Breast Cancer and complementary or integrative therapies

Hi, I am also a believer in God and my oncologist told me that people who pray and have people praying for them have the best outcomes. I also had Stage One Breast cancer with a very small tumor. I wanted to get into surgery as soon as possilbe so that the cancer would not spread to my lymph nodes. I thank God that my cancer was found at stage one. The surgery, a lumpectomy, was pretty easy. I did get a second opinion about chemo and decided to go with radiation. That was not hard either. Your treatment plan could be different than mine. I had triple negative breast cancer. I am 64 and back to work full time. I had a follow up mammogram and everything looks good now. I think God was with me through this. I know it is a scary thing to go through. They should have a social worker to help you. You are lucky they caught it early. My opinion is trust the doctors to get on top of it so it does not get worse.

Hi Dee, thanks for your response and I'm glad you had a good experience. I have not ruled out surgery but just looking at other options as I'm learning the conventional route. How many months/years are you post surgery? During your lumpectomy did they biopsy your lymph nodes, too? Did you get a biopsy done prior? Thanks!

I have had breast cancer twice. Both times I had lumpectomies. I assume there is a protocol for every type of cancer that you get and that is what Doctors go by. I did go with surgery, radiation and tamoxifen/Anaztrozole for treatment. My feeling is that surgery is the way to go. I know there are probably cases of miraculous cures, but I chose to be proactive. I do believe that God has given us ways to heal ourselves, but he has also given us the knowledge to treat disease through medical specialists, medicines and procedures. The doctors do recommend radiation. After having it I really wonder if it is that good for the patient. I do believe that the oral medications Including chemo are good alternatives. I did not have chemo myself, so cannot really say anything about that. I took tamoxifen the first time and I am taking anastrozole now and feel that this is definitely a good thing to do for hormone receptor positive cancers (both of mine were). My cousin has had breast cancer twice and chose mastectomy each time with no after treatment. So far she is having a good experience. I think every person is different and what works for one might not be the best for another. I do think that surgery it’s needed to try to stop the progression of the disease. All sorts of things play into getting cancer including diet, but I do not think that diet alone is a possible cure.

@nataliehope You asked about cryotherapy or cryoablation. At the moment, this approach is an experimental treatment for breast cancer. Researchers are studying whether cryotherapy might be a good alternative to breast cancer surgery, as well as which types of breast cancer cryotherapy would treat most effectively. You may wish to ask your cancer care team if you would be eligible for a clinical trial. Here's more information about
- Cryoablation for cancer https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/cryoablation-for-cancer/about/pac-20385216

I might also suggest you ask about the availability of integrative medicine at your cancer center. Many cancer centers offer it, including the Breast Clinic at Mayo.
Integrative Medicine https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/complementary-alternative-medicine/about/pac-20393581

Natalie, have you looked into integrative medicine?

Hi Colleen, Thank you for your response. Yes, Crybolation for Breast Cancer is experimental in US but successfully used in other countries. The clinical trials do not apply to my specific diagnosis, age, stage...etc., I've searched for one. I'm looking into Integrative Medicine and hoping this can offer me what I need. Thanks for your help!

Hi Sandy, Thanks for your reply and I am happy to hear you are doing well. How long are you post surgeries? What stage were you, did it spread either time to lymph nodes? Are you still taking the hormone drugs? Thanks!

Thank you! Dosage recommendations? Any other other suggestions I’m all ears! I did read about both I love the breast conqueror website.

@nataliehope . Just discovered this thread.

Diagnosed with HER2 negative în August during ultrasound and later biopsy. Right after ultrasound I started to change my diet radically, research about alternative treatments. Not only I changed my diet, but started to take Chinese herbs tea via Dr. Wong, blue scorpion venom via Dr. Chang, had two IV with vitamin C, fasting with citric juice three days in a row with grapefruit, lemons and oranges, water fasting, exercise every day. Ultimately a lot of prayers through my friends, myself. Always loved prayers, but this year Saint Nektarios and Elderly Ephraim are in my heart. Ephraim built 18 monasteries in Canada and US.

Had unilateral mastectomy on November 14th. No pain. Just when they removed my two drains. Chose aesthetic flat surgery. The 6 lymph nodes were negative.

My MRI showed my tumors 2. 6 cm and 1. 0 cm. After the surgery, they did biopsy on my tumors. They were much smaller. The big one was 1. 6 cm and 0.9 the small one. I believe that they shrunk due to my alternative treatment before surgery from August to November.

I chose the mastectomy as I had two tumors in my left breast, multifocal tumors. Also I have two children, almost 12 and almost 10.

Waiting for my Oncotype DX test to see if I need chemotherapy. Meeting the oncologist on January 4th. My breast surgeon thinks that I will not need chemotherapy, but Oncotype will have the answer. I have a feeling that the oncologist will recommend the estrogen stopper hormone therapy which I am not sure if I will do it or go on alternative treatment.

Can you explain your reasoning in possibly avoiding estrogen suppressing meds? So many come on here discussing alternatives, but any natural method that suppresses hormones would have the same side effects, if effective, I would think. How responsive are your tumors to estrogen? What grade are they? If you don't mind revealing....Yes Oncotype will be helpful!

I am 8 years out. I did 5 years of the aromatase inhibitor letrozole, and then had a Breast Cancer Index test that showed no further benefit of extended therapy.

I respect all approaches but have a friend who did dietary approaches to cancer and died, so I am not, personally, relying on that. What else do you have in mind?

I don't want to avoid estrogen suppression in general. Want to look in different choices. I respect both worlds, conventional and alternative. I have two friends who did the surgery and never took and conventional treatment, just healthy diet. It happened 30 years ago. Did your friend have surgery?