In the AHRQ report, the researchers found that the use of MRI missed 38 cancers for every 1,000 women; ultrasound missed 50 tumors for every 1,000 women; and PET scans missed 76 per 1,000 women. Scintimammography, a nuclear medicine test method that uses a small amount of dye and a scanner to detect cancer, missed 93 tumors for every 1,000 women.
Biopsy Best for Breast Cancer Detection

Good information to know if you ever need to make a choice.

Spine:

-2.7 (2001)

-3.1 (2002)

-3.1 with Advacal (2004)

-2.8 with Advacal and strontium (2006)

Femur:

-3.2 (2001)

-2.2 (2002)

-1.9 with Advacal (2004)

-2.3 with Advacal and strontium (2006)

So the spine got better and the femur got a worse since the last scan (third). But overall since the first scan I’m pretty much holding my own from where I started with the spine, and the femur has gone from osteoporosis to osteopenia.

I do have to say that I have only been taking the strontium correctly for a few months. I knew not to take it with calcium, but thought you were supposed to take it with meals. Not correct. I was taking it away from calcium supplements but with meals, and probably was not getting all the benefits. I only corrected it in the last few months and have been doing it in the morning an hour before breakfast. Dr.Hoffman (below) says take it at night so I may switch to that. (Always take more calcium than strontium.)

I really hoped for and expected better results, but am going to continue to take it. (If I had gotten these results after knowing that I had taken it correctly the whole time, I might have decided to quit.) Also there is no acceptable alternative for me now that the Fosamax and related drug stories are out about the jaw necrosis problem.

Dr. Ronald Hoffman: "Strontium is available as strontium carbonate, strontium chloride, strontium sulfate, strontium gluconate and strontium citrate. In clinical research strontium gluconate was absorbed better than strontium carbonate. It is my clinical opinion that strontium citrate is absorbed better than the other forms of this mineral. Remember that strontium is very closely related to calcium. They both utilize the same carrier protein for transport. Calcium will win this tug of war effortlessly. The take home message is to take strontium 4 hours away from calcium (preferably other minerals as well) before bed. Currently, I dose strontium at 681mg in one dose prior to bed (each strontium citrate capsule contains 227mg of pure strontium citrate = 3 capsules) on an empty stomach (defined as 2 hours after a meal)." (drhoffman.com)

Note: I'm contributing to the new Got Bones blog if you want more information about bone health.

"The osteoporosis drug Fosamax is under fire, with reports linking its long term use to a condition causing patients' jawbones to rot and die. That disease is called osteonecrosis (ONJ) and it caused Gwendolyn Wolfe to develop ONJ." (wate.com)

Oh great! A rotting jawbone?!!! I sure am glad I continued to resist doctors who wanted me to take this. As I stated before, my mother took it and ended up with problems swallowing. Just what she needed when she was dying from breast cancer!

Check out a copy of Overdosed America by John Abramson, M.D., (or just go in a bookstore and read). The chapters on hormones, osteoporosis and Fosamax are very eye opening. His website has an excerpt from the book on Fosamax… click on Chapter 13.

I'm finally going back on Wednesday for a follow-up bone density to see if the strontium is working. (I take strontium citrate.) I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!

Note: I'm contributing to the new bone health blog if you want more information about Fosamax.

I was watching a news show and they had Dr. Christine Horne on talking about a new supplement for breast cancer prevention. Dr. Horne is the surgeon who headed up a national campaign in the 90s that pushed legislation through Congress requiring insurance companies to pay for breast reconstruction after mastectomy. So I searched for a news story and found this.

The supplement is called Protective Breast Formula and combines seven natural ingredients in clinically-studied doses: Vitamin D, Calcium D-Gluconate, Green Tea Extract, Grape Seed Extract, Indolplex (DIM), Maitake D-fraction, and Turmeric. They have established clinical efficacy for promoting breast health. You can read all about it and check out the ingredients here.

I already drink green tea and have been taking DIM or I3C for years. But this supplement looks pretty good and I'm considering taking it. Dr. Horne also has an interesting website.

As for other progress in my quest toward figuring out how to live well with menopause, I don't have too much to report. I completely quit the natural progesterone. Could be a mistake but I didn't intend to do it forever anyway and I'm not having hot flashes. I'm still taking the Maca which does seem to help a little, and of course still on the vaginal estriol for dryness.

I had my yearly mammogram, ultrasound, and pap smear. Everything was fine and that was certainly a relief after what happened last year.

Related HealthDiaries.com Content
20 Health Benefits of Turmeric
The Breast Cancer Blog

"The report in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association questions the assumption among sex researchers that low sexual desire in women has roots in low levels of testosterone or certain related hormones. If a woman with low libido walks into her doctor's office and asks for a blood test to see if she can use that new testosterone patch, well, there's no basis for that," said lead author Dr. Susan Davis of Monash Medical School in Victoria, Australia. "They're totally uninformative."

Apparently the key is not a woman's level of testosterone but how much those levels may have changed over time. Makes sense to me since my testosterone level is fine and my libido is not. I don't know what my levels were before menopause. I think that's a good case for testing your hormones before menopause so you know what the normal levels are for you.

I have osteoporosis of the spine and osteopenia of the hip. I've had some improvement using Advacal since my last bone scan, especially in the hip, which used to be classified osteoporosis. Since then I have added strontium. It's been a year and a half so I need to make an appointment to see if it's working. I don't want to take Fosamax.

My last Pyrilinks test was out of range and had me concerned but this one came back 6.00 which is O.K.

