I was diagnosed straight to stage 4 so my position was very different to yours at diagnosis. I started Letrozole in October 15 along with Denusomab for my bones. I have been incredibly lucky on Letrozole as I haven’t really had any side effects which affected my daily life. I did, however, have to stop my denosumab, due to a problem with my jaw, for about 10 months in total but this has now resolved and I’m back on the treatment.
When I got my diagnosis I wasn’t overweight, had never smoked and was only a social drinker, ate (what I then considered) well and although I didn’t go to any gym or classes was a very active person and walked a lot. I did however, have a very sweet tooth, cake and chocolate over wine any day for me, was a real night owl and had had considerable stress in my life having nursed both my parents.
As I’ve said my position is very different being stage 4, no surgery etc., straight onto aromatase inhibitors, that said I truly believe lifestyle changes have helped me. I feel very well and as I said don’t have any side effects from the Letrozole that affect my daily life. I made dietary changes, giving up processed foods and anything from a cow, only eat natural sugars ie fruit and honey, very little dairy using goat, sheep or plant milk and yogurt, mainly plant based meals, I do eat some organic chicken and lamb and wild caught fish, always organic whenever possible. I take several supplements with my Oncologists approval, now go to bed most nights at a reasonable time and joined a couple of exercise groups, I walk more and cannot recommend Tai Chi enough, and importantly try to eliminate unnecessary stress from my life, easy to say and much harder to do! I’m very lucky that my Oncologist is lovely and so easy to talk to and she is aware of what I’m doing, she doesn’t say much but did have more to say about the effects of stress. Shortly after my diagnosis I went to the Penny Brohn Centre in Bristol, it’s a charity and absolutely brilliant if you want to take an holistic approach. They now do outreach courses but I would go to the centre for the two days if you can, you can take someone with you for support, in fact they seem to recommend it the first time you go, and it’s free, although I think most make a donation but there is absolutely no pressure to do so.
I cannot say anything about your position as it is so different to mine, I’m not under any illusions that doing this will cure me but do think it keeps me as well as possible and in a better position to deal with whatever lies ahead. While I appreciate it isn’t for everyone, importantly I’m happy with the changes I’ve made and genuinely enjoy my diet, don’t miss chocolate at all and if I want an odd cake have it, but find I rarely do, and I feel far better than I did before my diagnosis, Kate xx