Estrogen play an important role in overall health in humans—it protects your heart, lungs, eyes, brain, bones, skin, and hair, averts cognitive decline, and does so much more. Estrogen is also protective against adverse symptoms during the peri-and postmenopausal periods. But estrogens are known to stimulate cellular proliferation associated with certain cancers. Hence, if you have been diagnosed with a hormone-related cancer, your doctor may advise a synthetic selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) such as tamoxifen or a pharmaceutical aromatase inhibitor such as Femara (letrozole), Arimidex (anastrozole), or Aromasin (exemestane).
Of course, these pharmaceutical drugs come with a host of detrimental side effects. What’s a person to do?
Side Effects and Resulting Effects of Pharmaceutical Anti-Hormone Drugs
Some side effects of tamoxifen include severe muscle pain, weight gain, thickening of endometrial lining of the uterus, daytime sleepiness, nausea, edema, hot flashes, vaginal hemorrhage, increased risk of cataracts, acute glaucoma, and other eye issues. It is not recommended to take tamoxifen if you have impaired CYP2D6 enzyme, nor should you take medications that block the activity of CYP2D6, such as Benadryl, Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft (these lists are not inclusive) during treatment. Tamoxifen has been declared a human carcinogen by the WHO, NIH and other authorities.
Side effects of aromatase inhibitors include damage to the heart, never-ending flu-like symptoms, hair thinning and loss, joint pain, stiffness and swelling, hot flashes, vaginal dryness, and headaches, a feeling of tiredness and lethargy, difficulty breathing, nails breaking down and peeling, memory fog, depression and mood swings, balance problems, sleep disorders, tightness of the chest, bone thinning, and more.
In the summer edition of Cure magazine, they spoke of a doctor who when asked why he didn’t tell his patient about the side effects of the prescribed hormonal therapy, replied “some women would not take the pill if they knew bout the side effects”. Incidentally, these were not listed on the medical paper that came with her bill.
Clinical trials have indicated that resistance develops with both tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors. This is another major pharmaceutical problem and cause of serious concern to clinicians and patients.
So, again what exactly is a person to do?
The easiest and most logical answer is to eat copious amounts of phytoestrogens throughout the day.
Phytoestrogens are plant-derived naturally occurring compounds that have chemical structures similar to estrogens. Phytoestrogens have been found to decrease cancer risk by inhibiting aromatase activity and CYP19 gene expression (The aromatase enzyme is a product of the CYP19A1 gene).
Aromatase plays an important role in breast cancer as it converts androgens to estrogens in many human tissues, the result of which has been known to stimulate cellular proliferation in certain cancers. In the vast majority of breast cancers, estrogen levels play a role tumor growth and depend on the activity of CYP19.
Research performed in 2015 by the Department of Physiology and Developmental Biology and The Neuroscience Center at Brigham Young University, indicates that phytoestrogens act as aromatase inhibitors by decreasing aromatase gene expression and inhibiting the aromatase enzyme. Their findings emphasize that estrogens have a significant impact on health and that phytoestrogens (being of similar structure to 17β-estradiol) have strong potential as anticancer agents.[i]
The researchers concluded that phytoestrogens not only act as SERMs (as has been previously reported and I will get into in Part II of this post), but also have the ability to alter the activity of the aromatase enzyme. They go on to remind us that the inhibition of aromatase activity and gene expression represents a key mechanism of how phytoestrogens may contribute to decreased cancer risk and recurrence.
The important difference is that phytoestrogens do not initiate the cascade of negative effects of pharmaceutical drugs and as estrogen modulators, may stave off the negative effects of declining estrogen, making them effective in more ways than one. Further, unlike drugs, they offer significant cancer-fighting abilities. For example, the apigenin in parsley is known not only for its aromatase-inhibiting abilities, but also for promoting cancer cell death, including cancer stem cells. 
In Part II of this post I will discuss many different phytoestrogens—all of which play a significant roll in the management of hormone-related cancers. In the meantime, a few of my favorites are flax and sesame seeds, broccoli sprouts, including the seeds (sulforaphane), parsley (apigenin), and organic whole soy.
