%, which usually is called 50% for simplicity, over 5 years. That is a mean ("average") reduction. For someone with a personal high risk of recurrence, a 45% reduction is a big advantage for Team Anti-Hormone Therapy.

For someone with a very low risk, it's not as substantial. [My risk, IF the OncotypeDX test is valid, 'could' be reduced from 5% to 3% if I took the drugs. If anastrozole could reduce risk of recurrence to 0%, I'd have to reconsider not taking it.]

But my risk reduction from 5% to 3%, while a big 40% reduction, is only a small two percentage points.

I've seen doctors confuse percentage with percentage points so just want to clarify this point and restate that the "average" risk of recurrence is currently thought to be ~45% over 5 years for women with breast cancer taking anti-hormone therapy.

That last sentence of mine should read ..."the 'average risk of recurrence [for estrogen positive breast cancer] is currently thought to be REDUCED by ~45%, over 5 years, for women taking anti-hormone therapy."