natural girls
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Big hugs to crunchypoodle and merilee and sending out healing vibes for your surgeries next week.
I'm still shopping for blood tests. Has anyone visited Life Extension at lef.org? They too have blood tests available at prices even better than healthcheckusa.com where I had been shopping previously. It looks like I could get my cholesterol, sex hormones, thyroid panel, B12, vit D, ferritin, and thyroid antibodies checked for around $600. That includes a $75 membership fee.
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Merilee, so sorry to hear about this. This just stinks, it's pretty sobering for me to hear this, this could easily happen to anyone of us, even us early stage women. Are they doing other scans as well prior to the surgery? I'll be praying for you as well!
As far as Ooph goes, unless you were already in menopause, it will put you into it right away. It's an irreversible decision, so I'd say, don't decide anything big while you may be in panic mode. From what I've seen on here, some women have a hard time with it and some women are hardly affected at all. I've read a lot about the ovaries recently, I'll send you a PM if you want to hear more.
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Rose, the vitamin D dosage should be in the area of 80. The researchers who have been studying this for 30 years have come up with that. You probably need to take a lot to get up to 80 then you can take less.
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RGiuff - My understanding (Thanks, Makingway) is that the "Good" range is between 40 - 60, although many women here seem to aim significantly higher. My gyno and medonc have me one 1,000 IU of D3 daily; again many take more.
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Rose - I think my onc's feeling is that in general I produce a lot of estrogen, even though the tumor was ER-. He believes that if you squash out the estrogen you will be less likely to develop another tumor. I don't really agree that I should be taking tamox as reserach that I have seen clearly shows it does not benefit ER- tumors. Therefore I decided not to follow his advice. I think that also there is a fair amount of there simply not being anything in the way of a pharmaceutical that would really help me. And, that it would be at least SOMETHING. He does acknowledge and believe that nutrition plays a huge role for me and stands behind my decision not to take tamox or arimidex for now. He also believes that the IV C treatments that I take are beneficial as well.
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For those of you taking supplemental Vit. D, have you felt any difference after starting it? At a nutritional conference I attended recently, it was stated that Vit. D is taken in at the ER sites, and that it's essential for healthy gonad function and that it does a lot for helping the sex life.. I still could use a little help in that area! My multivitamin has 500 IU, so I may need more. I will wait and see what the results were of that Vit. D test I asked for yesterday.
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Hey Girls: I am new to this thread. Was trying to read the earlier posts first and was just about to send flalady a message because I'm in FLA too...then noticed she passed. So sad, especially for all of you who knew her.
Also just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Lisa. I'm 2 years NED (as far as I know anyway) and I don't take Tamox. But lately I've been reconsidering it. A friend of mine takes 1/4 of the prescribed dose, plus does the natural stuff. Thoughts?
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I just caught up on this thread, had three pages to read! Merilee and Julia, I will be thinking of you both on Wednesday! Merliee - so sorry to hear about your recent news. Big strong positive vibes your way!
..whoever posted about the sunglasses needing to be off for vitamin d exposure, thank you - I had no idea. ..it took me six months to get my d to 89 from 13. No changes felt except my cholesterol jumped up due to the good cholesterol.
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Info on vit D (notice the link to vit d council in article too):
http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/vitd3.html
My doctor had me on 6000 iu and it still took me almost a year to get my d levels up into the 80 range, which she thought was good place to be for cancer survivors
Althea, my hormone doc feels that the blood test for hormones is not as specific with info as the urinalysis. Also, I was not aware that the iodine test was anything but urinalysis. You know you can get it done through breastcancer choices very cheaply?
Merilee, I really got my estrogen levels down with diet and exercise. Since estrogen is stored in the breast tissue, losing weight was the main reason for me. I never had extra weight in the midriff when I was young, but gained a lot there perimenopause. I can see now how estrogen dominant I was. Wish my doctor had noticed, but she was overweight too so I guess she has no clue. Hmm, maybe I should tell her. When I really got serious about eliminating junk and sugars, and dairy, and daily exercise, the midriff fat melted away, my breast got smaller like when I was younger, and my estrogen levels really dropped. I would never have an ooph because it cuts off all estrogens. There is only one that is linked to bc. The others are essential to heart health, cognition, and mood. That is why women who take all the estrogen blockers have so many horrible side effects. Also, it raises risk of heart attack and dementia. Are you taking iodine and curcumin? There is tons of evidence on this:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Turmeric-Protects-Against-Hormone-Induced-Breast-Cancer&id=2792440
And yes, I have a lot more energy with higher vit d levels.
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Welcome starfish. No advice from me on Tamox since I would not go near the stuff.
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For those of you who do not hang out at the iodine thread, thought you should read this and then check out more info on that thread:
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Strange thing is I don't have high estorgen. I have also lowered mine using DIM but still here I am.
I wondered about taking out overies and then using replacement with only the good estorgens. Any one doing this? Thoughts?
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As I am researching DIM and why it obviously failed me, I came across an article comparing DIM to 13c. The research showed that 13c can leave the body in as little as an hour and DIM stayed in the body for 6-7 hours, therefore they were supporting DIM as the better choice.
HOLY CRAP! That means if you are taking DIM once a day you could have 18 hours a day with no protection. I went to my bottle to see if they recommended taking it more than one a day and it says one capsule daily. Any one else have a bottle with different directions?
