HI
I read somewhere on the forums a comment by a woman who took mega doses of evening primrose oil for hot flushes. I can’t find the comment now! Does anyone know if it’s effective and safe? I have one every couple of hours and am so fed up …
thanks
Hi Blackheath
BCC have published a booklet called ‘Menopausal symptoms and breast cancer’ which you may find helpful to read, you can do so via this link:
breastcancercare.org.uk/upload/pdf/Monopausal_symptoms_factsheet_BCC18.pdf
Hope this helps.
Best wishes
Lucy
Hi
I know the feeling. I started taking evening primrose oil quite a while back and it made some difference. I have now switched to starflower oil which I’m sure has lead to a bigger improvement. It is worth checking how many mg to take with your team as there seem to be a lot of different opinions out there as to how much we should have.
I think the post you are after is called, ‘Nolvadex d does it really work’ and it is under 'undergoing treatment hormone therapy.
Hope this helps
Sherbert
These are my thoughts about EPO.
I took it every night for almost 20 years. I had to otherwise i would have been in prison for murder - the most terrible PMT you can imagine. I just wanted to kill everyone. Over the years i had to increase the dose as i because used to the dosage it lessend the effect.
After i was DX with BC i read afew things about it maybe making your cancer less aggressive and because i was DX with grade 2 i thought possibly could be because of the EPO - who knows.
I carried on taking it once my rads had finished.
Then i thought about what it does.
Its doesnt contain phytoeostrogens, however, it helps the body cope with things like PMT because its suppoosed to balance the hormones - which of course is not a good thing is you are oest or prog pos. So i thought it was fighting against the very effects that my femara are trying to do.
Then i think anything that makes hot flushes etc more bareable are working on the same theme - hence i go without and just let the drugs do their job. These are just my own thoughts about it.
I wonder do those of you who are interested in EPA also look at your overall GLA levels? I’d be interestd to see what wheter yu cake supplemencts of not.
Angie
Aparently we do not make it ourselves so need to take supplements to have GLA in our bodies.
The most proven supplement is EPO, everything else is very low dosage.
I remember reading a few years ago that in the USA they was a big study going on about the possibilty of wether EPO decreeses your cancer aggresivness (i mentioned in my previous post) so i congratulated myself on taking all these years and thats why i had grade 2 BC 
but then you read that possible high levels of GLA can cause cancer so back to square one really - how do we know what level is ok.
Incidentally Starflower oil is even higher in GLAs. I was advised to take this by a nurse at the hospital about 8 years ago when I had lumpy breasts. I too was diagnosed later with Grade 2 cancer. I do wonder if there was a link. But on the other hand I am also HER2 which makes things more aggressive.
Hello
I’m not clear - are you saying large doses of oil increase the cancer’s aggressiveness, or decrease it? I’m on day 3 of quite a large dose and I do feel it might be doing something for the hot flushes, but don’t want to carry on taking if it’s dangerous.
Best
P
I am not saying it increases the aggressiveness. Only what I was diagnosed with. I took it for 8 years. I have started after chemo and rads taking it again. It certainly does help with the hot flushes.
Sorry if i sounded confusing - confused myself.
What i read about the American study was that EPO could help BC be less aggressive. However i have just read something which says that very high dosage (of GLA) could possibly cause cancer in the first place! So unless you are on extremely high dosage i wouldnt worry too much!
The last few years i was on 2 grms (2,000 milligrames) a day - what are you on?
Also i used to take them at night because as they are classed as a food supplement they have to tell you to take them with food. However, because they are an oil they take longer to be absorbed so you get a better absobtion from having on an empty stomach.
I just feel that because they are working on balancing the hormones (hence easier hot flushes,pmt etc)in a different way than phytoestrogens, its possibly trying to work against the effects of Tamoxifen,Femara etc.
Hey, has anyone else tried evening primrose oil? What else is it generally used for (supposed uses)?
Has anyone come to any conclusions on this?
Ann