Half of breast cancer patients treated with antihormonals are noncompliant ie, do not

[Jackie07]

This thread is interesting to me because it reminds me of my Mother who seldom 'complies' to doctor's orders.

Mother is a very smart woman. But besides her aspiration to enter 'premed' more than 65 years ago (wasn't admitted), she does not have any formal medical training.

When I was young and catching cold frequently, she would give me her medicine that was prescribed by the Army doctor of our neighborhood clinic. Evidently we had the same cold from the same source - why not take the same thing?

Mother also has a strong belief that all medicine has harmful side effects. So as soon as the symptoms subsided, she would stop taking the meds (and told us to stop taking our meds as well [yes, most of time I would have my own prescription from the clinic - 99% of the time the meds would be exactly the same as the ones Mother was given.])

I do not know whether to credit her for preventing me from building up antibiotic 'resistance' or to fault her for my miserable 'chronic' cold (combined with 'allergies', I'm now sure about it) in my childhood. I do know that she has taught me to be an 'independent thinker' - never gets intimidated by 'authorities'.

She also has taught me to be honest with my own feelings.

I think she has helped save my life several times so far...

[v-ness]

trying to be "compliant" again. couple reasons. one is a triple negative friend of mine just got brain mets only about a year out from initial diagnosis. she never had the advantage of tamoxifen or herceptin, so i am biting the bullet and trying again. this time, however, i am trying with the aid of effexor. just when i'd almost enjoyed full nights of sleep it's back to toss & turn, freeze & burn. hope it kicks in soon. valerie

[Nina]

Forgive me if I missed anything in this thread, but for those taking AIs, when did you start? I have just finished chemo, starting radiation, and instead of getting a break my onc wants me to start Aromasin at the same time as radiation. I wanted to have a little time to feel somewhat normal before putting a new chemical in my body. Are other oncs waiting till after radiation to have you start AIs?

[Laurel]

Nina, I began my A.I., well actually Tamoxifen b/c I was not yet determined to be menopausal, after chemo and my mastectomies. I did not have rads. I do recall my onc. wanting to hold off on my anti-hormonal treatment to give my body a bid of healing time. She wanted me to have a period of time for recovering from chemo before beginning. I didn't wait choosing to go ahead immediately, but that was my call.

[Rich66]

Carol,
I have just begun to encounter bits on good vs bad estrogens. Do you have any info on the test(s) you've had? All I've encountered is the standard estradiol test. In my mom's case, in her 70's, had an unusually high estradiol (for post meno) level that had the onc wondering.

For those with stif joints, the addition of Boswellia gave mom immediate benefit after years of Arimidex.

She had zero problems with Tamoxifen recently.

Green tea is also thought to inhibit aromatase.