Natural therapies vs hormone therapy

Hi there,

My name is LJ, I am one of the Naturopaths here at Happy Healthy You. Thanks for your message.

Taking hH with tamoxifen is fine, do start on a low dose for instance 1/2 tsp or 2 capsules to begin and monitor yourself always. As a rule take your medications 2-4 hours away from your HH.

To give you a little more information as i am sure you doctor would also have questions -

HH contains standarised herbs, which will help to regulate the health of the glandular system (endocrine system). Yes, HH contains plant based oestrogen (phytoestrogens) however there is much confusion about what these do. Phytoestrogens are the beneficial oestrogen which work to block the negative environmental or synthetic oestrogen (xenoestrogens) and thereby down regulate there concentration in the body. The way that the uptake of phytoestrogens works is via hormonal regulation to the brain, this occurs due to the other synergistic herbs in the formulation (Vitex, Black Cohosh) which work on the master control mechanisms in the brain to increase or decrease the amount of oestrogen contained in the body. An example of this is in the case of perimenopause when the body is naturally starting to decrease its production of oestrogen such as in the ovaries. If you take a phytoestrogen herb the body will be able to initiate a better production of healthy oestrogen in the ovaries to decrease low oestrogen symptoms such as hot flushes. On the opposite spectrum of this is a situation of oestrogen excess such as endometriosis. If a woman with this tissue overgrowth conditions takes a phytoestrogen herb it works to down regulate the amount of oestrogen the body produces and improve the removal of the oestrogen from the body. So I hope that this helps to explain to you that phytoestrogens work to regulate hormones to find a balance. Yes HH contains phytoestrogens however this doesn’t necessarily mean it will increase oestrogen, unless via feedback mechanism (hormonal communication) the body requires it.

You may also benefit from reading these two articles -

https://happyhealthyyou.com.au/blogs/articles/turmeric-and-breast-cancer
https://happyhealthyyou.com.au/blogs/articles/natural-ways-prevent-breast-cancer
I trust this answered your question. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any other queries.

If your doctor has questions about black cohosh which is in the products you can always share these articles too - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/18066117/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/21231853/