Alternative treatments

I'm a big believer in doing exactly what your oncologist recommends, esp if a second opinion is asked for and two doctors agree on a diagnosis. I got advanced breast cancer even though I am a runner, have a stellar diet (no junk food, very little meat), have always been thin, have no family history or life style issues like drinking or smoking. I wasn't even on contraceptives and I breast-fed two children for two years each! I see no reason why you can't take the drugs/therapies your doctor recommends and also make some life style changes. I don't think anybody would say that cleaning up your diet is not a great idea (good for your heart health too!) and massage and meditation are GREAT relaxers. What I have a problem with is when the alternative therapy industry tries to make big bucks off people with serious illness. I have a friend who believed the hype, stopped taking tamoxifen and improved her diet. She got a brain tumor two years after her BC surgery. She is now doing great, but she is taking her medicine and blames herself for what happened. Think carefully and be suspicious is someone promises you the moon or charges high prices. Good luck!

My cousin (in her early 40s) was big into alternative health care.  When she was diagnosed with bc, she did not want to pursue the usual means to attack the disease.  She took pride in never taking any kind of medicine throughout her life.  It was how she and her older sister were raised.

Too late she decided that that was not a good decision, as the cancer ended up spreading to her brain.  She left behind four children, ages 12-20.

kbird said:

alternative treatments--

Thank you for your advice.  I guess I would feel more comfortable if I could talk to a doctor about my concerns about side effects and quality of life, without having them look at me like I'm from outter space.  I'm well aware of the limitations of alternative treatments; as I am aware of many doctors propensity to dispense drugs first without considering side effects.  And to dispense more drugs to counteract side effects.  My search for a integrative oncologist has begun. 

important that we have all our questions answered and addressed!!!!!!  This is your journey, your LIFE

Double Whammy said:

Side effects

You won't know whether you'll have side effects or not if you don't take the medication at all.  I was like you when it was prescribed - didn't know whether I wanted to take it or not.  Stared at the bottle for a month before I decided how would I know if I didn't do it?  Over the years (5 now) I have become a believer in the meds.  I have considered stopping the meds more than once.  My onc always talks me out of it.  She draws me pictures and goes over how they work and why it is recommended for me (I was also Stage 1b, but had a high oncotype score).  I don't know whether they contributed to my remaining NED or not, but I have.  I  know women who did not take them and still have remained NED.  I also know women who after discontinuing the meds either because of side effects or simply that it was time, have had distant metastases.  In my little brain, I believe the time on the meds protected them from the mets growing and spreading. I now have hung around the breast cancer community long enough to see a relationship I think.    And the thing is, we don't know whether we're in the group who will have a recurrence or the group who was cured by surgery, chemo, and radiation.  We only know the percentage of women in one group or another with the same type of tumor as ours.  We do not know which group we're in.  The hormone therapy has been proven to save many lives that were lost prior to learning that not all breast cancer is the same and some likes estrogen.   I like to believe I was cured by my frontline treatment, but I'm still taking that pill, every day.  I'm now at the point where it's time to have the discussion whether to continue for 10 years or stop at 5.  I had a high oncotype score, but gosh, everything else was so good. . . Wish there was a way to determine who benefits and who doesn't.   What they do know is the rate of distant recurrence has diminished considerably since the hormone therapy drugs have been used.  That being said, I would take the risk if I developed side effects (I haven't). 

Good luck.  Hope you can have a frank discussion with your oncologist and get all of your questions answered.  It's way too easy for them to say, now take this pill.  We don't have to be passive and "do what the doctor says".  We need to understand as best we can WHY and what are the risks.

Suzanne

My mother made the decision to stop the tamoxifen, sooner than her doctor would have liked, I  believe- I was an adult child living a long way away at the time, and not closely involved in her battle. now I wish I had been more involved, had asked more questions, or that she had left a journal. She refused chemo as long as she could and tried every possible alternative treatment. While she lived 22 years after her original diagnosis, I believe she would have lived much longer if she had followed her doctors' recommendations, including staying on the tamoxifen. But of course, who knows. It is your life, your journey, your choices. Xoxo