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Merilee-My integrative MD has me taking 2 DIM twice a day. I take a product called Breast Protect Option by BioImmune Inc. It has resveratrol in it along with DIM.
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I have been taking 3 DIM all at the same time. I asked my osteopath and she thought fine. However, given all this above, I am going to take them at different times during the day. Can't hurt!!
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Isn't it just so frustrating how information is so conflicting!!!! I wish they would get the research right. I can understand your frustration Merillee. We are all feeling it with you. Do you have a good surgeon who specializes in just breast surgery? I think a good one is the key to it all. And who knows what kind of mistakes could have been made in the lab. My cousin works in a hospital and she tells me there are major mistakes made all the time. So don't go blaming yourself. Just keep turning over all those stones and maybe you will find the answer. In the meantime, you are in our prayers.
By the way, even when we have very low estrogen levels, we are still considered estrogen dominant because we have no progesterone at all. It is the progesterone that is protective. That is why I decided to start using the progesterone even though my estrogen levels dropped so much. Have you read Lee, and Vliet and Swartz, and Reiss, and other doctors who are proponents of hormone balance?
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Lili-I am not sure if you are on the iodine protocol, but I read that reservatol is counteractive, so do not take them at the same time.
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Our Toxic Food:
One of the things we all need to start looking into and band together to speak out on is the toxins in our food. I use to think the French were just plain nutty about their obsession with going after American companies. But they are way ahead of us in banning GMO's and Hormone treated animials, herbicides and pesticides. These things ruin our homonal balance and are a major contributor to our disease. This article does a great job of explaining it.
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Anytime someone mentions Monsanto, it makes my sphincter clench! Evil incarnate....and most folks in US have no idea what a powerful impact they have on our daily lives/health.
Thanks for the news update. I'm glad France is willing to stand up to them. I am very distressed to know that Pres Obama has been nominating Monsanto flunkies to high places.
Not the "change" I was looking for! Another tidbit from Monsanto-
A Monsanto official told the New York Times that the corporation should not have to take responsibility for the safety of its food products.
"Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food," said Phil Angell, Monsanto's director of corporate communications. "Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job."
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I just got an email announcement for a new book by Suzy Cohen, a licensed pharmacist who is passionate about prevention and natural medicine:
http://dearpharmacist.com/?page_id=832
Hmmm... I wonder if she might be a match for your conference, vivre? Deanna
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Speaking of Monsanto, have a look at this video.
http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/287/Monsanto-and-GMO-crop-video.html
Carole
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Viv - I take both Resvertrol and Iodoral. You mentioned that they shouldn't be taken at the same time. Did you read that this means both together at once or not at all in the same regime? Do you have a link with that information available? I am doing so much that is all good on its own. I would hate to think that anything is "cancelling out" anything else!
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I have been reading this thread but there is so much to get through. I tried using the search function for iodine but only got 2 hits (!).
I think I am hypothyroid. I think I must have been borderline before rads (I am almost through now). When I read the symptoms I have so many. Yet when I was last tested maybe a year ago my levels were "normal". I had fatigue, sleeplessness, menstrual problems (heavy periods), brittle fingernails, and loss of body hair. That's the short list. Now I am getting patchy hair loss on my head, and I did not have chemo.
I bought kelp tablets from Whole Foods that are 225 mcg. But I don't know how many to take. Thanks for the help.
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linn56,
Here is the link for the thread you want:
http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/79/topic/729108?page=22#idx_654
But you can scroll back 22 pages of posts on the subject.
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Deni, I was taking Resvertrol (75mg) and Iodoral (50mg) prior to my second Iodine Loading test and consult with Dr. Flechas, a few weeks back.
He told me that Resvertrol could hinder the absorption of Iodine, so I no longer take it.
Spring.
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Deanna, did you get that book by Suzy Cohen? Let me know, I am interested to know what the supplements are....
Agreed, she would be good for the "Prevention Convention". 0 -
Merliee, regarding DIM I take it twice a day, two caps in the morning and two in the evening.
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Hi all-wanted to post this as I just saw it online. Some new study out of Norway that shows high levels of folic acid and B12 actually aid cancer growth. The article doesn't mention what the amts are so I will have to look for it.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wirestory?id=9109347&page=1
Here's another one--and it has the amts they took.
Obviously they will be looking into it more. So hopefully we will hear more about it with some guidelines...
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Allie ~ I am so glad you posted that study! I'm not entirely sure what to make of it, but both Lorraine and I have been on a high-dose B-complex supplement called Metanx, which is Folic Acid, B12, and B6. In my case, it was RX'd for high homocysteine levels caused by chemo. Those levels are down, but I've continued to take it because I figured it was good for me. But what a shock to read that new research! I definitely need to look into this. Deanna
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I have heard about the B vitamin thing. My ND does not recommend high dose B as they believe it may encourage cancer growth. I had forgotten about that as at the same time though, my gyno has prescribed a B formula for high homocysteine levels, which I have been taking for about a month. UGH - another wrench in my formula!
Now when I see my ND in a few weeks, I will clarify this with him. Also, I want to ask him about the resveratrol and iodoral conflict. Anyone have any more questions? I could throw some more in there!
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