DCIS and Weight loss

gladius173
gladius173 Posts: 20 Member
in Motivation and Support
New Diagnosed with DCIS low grade -54 and healthy. How does this happen? Will see all docs this week. Question, has anyone continued with working out and diet to at least lose some weight prior to meds. so they say I may have to be on? thank you.

Replies

  • clicketykeys
    clicketykeys Posts: 6,578 Member
    Have you been told you’ll need to be on meds? It’s been a looooong time since I dealt with it but I think all I had was surgery. I didn’t change my routine other than the time it took to recover from that.
  • Shotzc
    Shotzc Posts: 3 Member
    I had DCIS in 2014, I chose not to do the meds because the surgery followed by six weeks of radiation reduced my risk better. The radiation wiped me out for a while thou, probably took six months to a year to get over the after effects of the treatment. Possibly because the radiation messed up my thyroids a little more than they were already. I know several who took the meds but they didn't exercise much before or after that. Just check with your doctor before you try diets or also on the best exercise for your recovery
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,223 Member
    By meds do you mean a hormonal therapy (like Tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor) that they want you to take for 5 years or so?

    The routine for DCIS is usually lumpectomy + radiation or mastectomy alone, though there's some variation depending on specifics. (Lumpectomy is usually encouraged, but some patients choose mastectomy.) If the tumors were estrogen/progesterone positive (based on the pathology lab tests on removed tissue from biopsy or surgery), then typically you'd take some kind of estrogen supressing meds for some years. If the tumors weren't ER+/PR+, then those drugs are not necessary. I'm not sure whether they test HER2neu with DCIS, or whether they use Herceptin if HER2neu positive, with DCIS only.

    Usually, for DCIS, you wouldn't be given chemotherapy drugs (unless your situation is very unusual in some other way).

    You should really ask your treatment team, but the usual thing these days is to encourage moderate exercise, not only before treatment, but even during chemotherapy & radiation, for a large range of breast cancer patients (not necessarily all, if your treatment team says you're an exception for special reasons). Weight loss during surgery, chemotherapy and radiation is not usually encouraged, but moderate weight loss before surgery or after full recovery from treatment is usually fine. Again: Talk to your treatment team about your specific case.

    I would think you wouldn't want a huge calorie deficit right before surgery, just because that's stress on your body. You should ask, but it seems possible that your team could be OK with a small deficit (slow loss rate) before treatment starts . . . or not.

    I had stage III breast cancer (locally advanced, 5 tumors in one breast, 1 in the other), treated by bilateral mastectomies (one simple, one modified radical, no reconstruction), 6 months of chemotherapy, 6 weeks of radiation, 2.5 years of Tamoxifen, 5 years of Arimidex. This was over eighteen years ago.

    I'm sure this is all very dislocating and distressing: It certainly is for most women. But hang in there, you'll get through this!

    Long term, being at a healthy weight, and exercising regularly, will help you minimize odds of recurrence . . . in much the same way they reduce chances of breast cancer among those who haven't yet had it.

    Best wishes!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,223 Member
    Afterthought: If what you are talking about is a hormonal therapy like Tamoxifen, Arimidex, etc., then I should've talked about side effects. I took Tamoxifen for 2.5 years, and Arimidex for 7. It's also a frequent topic in the RL support group that I've participated in regularly for 18 years (these days mainly to be an illustration for the newly diagnosed of someone 18 years past stage III, and healthy).

    Hot flashes are a pretty common side effect, but vary in severity, and tend to decline with time. If severe hot flashes occur, there are adjunct treatment options for those, some of which are just increasing certain vitamins.

    Body aches of one sort or another, usually mild, are often reported. I never experienced them at all, at least not consciously. (I'm very active now: No idea whether that makes a difference.)

    Some people report additional problems with body weight, but I saw no such effect personally, and have seen zero scientific evidence that there's any effect if calorie management is happening. (In other words, if there is a mechanism, I suspect it's either via increased appetite or reduced activity. I've not personally seen any cases of major water retention from these drugs. The aromatase inhibitors can increase osteopenia risk, so monitoring bone density (plus getting exercise, and good nutrition) are important with those.

    For me, side effects were mild to invisible. From talking to others, I think "mild" is commonest, but (of course) those with more severe side effects are more vocal (as they should be, because they need more help). That those with side effects speak up more can create a misleading picture of the average experience, I think.
  • gladius173
    gladius173 Posts: 20 Member
    I want to thank you so much especially for that last sentence to hang in there. It is very distressing and stressful want to do weight loss and getting healthy always practice it how could this happen to me is what most people say. Thank you tomorrow to the surgeon.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,223 Member
    gladius173 wrote: »
    I want to thank you so much especially for that last sentence to hang in there. It is very distressing and stressful want to do weight loss and getting healthy always practice it how could this happen to me is what most people say. Thank you tomorrow to the surgeon.

    How could this happen? There's a "just how the cards fall" aspect to this, I think. Pretty much the case that nothing you specifically did (or didn't do) caused this; it's just a thing that happens to some of us.

    Let us know how that surgeon appointment comes out, if you feel up to it?

    Hoping you'll get the best news that's possible in these difficult circumstances: Sending strength!
  • gladius173
    gladius173 Posts: 20 Member
    Ok all good. Doc said that this is such a nothing it will take 30-min and he's very confident that this will be a benign issue . I'm stage. 0. Which is damaged pre- cancer cells ... which mean the best of the best stage I can be in. So we are relieved! We are finishing up at doctors office.. and getting antibiotics for any issues from now till surgery . So I'm good! ❤️❤️🤗💪🏿 nothing more will keep me down! Xoxoxox however not out of the woods yet. They will send to biopsy and see if any further treatment needed. He said the DCIS at my state shouldn’t be called cancer... bad word that will make people crazy!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,223 Member
    gladius173 wrote: »
    Ok all good. Doc said that this is such a nothing it will take 30-min and he's very confident that this will be a benign issue . I'm stage. 0. Which is damaged pre- cancer cells ... which mean the best of the best stage I can be in. So we are relieved! We are finishing up at doctors office.. and getting antibiotics for any issues from now till surgery . So I'm good! ❤️❤️🤗💪🏿 nothing more will keep me down! Xoxoxox however not out of the woods yet. They will send to biopsy and see if any further treatment needed. He said the DCIS at my state shouldn’t be called cancer... bad word that will make people crazy!

    Yay! Best possible news!

    Sending wishes for a continuing favorable course! :flowerforyou:

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