Supplements and Vitamins - chemo induced menopause and ER-positive breast cancer

Hi Niki welcome to the forum and sorry that you have not had a response as yet. 

I cant answer your query with any useful information for you with the combinations, but I wondered if you either wanted to post in the Ask a Nurse section of this site or if you wanted to give them a call at Macmillan on 08008080000 they may be able to help more with your query.

Sorry not to have been of more help for you. xxx

Hi there, I had a similar diagnosis to yourself and similar treatment. My periods also stopped during treatment but returned 5 months after my final chemo! The were a bit sporadic at first and quite heavy to start with but now back on a regular cycle so you might just need to wait a little bit before thinking you have started menopause! I thought I had as had all the symptoms you describe. It took a good few months for everything to settle down once I started Tamoxifen.

I'm sorry I can't help with advising on treatment and remedies for the symptoms but hope this bit of info can help you decide. 

x

Hi Elsie77  

Thanks for your response - I'm kind of hoping my periods don't come back if I'm honest as they were mega heavy but it is interesting to know that they might.   

x

Hi 

Newbie here too! I've been browsing this forum throughout my diagnosis and treatment and now I'm nearing the end of it, I thought I should contribute in the hopes of helping others. 

I'm 44 and my oncologist gave me the choice of going into a medical menopause (zoladex) and taking an Aromotase Inhibiter or staying premenopoausal and taking tamoxifen. I opted for the former so started taking zoladex from my 2nd chemo session. 

I already took vitamin D (with vit K), a magnesium & calcium and starflower oil but the sudden menopause was pretty intense, made much worse as I was going through chemo. The worst thing for me was hot flashes and night sweats which were several an hour all through the day and night. 

Things improved significantly since a few weeks post chemo though I did start taking a sage tincture once I was through my operation. Hot flashes have reduced to only a few mild ones a day and night sweats are mostly  manageable. Whether the sage is helping or if it is because I am further away from chemo and further into menopause, I don't know. 

I also drink a lot of dandelion and nettle teas which I think help a lot as they support your liver and kidneys. I ran out of nettle tea and my night sweats feel worse. I get slightly anxious with them which can be a sign of adrenal fatigue - not surprising after everything we go through! Nettle tea can apparently support that. 

I've just started taking exemestane but decided to give myself a break and take this every second day until I'm through radiotherapy and then start once a day from then. 

I would say the supplements you have been offered sound fine, but you could experiment with other things to give yourself a boost too. 

I was very active before diagnosis and am back to walking loads, I've started couch to 5k again and spend lots of time outside. I have read that exercise is the number one treatment for menopausal symptoms and I barely notice them during the day now. 

The exemestane has given me stiff joints and muscles whenever I sit for too long and overnight but it soon wears off after you've moved around for 5/10 mins. I'm still doing my post-op exercises ahead of rads and they are hugely beneficial to the stiff shoulder I have in the morning.

I think there is a lot you will be able to do to help yourself and of course, your menopause and reaction to treatment will be unique to you.

Although it feels tough on top of everything else, in a way, going through the menopause when you know what it is and that it has definitely happened could be beneficial over years of up and down hormones! That's how I'm looking at it. 

My cancer was ER+ & PR+

Good luck!