Fear over high lymph node involvement

My friend’s mum had lung cancer and had a spoonful of turmeric in yoghurt every day between scans before surgery. They said her tumour had behaved ‘unusually’ in that it shrunk. Obviously this could have been due to anything….but she’s still swearing by the turmeric x

Hi. I wasn’t really that interested in looking into alternative methods during my chemo, it’s only now that I have got scared by the level of lymph node involvement that I want to try to take a bit of control over the thing.

Also, I am very conscious that I am waiting to heal from surgery and not having any treatment until the radiotherapy which is more localised rather than all over. 

So, I want to take back some control and to feel I am doing what I can. I will be having a number of drugs after radiotherapy including the one to suppress my ovaries which I want removed as soon as they say I can.

I don’t really like waiting without taking any drugs to treat it for now. 

I think I read that the tumeric might help with tamoxifen (make it work more effectively) although there’s nothing conclusive. 

I am 41 and my chemo seems to have brought on either a temporary or permanent menopause (not sure which yet). I have 2 children and we had no intention of having any more x

That’s really interesting Hel39 . My best friend’s dad has pre cancer in his oesophagus and he’s been told to take low dose aspirin each day (by a consultant I think) plus he has yearly scans x

Hi .mel28

Because of high lymph node involvement, fairly big tumour, age (43 at dx), stongly er+ and because I had lobular bc, onc said best tablet to prevent recurrence was letrozole. My periods did stop during chemo but to take letrozole, you do definitely need to be post menopausal and I wasn't sure if my periods would return or not. I already have two children and didn't want any more so I just said get my ovaries out!

I had zoladex injections for about 6 months before the op so I could start taking the letrozole tablets. 

Cwtches, 

Gay xxx

My cancer was er+, a massive 12cm and had 7 positive lymph nodes.  I am going to ask my oncologist at my next review in couple of weeks, see what she says.

Cwtches xx

Just looking through some of the posts on here. If anyone is still on chemo, I would advise you talk to your onc before using tumeric. There have been studies which suggest that tumeric reduces the effectiveness of some chemo drugs, such as cyclophosphamide (the C in fec). 

It might be true, it might not be true - just thought maybe it is worth checking out if anyone is still on chemo. 

• ''You’re taking chemotherapy medications such as camptothecin (Camptosar®), mechlorethamine (Mustargen®), doxorubicin (Adriamycin®, Rubex®), or cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan®, Neosar®). Turmeric may lessen the effects of these medications.''

Cwtches, 

Gay xxx

Thank you. I think a lot of it does come down to inflammation suppressing properties. I probably won’t dare take it every day but will definitely start it regularly a few days a week x

Ah, thanks. God it’s all so complicated. Maybe will hold off anything new until after chemo then. I think this is maybe why they don’t start tamoxifen until after chemo has finished also. X

I think that for women with a high risk of recurrence, AIs have been shown to be more effective than tamoxifen. I did not want to take any chances!!

Op is really quick and easy, minimal recovery time. I have not regretted it at all :)

Cwtches, 

Gay xxx

Do they now give you bisphosphonates as well?

have you had any issues with being put into an early menopause or from the letrozole? I do really want this option but have seen other people writing posts about terrible side effects with this drug so I’m a little worried. At the moment, I’d take longevity over quality of life as my kids are so young but a bit worried that, once the ovaries are out, there’s no going back x