View Single Post
Old 04-08-2012, 09:58 AM   #22
rhondalea
Senior Member
 
rhondalea's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Somerset, NJ
Posts: 487
Re: Any advice for Hot Flashes after chemo?

Now that this thread has come up again, I'll add what I've learned lately. I'll never get caught up, but it's a start.

I decided to try KY Liquibeads after all (based on Maria's recommendation). Gift of the gods. Thank you, thank you.

I don't know if I'm having menopausal hot flashes or not. Everyone says, "You would know," but I've been having hot flashes and cold chills all my life because of my stupid thyroid, so how can I really tell?

With that said, I have burning ears, which I have read can be a symptom in lieu of or in addition to hot flashes. They get warm and tingly. They even look inflamed some of the time, although I didn't realize that until my internist asked me why my ears were bright red.

So, in addition to all the other supplements I pop daily, I added pine bark extract (pycnogenol), although my motivation to do so was not alleviation of menopausal symptoms (because I couldn't possibly have hot flashes, right?).

My preliminary results indicate pine bark alleviates the ear burning, some of the overly warm episodes (so I guess they must be hot flashes, after all) and (hallelujah!) tinnitus. It is not a phytoestrogen, and I can't find any contraindications for hormone positive breast cancer patients. It is an antioxidant, so it should be avoided during chemo.

Here's MSKCC monograph:

http://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/herb/pine-bark-extract

Medline also has a few words:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/d...ural/1019.html

If anyone has an interest in trying it, I'll download and post the NS monograph, which has far more information.

Oh, and here's the sage monograph I mentioned in an earlier post:

dropbox.com/sh/efvo0bbrmf9fi5h/oLVf-Yg3jT/Sage.pdf
__________________

2/6/09 Core needle biopsy: negative; Mammos through 2010: no change
3/30/11 Pea-sized lump in left breast at site of prior biopsy; mammo negative, sonogram not so much
4/14/11 Core needle biopsy: negative for cancer
5/18/11 Excisional biopsy 1.2 cm tumor, LVI, positive margin; ER+60%,PR+20%,HER2/CEP17 5
6/15/11 BMX: Left DCIS & LH; Right ADH; SNB: 2/3 nodes: 1.4 cm and 1 mm; ALND L1&2: 0/10; Stage IIa, Grade 3
7/14/11 CT/Bone scans NED; MUGA 66%
7/19/11 Biweekly dd AC w/Neulasta; done 8/30/11
9/13/11 Transfusion (Hemoglobin 8.6); MUGA 64%
9/20/11 Start Taxol + Herceptin; Taxol done 12/6/2011; continue Herceptin until 9/4/2012
12/27/11 Radiation - 6 weeks; 2/27/2012 - DONE! Yayyyy!
2/29/12 Start Tamoxifen 20 mg/day; continue until 2/28/17
5/16/12 Start five-years Metformin trial
6/19/12 MUGA 61%
8/21/12 Brain MRI NED (head still hurts, brain still fogged)
9/4/12 Herceptin done!
9/6/12 Port out!
7/11/13 Aricept 5mg for cognitive impairment; increased to 10mg as of 8/23/13; back to 5mg 12/2013
5/2014 Add Namenda 7mg
9/2014 Stop Aricept and Namenda; Neuropsychological evaluation
10/24/14 Start cognitive rehabilitation therapy
rhondalea is offline   Reply With Quote