I am currently in my last round of Chemo then looking at raciation for probably 6 weeks and 5 to 10 years of Hormone suppressants...
I am one of those women that Hormone therapy is already considered questionable for as any past attempts to moderate my hormones (I am about to turn 45) have been a disaster as my body rejects everything and reacts oretry badly. Plus what I need to go on is connected to higher chance of uterine cancer which aready runs in my family with bith my mum and her mum having had radical hystorectomies plus my 1st cousin on mum's side just 18 months older than me also now being advised uterine cell changes have been detected and looking like she is going to have to have hystorectomy...
My Gyno who is a reproductive Endicrinologyst has already stated maybe if Chemo pushes me into menopause I could skip hormones but I have mo intention of going down that path.
Obviously I can speak for myself only and we are all different but maybe because I have had to have Chemo due to an agressive type of BC and yet to face the radiation etc I really want to do everything in my power in avoid a recurrence... If my nastard BC is hormone receptive then why not fight the hormones that feed it. Well... Yes it may cause me to gain weight and will give me hot flushes and I will have to monitor my uterus and all/any changes and my immune system may reject the drugs BUT I plan to give it a damn good go.
That fact is that until I do try it I will not know how my body will handle it. If I try it and cannot handle it or it causes problems then I can look for alternatives. But to simply reject it out of fear of sideeffects that may not ever happen is not an option. Plus there are ways of dealing with many if not all potential sideffects that hormone suppresants may bring on.
I am really happy for you that you have not had to dealnwith more severe surgery, Chemo or extensive radiation. I hope it is all now gone and done with but please remeber that tour medical team would not be reccomending hormone therapy unless your type of cancer was hormone responsive. They would only recommend what is the best solution for yourself giving you the best possible outcome.
It is because they want you on these meds I would strongly suggest you talk to them and about your fears and worries and especially about your prognosis / chance of reccurence if you do or do not take it.
You need to do the right thing by you and give yourself the best possible outcome so please make sure tou consider all the possible.options and do not let fear of unknown cut off tour options as something like taking tablets can easly be changed / stopped / type of drug altered/substituted for another should you run into difficulties with it but a BC recurrence is not necessarily something any one of us would wish to deal with.
All the best
Jel.