Hormone blockers

Have a look at the online Predict Breast tool. It will tell you what your benefit actually is of taking hormone blockers. I was recommended them too, but when I checked, my survival benefit over 15 years was only 0.8%. Like you, I did very well on HRT and I miss it intensely. There’s no way I’m lowering my estrogen levels even further for such a tiny benefit. You may come to the same conclusion. Hope the rest of your treatment goes well. 

I am in a similar position  having had a mastectomy and reconstruction in September.  I am awaiting radiotherapy  and then hormone treatment.  I really don't want the blockers as suppressed oestrogen can cause a lot of problems and I feel quite well at the moment think I may try the predict breast tool

I didn’t fare well on hormone blockers and according to NHS predict it only gave me a 1% extra survival rate over 10 yrs. As I’m 71 now, I don’t think 5 yrs of side effects merited that. However, nhs predict doesn’t take into account adding in hrt. So I’m assuming that because your cancer is hormone dependant, this would greatly affect your score. I would also assume that your Dr would have misgivings about prescribing it too. Have you spoken to your breast team about it? Full disclosure- I took hrt for 3 years because “ I couldn’t cope with the effects of menopause.”  I was fine on it but I did realise that I had to stop it at some point. Guess what, as soon as I stopped, all the symptoms came back. I accepted it at the time and just got on with my life, but after my diagnosis I did wonder if hrt contributed to my cancer. I don’t know much about plant based products, but aren’t they still oestrogen?

I know there’s a school of thought that you can try some form of hrt post bc …… but (and this is my personal view)….. we have a cancer that literally feeds of estrogen ….. I cannot get my head around how taking hrt post a BC diagnosis is a good idea. Infact I actually feel really strongly that the risks of hrt have been massively downplayed . I took it for years - and I know there are lots of benefits but if I had my time again I wouldn’t go near it. 
how about trying the hormone blocker and see how it goes - if you feel crappy, I do see your point about the marginal benefit for you being small……

ps I think bone thinning is the big long term problem with hormone blockers - there are some things you can do to help that.

i do get the brain fog/ sweats etc etc are not pleasant though!

I think I’m in your camp re hrt.Yes, I took it despite my mum dying from BC- although I don’t know if it was oestrogen receptive (40 yrs ago). But I did also have concerns which is why I stopped it after 3 yrs.

And yes, you are correct about the bone thinning. Prior to starting Exemestane my dexa scan revealed early osteoporosis so I take Adcal & plenty of exercise. This was one of the reasons ( along with other side effects) that I stopped it. Both my grandmothers had osteoporosis and although they both lived until their 90's they both died from complications following fractured hips after a fall. So, it’s a big deal for me. 

Hello JHV19

I also have had 2 ops and finished my radiotherapy for hormone sensitive bc mid August.
I decided not to take the blockers because Predict only gave me a 1% advantage and the thought of suppressing my hormones was not at all welcome as I had already come off HRT.

Unsurprisingly I have had a return of hot flushes, brain fog, low libido etc

My Gp prescribed me Venlafaxine as this has been shown to help some women with their hot flushes. It did seem to help for a short while  but for some reason wasn’t consistent.

I ended up contacting the breast care nurse and she has written to my GP asking them to consider putting me back on a low dose of HRT. I have an appointment with my GP in a couple of weeks and I really hope they will agree because my quality of life is pretty rubbish due to the menopause symptoms. I just want to start putting things behind me and get back to being the old me!

It is not a decision that I have taken lightly, I have tried acupuncture and reflexology, I exercise regularly, have a good diet, don’t drink and take evening primrose oil and vitamin D. There isn’t much else I can do!

Good luck with the Radiotherapy.

Thank you for your reply, so helpful, I have just done the Predict test and it is very similar to yours, so a minimal change in outcome. Good to know. 

Thank you for your reply, sounds pretty similar. Such a difficult decision. Good luck with your GP appointment

Big decision for sure.  Have you watched the podcast Menopause and Cancer on YouTube.  She had a whole week’s worth of specialists and it was wonderful.  It really helps to see what the evidence says.  I took HRT for 16 years and felt great.  My cancers both the DCIS and the IDC were 100% estrogen and progesterone positive so in my situation I am not going back on HRT.  I am 75 almost 76 but had planned on taking HRT till I died but then breast cancer came along.  Just for me personally I am not going on HRT as I am not willing to take that risk.  Too bad they don’t have any good studies, only old ones.  
There are some women who are taking testosterone and Anastrazole pellets so as not to have the testosterone aromatase into estrogen.  Talked with my medical oncologist and he advised against it so I am still looking around.  I feel pretty good on the Anastrazole even though I have some side effects.  
We just had our home flooded by Hurricane Helene so haven’t had much time to think about my hot flashes and aches, dry vaginal etc.  Too busy trying to adjust to a new normal.  
Take care and good luck with your path.  Keep us posted.  

Hello again, another thing just occurred to me about possibly using the predict tool to gauge the likely effect of taking HRT after hormone positive breast cancer. My logic is that a younger premenopausal woman probably has similar levels of hormones to a postmenopausal woman taking HRT. Therefore if I knock 20 years off my age and say I’m premenopausal on Predict with no hormone blockers (but keep all other parameters identical), this is a proxy for taking HRT with my particular type of BC. For me it made no difference to the 15 year death rate from BC. It’s 3% for a 31 year old premenopausal woman without blockers and 3% for a 51 year old postmenopausal woman also without blockers. Makes me think that taking HRT wouldn’t make much difference. Fault my logic if you can - more than happy to be told I’m wrong!