The hormones were about what I expected. Estrogen was low of course and progesterone was about right (Pro-Gest). Cortisol, DHEA and testosterone were good. The nice thing about Aeron is they will send you the results so you can see before you go to the doctor.

I have been on the Maca for a few weeks and it seems to be helping the sex drive a little. I'm going to up it a little for a few weeks and see what happens. Progress!

"Needle biopsies, widely used and accepted as a safe and reliable test for cancer, may not be safe after all. The concern is that the technique may accidentally cause malignant cells to break away from a tumor, allowing it to spread to other areas of the body. And according to a study from the John Wayne Cancer Institute, it appears that a needle biopsy may increase the spread of cancer by 50 percent compared to patients who received excisional biopsies, also known as lumpectomies."

Another article to check out on this subject states the following:

"The report's authors state: "Manipulation of an intact tumor by FNA or large-gauge needle core biopsy is associated with an increase in the incidence of SN metastases, perhaps due in part to the mechanical disruption of the tumor by the needle." This is a discreet way of saying that needle biopsy, an increasingly common procedure, was itself responsible for spreading the cancer, although the authors take pains to qualify this disturbing conclusion by suggesting that not every cluster of cancer cells found in the regional lymph nodes will inevitably end up developing into clinically apparent cancer.
The implications of this study are vast, since patients who are found to have cancer in their lymph nodes are automatically classified at a higher stage and therefore face much more extensive treatment than those who have small tumors that are limited to the breast."

I posted about a core biopsy I had in August. I had read articles about the possible spreading of cells before this happened. My mother died from breast cancer. She had a biopsy and she had a mastectomy. Her lymph nodes were clear. After five years she thought she was pretty safe. But it had gone to her liver. Whether something had escaped from the biopsy we will never know.

When I was laying on the table trying to make a quick decision on a core biopsy I asked the doctor about the chances of it spreading from a biopsy if it turned out to be malignant. I seem to remember some kind of vague answer that I wasn't satisfied with, but because I was in a state of shock and she had said it was probably nothing...and I wanted to get it over with quickly, I went ahead with it.

I would NEVER do that again. Why take that risk if you don't have to? It makes perfect sense that a biopsy could spread the cells, doesn't it?

So I'm still on a quest for answers and I'm still putting off doing the saliva tests. I do need to do that soon.

I'm usually thinking: 1. Oh no! Here it comes! When is it going to go? 2. If I could just tear all my clothes off! 3. My nice clean outfit in 2 minutes will be all sweaty and my makeup is running down my face! 4. I'm going to have to excuse myself, or just announce the obvious. 5. Where is the nearest pool of ice water??

Well, one in all this time is pretty good I guess. Nothing new on the hormone front. I really need to get a new saliva test done and see where my levels are because the progesterone is not helping the libido. I just keep putting it off because I'm tired of going to doctors and never getting an answer.

Thank you to Dr. Bill for his comments. I did check out the website.

It has been awhile since I posted but there really is not much new on the hormone front. I'm still using the Pro-Gest cream. Day 1-7 is 1/8 t. in the morning, and the rest of the month is 1/8 t. in the morning and 1/4 t. at night. I tried doing none on the first 7 days but didn't feel too well so added a little in (after reading what Dr. Wright said) and that seems to be fine.

I'm feeling pretty well. No hot flashes, but the progesterone so far hasn't done anything for my sex drive. I'll be doing some new saliva tests soon and will see where all the levels are now.

The Progestgel arrived a few days ago and is going back today. Let's just say it has a delivery system that requires you to use it on your "private parts". I knew that when I ordered but when actually putting it into practice all I can say is, "Yuck! What a mess!" If you use it in the morning you can't get dressed and if you use it at night....well, you can use your imagination there.

Maybe it works better but if you can't use it easily what's the point?? So I'm going to stick with the Pro-Gest cream and use 1/8 t. in the morning and 1/4 t. at night. (30 mg.) So far so good.

He also thinks some doctors are prescribing overdoses, and says Suzanne Somers is using 1 mg. or more of estradiol daily, even though studies show this level is putting her ar unnecessary risk. Plus he says research so far shows that having your period each month is not necessary for a woman to be perfectly healthy as she ages.

I have read more than one article to that effect lately. Actually I haven't heard anyone say that Dr. Schwarzbein's regimen is necessary. I really am glad I wasn't able to start that. I would be into it by now for a small fortune, not to mention the time. And can you imagine if I can't even handle this little amount what would have happened on that huge dose?

So I'm going to stop what I'm doing, (the combination tri-est and progesterone cream) and try his progesterone for a month. I'll see how that goes and then if I want to add the tri-est back (Wright does recommend that), I can get a separate prescription for it. It's too hard to adjust the two if you only have the combination cream.

Once again I'm pretty much flying blind but what else is new? And I think Dr. Wright is pretty good. The new addition of his book is supposed to be coming out in '05. And he says it's the progesterone and testosterone that affects sex drive. Remember...my doctor said it's the estradiol. Ten people will get you ten different opinions!!

My doctor says to just stay there for awhile and see how it goes. Not much point in retesting anything for awhile. All of the hot flashes are still gone. Don't know why I can't even get back to the original dose, but she says don't worry about it and stay where you feel well.

The prescription came Wed. so I started on the new dose, but by Sat. I was not feeling too well. Then on Sunday I was exhausted, had a "hot head", and was close to tears all day. So I called the office Monday and she said it was probably increased too much too quickly and to cut back a little for a week.

So that's what I've been doing for two days but I'm still so tired I may cut back to the old dose for a week and then start going up again. I guess when you haven't had your hormones for four years it takes your body a while to adjust.

I'm supposed to retest again in six weeks.