Half of the women diagnosed with breast cancer have tumors that are hormone receptor-positive. This means that their cancer cells are stimulated to grow when estrogen is present.
Because hormonal therapy helps block the ability of estrogen to reach a future breast cancer cell, it is an effective way to prevent recurrence in women who have already had breast cancer.
Hormonal therapy is also recommended to some women if they have a high risk of recurrence. In such cases, it is taken preventively, effectively reducing by half their risk of getting this disease.
Hormonal therapy, though, is not without its side effects. Patients also have to make a long-term commitment of anywhere from two to 10 years to continue taking these drugs.
Not long ago, I attended a meeting in Washington, D.C., that brought together breast cancer organization leaders and health care professionals involved with the care and treatment of breast cancer patients to focus on promoting compliance in patients who must take these medications. This is a problem because after taking these medications for a year or so, a large percentage of women stop taking them as prescribed because the side effects erode their quality of life.
If you are in that group, talk with your medical oncologist about your symptoms. Don't suffer alone and don't decide to alter the treatment plan without alerting your doctor. Women write me every day asking questions like this one: "I'm taking my hormonal therapy every other day to cut the menopausal side effects. Does that mean I'm getting half the benefit?"
Frankly, we don't know the answer to that because clinical trials haven't been done with this in mind.
Helping you control the side effects of hormonal therapy is your doctor's responsibility. If the side effects are sexual, and you aren't comfortable talking to your male doctor about them, ask to speak to a female nurse practitioner, for example, and confide in her.
Don't suffer alone and don't deviate from the treatment plan that's intended to help you, not harm you. Make your decision to continue or stop hormonal therapy with your doctor - not in a vacuum.
