I feel a bit ridiculous writing this but figure this is the only place where someone might understand or have experienced similar.
I’m 45 and I just saw a post (on LinkedIn of all places) where someone referenced “the amazing health benefits of starting HRT early” and I felt this wave of grief and sadness and bitterness that I can’t ever take HRT and experience those amazing benefits because my cancer was hormone sensitive.
I am hugely, hugely lucky my cancer was found early, hadn’t spread, and was successfully removed last month in a lumpectomy. I have so much to be grateful for and yet I feel so sad and anxious about how my body is going to change over the next months and years as the Tamoxifen blocks oestrogen. And then feel guilty for worrying about that when others have so much worse outcomes to deal with.
Although I’ve just realised I’ve just got my period and that’s probably why I’m particularly emotional today. So maybe my oestrogen hasn’t dropped too much yet anyway
anyway, I feel better for having got this off my chest!
Yes I get sick of people banging on about HRT and it’s being touted as a panacea for all ills which I think is dangerous and I’m concerned that it’s being over prescribed if I’m honest.
Medical opinion swings from one extreme to another ; a few years ago it was considered to be very unsafe and a cause of all sorts of medical problems . My Mum was made to come off it and with her complex history of various auto immune problems her health deteriorated badly as the oestrogen must have been mitigating their progress somewhat and she’s been gone 4 years now . She is one of the few people who I think should have been allowed to stay on it long term. So as well as feeling angry in general and a bit sad I have a sense of bitterness because I wonder if she would still be here if she had been allowed to stay on it.
Having said that I don’t believe in taking stuff unless it’s necessary and I got through my own menopause without it . I’m sure that in a couple of years some problems will be found and the TV pundits won’t be talking about the menopause as if it’s a disease anymore , HRT will fall out of favour again and we won’t have to listen to this crap on a daily basis .
Oh dear - seems I’m a bit of a grumpy old woman today ,.
Hang in there @beachfox starting hormone therapy can make you feel emotional and it seems just plain unfair to get a period as well - so don’t feel guilty. Xx
Thank you everyone, it’s so reassuring to know I’m not the only one who’s wrestled with this!
@JoanneN I’m sorry about your mum, that must be hard to deal with wondering if continuing HRT could have helped her, on top of your grief.
@Jill1998 know that I’m right there next to you turning that TV off
@adoptedmanc I will definitely look up the person you mentioned! Thank you
I got frustrated when searching for info on dealing with side effects from hormone blockers, because so many of the search results are about dealing with menopause symptoms per se and list HRT as an opinion or the gold standard – not relevant for my search and not something I want to see over and over.
Anyway, I’m feeling better after this discussion so I’m going to plan a relaxing evening. I wish you all the same.
Can I recommend you read the book Oestrogen Matters by Avrum Bluming. He’s an oncologist and breast cancer surgeon who’s looked at all the studies done into BC survivors who have taken hormone blockers and those who took HRT and there’s no difference in outcomes
It saved me. I was told to come off HRT as my breast cancer was ER+ & PR+ and I lasted exactly a week without it!
Please know even after hormone positive breast cancer you do still have the choice as it’s your body. Yes, you might have to fight for it.
My GP didn’t feel confident in continuing to prescribe for me so referred me to the local NHS menopause clinic and they wrote back to him after my appointment to say he could continue to prescribe.
@JoanneN sorry to hear about your Mum. I have an auto-immune disease and I do believe the benefits of oestrogen help keep the inflammatory issues down for me.
When I was diagnosed with breast cancer I was more worried that they’d stop my HRT than I was off the breast cancer. I was lucky it was caught early tho
Good luck ladies. I just wanted to let people know that it’s not a hard no and you do always have choice. It can feel very disempowering otherwise
I appreciate your point of view and in Mum’s case I wish she could have stayed on it - unlike me despite having many other types of illness however she never did develop cancer of any kind . It was right for her but I’m not sure it would have been right for me . I noticed I was going through the menopause but I didn’t have the severity of symptoms that many women get - those only surfaced when I started Anastrozole which was like menopause on speed propelling my body clock forward twenty years . Xx
Yes so I believe when AIs - like menopause on steroids, if that’s not mixing my meds too much.
Fortunately I have a low risk of recurrence so opted not to take Tamoxifen and stay on HRT but everyone has a choice and it’s as much about the long term health benefits for me as it is the joint pain and sinusitis I experience otherwise. Even as BC survivors we’re more likely to die of heart disease or dementia which is can help prevent.
Sorry, starting off on my evangelical route again.
I just feel very sad that so many are told definitely not when it’s simply but true so people do need to know they have a choice and that includes taking AIs or taking HRT and not be gaslit into being told we can’t
I just want to point out HRT is not always so great .
There is increasing evidence
that women with PCOs are at higher risk of developing Breast Cancer.
I feel some Doctors sometimes prescribe Hrt with wild abandon & generally don’t investigate anything or check anything 5, 10, 20 years down the line. Is this responsible ?