However, as a strong reminder, estrogen is not the biggest driver of cancer, at least not your own estrogen. Emotional and environmental toxins (including xenoestrogens such as BPA and BPS) are often at the root of it all, as well as the viral factor—it is imperative that you resolve these issues as well as anything that may have contributed to your cancerous environment.
Importantly, it is not always wise or even necessary to reduce estrogen (many post-menopausal women already suffer from low estrogen). This is especially true for very thin women as post-menopause, estrogen is no longer made in the ovaries, but rather from adipose tissue (fat, especially in the breasts and belly), of which they may have very little. (This is also why many doctors advise their patients to lose weight, if necessary). Thin women might benefit more by raising progesterone. Reminder that you have to be very careful with compounded bio-identicals; read more HERE.
Many of my followers have been asking about a safe bio-identical progesterone cream (It is paraben-free, soy-free, and Non GMO).
Read Part II HERE
Below are just some of the articles I have written on natural alternatives to tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors:
Why You May Want to Reconsider Estrogen-Blocking Aromatase Inhibitors and Tamoxifen
Natural Alternatives to Hormone Therapy for Breast Cancer
What to Do if You Have Low Estrogen Levels and Your Doctor Prescribes an Aromatase Inhibitor
Flaxseed, Better than Tamoxifen for Breast Cancer
Flaxseed, the Anticancer Power Seed
Alternatives to Aromatase Inhibitors
Reminder: To get an additional $30 off on Marnie Clarks’ online course for breast cancer, Toxic Free Me, enroll now and use this LINK. This course will also delve into alternatives for anti-hormonal therapies.
An online course not right for you? Know that I am always there for individual consultations. To inquire about a consult, please visit me HERE.
Life is a journey, just be sure that journey is on-course for a healthy life.
In your everlasting good health,
Elyn
~~If you don’t know your options, you don’t have any~~
Elyn Jacobs is a breast cancer survivor and holistic cancer strategist who helps people make healthier, less-toxic choices for their healing. She emphasizes the importance of not just surviving cancer, but surviving well and reducing the risk of recurrence. She is a Contributing Editor for The Truth About Cancer and is on the Medical Advisory Board for BeatCancer.Org and the Advisory Board to the Radical Remission Project. Elyn has written for numerous journals and publications. She was the former Executive Director of the Emerald Heart Cancer Foundation and the creator and host of the Survive and Live Well Radio Show. To contact Elyn, visit www.elynjacobs.com. Elyn offers consults via Skype, phone, or in-person. Elyn does not provide online advice.
DISCLAIMER:
Elyn Jacobs does not provide medical advice. The information provided is for general information only. No online site should be used as a substitute for personal medical attention.
This information is for educational purposes only and is not a recommendation to forgo medical advice and treatment. This post is not intended to treat, cure, prevent, or diagnose any disease or condition. This post does not represent medical advice nor should it be considered to be medical advice or a replacement for medical advice. I encourage you to discuss this information with your integrative oncologist, naturopathic doctor, or conventional oncologist. The information provided is from my research and not to be taken as scientific evidence.
Affiliate Links Disclosure:
Some product links on some posts are affiliate links. This website is monetized in part through the use of affiliate links. This means that if you were to click on a link that is an affiliate link and purchase an item after clicking on that link, I may receive a small percentage of the sales price. I only recommend products that I love and use often. Thank you for your support!
Follow Elyn on Facebook
Follow Elyn on LinkedIn
Elyn Jacobs is a holistic cancer strategist and speaker specializing in the prevention and treatment of cancer. She is a Contributing Editor for The Truth About Cancer and is on the Medical Advisory Board for BeatCancer.Org and the Advisory Board to the Radical Remission Project. Elyn has written for numerous journals and publications. She was the former Executive Director of the Emerald Heart Cancer Foundation and the creator and host of the Survive and Live Well Radio Show. To contact Elyn, visit 
elyn jacobs 