With BC being hormone receptive what do you do/take for menopause symptoms

SamL890

Hi ladies,

I have been searching through old posts trying to see if there is any products that help with surgical menopause symptoms (aches and joint pains are my worst) that does not fight with your hormone blocking meds.

I was on a terrific herbal concoction which was great but was told to come off it by my Onc as she couldnt tell if it was fighting my Letrozole   I have also been told curcumin is a no go and ginko for memory has not been tested, so also no go. I am living on panadol and sleeping tablets at the moment which really isnt helping me.

Can anyone help with some advice or experience in this, or send me to a link that answers this in some way.
TIA Sam

cranky_granny

@SamL890 Hi I was thrown back into menopause  7 years ago. There is recently a new medication that apparently works for the hot flushes you can get it from your Dr 
@arpie can you bring up that link you posted
As for the aches and pains in the joints. It was trial and error for me. I take Panadol Oesto  morning and night. If I  wake up with pain I  can usually take more as long as its been 6 hrs. I am also on Magnesium. And calcium with Vitamin D. I did use red krill oil and it helped but had to stop as it played havoc with my reflux. 

I tried lots of different supplements over the years. But have found the best help is moderate exercise  never sitting for too long. 

And not getting too cold or overly hot. My best temperature setting has been about 22-23 degrees summer and winter 
there will be others on here that have things you could try

arpie

Hi @SamL890, 

So Sorry to hear about the aches & pains, they are a pain! .... Do you have Hot Flushes as well?  Apparently, an incontinence med (called Oxybutynin) also works on mitigating Hot Flushes!  It is on PBS.  Ask your Onc/Gp about that one?  Another hot flush med is  Veoza - chat to your Onc about them?

Re your aches & pains - when my hands didn't want to work, I went onto a short course of Steroids and they really helped - but you can't stay on them longterm, or it can reduce your bone strength & lead to breakages.  Talk to your Onc about accessing legal Medicinal Cannabis Oil - it can help with both pain AND sleep issues and is a natural pain killer, unlike Opioids, which are synthetic.
There are some online Doctors who are running trials on the use of it - where you only have to pay for the Oil & postage (and not the Dr's fee) so you can try it for 4 months and decide if it works for you.

Sleeping tablets aren't recommended to be used long-term, either .... maybe discuss with your GP about alternatives.  Or maybe look to change your bedtime routine - don't read in bed or watch TV - just go to bed & turn off the light.

take care & all the best

katesmom

Same thing with me! I scanned all over the web for something that might help, and this one caught my attention: https://natureshelp.com.au/collections/menopause. I’m thinking of trying it out, and I’ll let you know how it goes once I’ve tested it!

SamL890

Hi @katesmom, just be careful with herbal medicines, this was my problem, many of them are proven to contain plant based hormones, which we cannot have, having hormone receptive BC, and I have been told many of them have not yet been tested so they could also be effecting our medication. I was advised to err on the side of caution here and stop taking herbal medicines

katesmom

@SamL890 Thanks for the reminder! I’ve been a bit wary of herbal options for the same reason. It’s tough because many natural remedies sound so promising, but with hormone-receptive breast cancer, we really do have to be careful. I’ve also heard that some herbal supplements haven’t been fully tested for interactions with our medications, which makes it tricky. I think I’ll stick to simpler lifestyle adjustments and consult with my oncologist about anything I consider adding. Better safe than sorry!