Wrecked by Estrogen blockers? Here's my comeback.
This little pill has wrecked me.
My cancer was strongly Her2+ and barely Estrogen+ that meant I did chemo and immunotherapy first, surgery second which was solely for the Her2 positivity. Then, “at some point” the estrogen positivity would be addressed. That “someday” came this past December. My treatments and surgery thus far had been a good experience with very little hiccups. So not to sound like a total brat, I was NOT looking forward to taking an estrogen blocker and dealing with the hormonal roller coaster ride I was about to go on. I have dealt with hormonal imbalances in the past and am not really a fan.
Who loves to have their sleep disrupted?
Who loves to feel tired all the time?
Who loves hormonal weight gain?
Who loves mood swings?
Yep, no one likes these. I have dealt with these symptoms in the past, WITH hormone replacement. Having an estrogen positive tumor means that there are no hormones anymore, not the fake ones, not the bioidentical ones, not even the ones my body makes itself. I was devastated. It took me several days to get my big girl panties on, fill my prescription and start taking this particular estrogen blocker.
In short there are 2 types of estrogen blockers:
Estrogen modulators like Tamoxifen and Estrogen blockers like the one I am taking aka Anatrazole. In short, Anastrozole blocks the production of estrogen in the body, side effects include hot flashes, trouble sleeping, constipation, nausea, diarrhea, weight gain, vaginal dryness, loss of appetite and joint stiffness.
Sounds lovely, right!?
I had come so far, I wasn’t about to let these symptoms steal my joy and stop me from living my best life. With my big girl panties on tight, I headed straight for the natural modalities that were available to me to manage all of these symptoms. Here is what I started doing.
Manage my stress levels. This meant starting to look over how I was doing the things I love to do. I love an intermittent fasting lifestyle, I love working out, I am a workaholic with a busy family. These are things that make me happy, so I had to start making changes to make these things work with the hormonal imbalance that was being created by taking Anastrozole daily. So, I started meditating, doing yoga, opening my feeding window to 12:12, taking adaptogenic herbs and making sure I had adequate sleep habits.
I was getting very little sleep waking up at 2 am every night, no bueno! After getting no help from my medical team on this issue, I started getting serious about my sleep regimen. I started winding down at 8pm every night by dimming the lights in the house, wearing blue blocker glasses and adhering to a lights out by 9 pm, no excuses. I also slept with a fan and turned the household thermostat down to 68 degrees every night which affected everyone in my house. I put a few extra blankets on the beds and went with it. When momma is happy, everyone's happy, right!? I also started taking particular known sleep adaptogens, amino acids and minerals to help facilitate sleep which was an enormous help! I also intently filled my body with whole foods, no refined sugars and no junk food which is an overlooked factor in establishing good sleep patterns.
To manage osteoporosis and joint pain, I started calcium supplements, Vitamin D and a Claritin everyday. The Claritin was a tip that I used during my chemo treatments that worked wonders for bone pain, it seems to work for the joint pain with Anatrazole too.
The good news is most of the annoying side effects like hot flashes and joint pain will resolve after 4 months of starting this drug. I still experience these symptoms in my 4 month of taking it. I have noticed that if I am keeping track of my stress and sleep, the incidence of these symptoms is much lower. Drugs like Effexor have been prescribed by my medical team for the hot flashes, but I just can’t go for another pharmaceutical without giving a more natural approach a try. So far, I am able to manage these symptoms naturally with some success and if you prefer that approach, it can be done.
If you too are in a position where you are experiencing hormone imbalanceor having to undergo the use of estrogen blockers, as a functional nutritionist, I work with women just like you to help mitigate the sude effects naturally. Book a free 15 minute call with me if you’d like to discuss some small changes that you can be making now to help offset these symptoms and set yourself up for success.