Having high oestrogen levels , (I understand) prior to taking Hrt is a contributing factor to Er+ BC. So why don’t Doctors check oestrogen levels before putting us on HRt I wonder.
Perhaps someone who knows more could explain why no blood tests are taken before we commence Hrt.
It would interesting to hear more on this subject !
Most groups I’m on women have to really fight hard to get HRT and are all too often fobbed off with antidepressants.
I don’t know too much about PCOS, but my understanding is that it’s high levels of androgen levels rather than oestrogen and also depleted levels of progesterone, which would be supplemented with HRT.
I’ve not heard of high oestrogen levels being a cause of breast cancer. Are you able to signpost to where this is please? Modern transdermal HRT doesn’t cause breast cancer
Oestrogen levels fluctuate wildly around perimenopause so blood tests don’t really have any value as can be different even a few hours later so GPs are meant to prescribe on symptoms firstly with a 6 month review and after that an annual review
I know how you feel. I took HRT and it helped me work and feel good. Now I’m on AIs for 5 years. Anastrozole foe 2 1/2 years but depressed and brain fog. Now on Exemestane for the next 2 1/2 and feeling better. None of this is fair but we will get trough it.X
I know exactly how you feel having loved being on HRT before BC however just remember you do have choices and you can always review your medication with your Drs if you find certain medication side effects are too. much. I had this as I was unable to do my job with a particular phsysical side effect. For what its worth there are also medications that help counteract some of the major symptoms of menopause eg for the sweats. Its your body and only you can ultimately decide whats best for you and how you want to live your life.
I used to be on HRT patches until 2020 when I was diagnosed with HERS 2
HRT was the best thing I have ever had but now will not be able to have it ever again
I had chemo, mastectomy, radiotherapy, more chemo and Letrozole for 10 years
So good news is am still here although a little lob sided and back to having hot flushes throughout day and night.
Still feel lucky
Not sure if this helps but Im in my early 60’s and was on patches for four years. I now have breast cancer in both breasts. Although my consultant won’t commit to saying that there’s no link I feel there is. Fortunately no one in my family has had breast cancer or any other type. I went on the patches after I saw Davina McCalls program on the benefits of them and how they are now to be trusted and the risk of getting cancer was minimal. I don’t have any hard cold evidence but I don’t feel I am wrong. Just thought it would help you see it from another perspective possibly —sending kind thoughts and healing
Me too. Particularly when all the media stuff, tv etc that talk about the menopause don’t really talk about living with chemical menopauses. Years ago my gp simply referred me to a menopause website, which actually did it didn’t apply to women with breast cancer!
HRT has got some good PR at the moment. It is definitely being presented as a panacea for all that ills women. It’s quite galling for those of us who are denied it.
Yes @jenny111 a chemically induced menopause is much worse in my opinion and it’s hard to explain to people who haven’t experienced it I know. Having said that I think I had a relatively easy menopause compared with some women I know. . It isn’t just AI / Zoladex / chemo or even breast cancer patients who are experiencing a chemically induced menopause either . My friend who has a rheumatoid negative degenerative joint condition had a cocktail of drugs for that which put her into the menopause very quickly.
@gaw1 I am not going to disagree with you there . I just met a former colleague who was diagnosed with an early ER + breast cancer earlier this year - she’s around the same age as me (60) and she has been told that it’s probably due to having taken HRT for a prolonged amount of time . My friend who was diagnosed a couple of months after me had been on HRT for about 15 years as well - I’m surprised that nobody questioned that she had been on it so long .
All the current talk and evidence is that it’s beneficial but these things go in cycles - I’m sure in a few years some research will appear to it link it with some health problems in some people . For the people that it’s worked for I’m glad for them - for those of you who have had to come off it and feel worse I sympathise .
I think it’s important to maintain a little bit of scepticism . There’s a history of over prescribing of certain things that goes back decades - Valium in the 70s , antibiotics now I think it could be the same with HRT as well as weight loss drugs in the private sector .I also think that sometimes the answer to getting help with menopausal symptoms might be more complicated than just giving someone a prescription for HRT which may be the easiest way for a GP and certainly for a private doctor to deal with it . What about complimentary therapies / counselling / exercise / psychological support - it’s much easier to write a prescription than to really listen .The people who may benefit most are not us but the companies that make and sell it .I also know people who have tried HRT and come off it after a couple of months due to feeling unwell with it so it doesn’t suit everyone .
@josie2 - I understand how evangelical you feel about it but you and I are in a lucky position of having an early cancer that rarely spreads outside of the breast - so you may feel safe taking it but others even if they wish they could have it may not want to take the risk as their clinical picture may be much more complicated . I think it’s ok to be sad or angry about not having it without pursuing it .
. She is one of the few people who I think should have been allowed to stay on it long term. So as well as feeling angry in general and a bit sad I have a sense of bitterness because I wonder if she would still be here if she had been allowed to stay on it.
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