They gave me BRIEFS upon a Sunday morning:
"Study links cancer to hormone therapy
ORLANDO - There's more troubling news about hormone therapy for menopause symptoms: Lung cancer seems more likely to prove fatal in women who are taking estrogen-progestin pills, a study suggests. Hormone users who developed lung cancer were 60 percent more likely to die from the disease as women who weren't taking hormones, according to results reported yesterday. The new findings mean that smokers should stop taking hormones, and those who have not started hormones should give it careful thought, said Dr. Rowan Chlebowski of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles (AP)."
"Drugs may affect cancer return risk
ORLANDO - Breast cancer survivors risk having their disease come back if they use certain antidepressants while also taking the cancer prevention drug tamoxifen, new research shows. About 500,000 women in the United States take tamoxifen, which cuts in half the chances of a breast cancer recurrence. Many of them also take antidepressants for hot flashes because hormone pills aren't considered safe after breast cancer. A study found that using these interfering drugs can virtually wipe out the benefit tamoxifen provides (AP)."
My LOCAL ADDED THESE:
"Some drug combos raise breast cancer risk, study finds; Survivors warned of possible recurrence if taking tamoxifen with antidepressants" by Marilynn Marchione, Associated Press | May 31, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. — Doctors long have known that some antidepressants and other medicines can lower the amount of tamoxifen's active form in the bloodstream. But whether this affects cancer risk is unknown.
The new study, reported Saturday at a cancer conference in Florida, is the largest to look at the issue. It found that using these interfering drugs — including Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft — can virtually wipe out the benefit tamoxifen provides.
Many doctors question the magnitude of harm from combining these medicines, and a second, smaller study suggests it may not be very large....
So POP THOSE PILLS, ladies! Here's your glass!!!
"There are other alternatives we can consider" that are safer, said Dr. Eric Winer, breast cancer chief at the Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston. He had no role in the study, which was done by Medco Health Solutions, a large insurance benefits manager.
But NOT as LUCRATIVE, right?
If women want to take an antidepressant, "you probably want to stay away from those three," said Medco's chief medical officer, Dr. Robert Epstein. No greater breast cancer risk was seen in women taking the antidepressants Celexa, Lexapro or Luvox with tamoxifen, and there are reasons to think that other antidepressants may be safe as well, Epstein said....
But WHY CHANCE IT, 'eh?
"It's another piece of evidence to suggest that hormone replacement therapy should be used with great caution," said Dr. Richard Schilsky, a cancer specialist at the University of Chicago and president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Lung cancer is the world's top cancer killer.
Yeah, my mother rejectd the regime after the pills made her sick!
It was worse than the change!
--more--"
Whadda ya mean THEY CUT THAT, too!!!?
I'm lookin' right at it on my desk!
