In Part 1 of this 2-part article series we covered the history of Tamoxifen, what estrogen is, why it’s so important for your health, and the serious side effects that can accompany Tamoxifen use. Read Part 1 here.
The Tamoxifen Lies Women Have Been Told
For years, primary care physicians and oncologists have been telling those with ER+ breast cancer that taking tamoxifen for five years following the conclusion of their other treatments − usually chemotherapy and/or radiation − will offer as much as a 50% chance of living disease free. (The percentage of disease-free benefits differs between doctors and which studies they rely upon.)
The problem is that the studies don’t actually reveal this much of an advantage. It is well known that ICI and its partner, Zeneca, were given $68 million by the National Cancer Institute to do a study on 11,000 women proving the efficacy of the drug. With that much money at stake, it’s next to impossible to believe that the truth about this drug would be revealed.
Tamoxifen Use Promotes Other Cancers
One of the worst lies patients have been told goes back to 1992 when the studies on tamoxifen first began. Study subjects were never told about the possibility of serious side effects, although researchers must surely have known about them.
While tamoxifen initially appeared to offer benefits and decrease rates of breast cancer recurrence, it would eventually be revealed that it also promoted aggressive liver and uterine cancers. It also caused fatal blood clots and interfered with many other functions in the body.
After taking tamoxifen over a period of time, it has been observed that it shows two conflicting characteristics. It could act in the body as either an estrogen-blocker OR as an actual estrogen. While tamoxifen exhibits antiestrogenic properties in the breast, it can act as an estrogen in the uterus, heart, blood vessels, and bone.
Natural therapists understand that when hormones are kept from reaching their primary target tissues, they are then forced to travel to other organs. This is only one of the disturbing problems associated with tamoxifen.
Potential Damage Caused by Tamoxifen Use
In 1994, a study of 111 postmenopausal women was carried out by English researchers examining the effects of tamoxifen on the uterus and ovaries. The study revealed that abnormalities in the endometrium of the women were detected from the very first tablet of tamoxifen. 16% of those studied had atypical hyperplasia and 8% of the women studied had polyps.
Rarely are we warned about the possibility of eye damage when taking tamoxifen, but this is a very real threat. Previous studies indicated that around 6% of women taking tamoxifen were suffering irreversible damage to their retina and cornea. A 2015 study reveals that estrogen is very protective to the retina (and indeed the entire nervous system) and that tamoxifen inhibits the protective effects of estrogen.
Several studies showed that people taking tamoxifen may incur a 30–40% risk of developing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is emerging as a major cause of hepatocellular carcinoma in the United States.
Shane Ellison, formerly a medical chemist with a master’s degree in organic chemistry, tells of his experiences with tamoxifen on his website “The Peoples Chemist.” Ellison is an open critic of the drug industry and tamoxifen, and has no problem stating that tamoxifen actually causes cancer.
For a solid year, Ellison worked for Array Biopharma designing tamoxifen derivatives for Eli Lilly, attempting to offset the side effects of tamoxifen by designing chemical cousins of the drug that did not cause cancer. Ellison tells us that all attempts failed. All of the drugs that were molecularly similar caused cancer, and so the project was cancelled.
The Link Between Tamoxifen and DES
Who knows how many future health problems will be associated with taking tamoxifen? Tamoxifen is chemically very similar to the controversial drug DES (diethylstilbestrol), which was the first synthetic estrogen drug created. Twenty years after taking DES, it was discovered that women had a 40-50% greater chance of breast cancer than non-exposed women.
The children of DES mothers also had a much higher incidence of miscarriages, reproductive abnormalities, sterility, cancers, and immune system problems.
People’s lives are at stake here but it is clearly obvious that the pharmaceutical companies really do not care. We are forced to wonder whether our doctors care either. Worldwide, tamoxifen is still the most prescribed drug for ER+ breast cancer today.
Tamoxifen in a Known Carcinogen
In 1992, researchers discovered that tamoxifen was a liver carcinogen in rats. While it is true that rats are not people, why has this particular truth not been divulged to us?
In May 1995 the State of California proclaimed tamoxifen to be a carcinogen, under legislation formerly known as Proposition 65. This requires the State to publish a list of chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm.
In April l996, the World Health Organization formally declared tamoxifen to be a carcinogen.
Newspapers in 1999 took great delight in telling us that tamoxifen use provided us with something like a 49% decrease in breast cancer recurrence for the women who took it for five years. A 49% reduction is huge, right? Who would refuse it if that were indeed the case?
The study being quoted appeared in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in 1998, titled “Tamoxifen for Prevention of Breast Cancer: Report of the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project P-1 Study.”
If you read the study carefully, however, you’ll discover that the chance of getting breast cancer without taking tamoxifen was only 1.3%. By taking tamoxifen that chance was reduced to 0.68 %. So indeed the difference between those two numbers is about 49 percent, but in terms of real numbers, only 86 out of 13,388 women in the trial were helped by tamoxifen. Not exactly a ringing endorsement in light of Tamoxifen’s extensive list of side effects, is it?
One 2010 study revealed that long-term use of tamoxifen was involved with a four-fold risk of getting estrogen-receptor negative (ER-) breast cancer in the other breast, a much more difficult to treat and more aggressive type of breast cancer.
If tamoxifen only increases the chance of living disease-free by a slim margin, puts us at a higher risk of life threatening complications, causes some breast tumors to adapt to tamoxifen and use it to fuel their growth, and quadruples the risk of ER- breast cancer in the other breast… it doesn’t require a lot of common sense to figure out this drug is not the best friend we might have been led to believe it is.
Your Own Estrogen May Not Be to Blame
Most integrative doctors and natural therapists are of the opinion that your body’s own natural estrogen is not the enemy implicated in ER+ breast cancer.
When you realize the huge role that estrogen plays in human health and the bad effects that result when estrogen is blocked, it is easy to see that estrogen is a hormone we both want and need in our bodies. There is a reason we have it and it plays a very key role in health maintenance – especially for women.
Few women are tested to find out what their estrogen levels actually are prior to tamoxifen being recommended. It is just assumed that they will derive some benefit from the drug since they had or have ER+ breast cancer.
What modern medicine appears to be ignoring are the environmental estrogens, known as xenoestrogens, that are so prevalent and coming at us from every direction. Xenoestrogens are in our drinking water, our food chain, our cosmetics, body care products, plastics, dry cleaning chemicals, pesticides, fabric softeners, and a huge variety of other sources.
Beware of Xenoestrogens
Science is well aware of xenoestrogens and their ability to disrupt the body’s hormonal system. A 2009 report titled “Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement” tells us, “It has been hypothesized that the significant increase of the incidence of breast cancer in the industrialized world observed during the last 50 years may be due to exposure to hormonally active chemicals, particularly xenoestrogens.” This report includes 485 references to other scientific studies indicating xenoestrogens are causing us serious health problems.
When xenoestrogens get into our bodies, they act like estrogen and bind to estrogen receptors. The scary news is that they exert an estrogenic effect that is estimated to be between 200 to 300 times stronger than the body’s own natural estrogen!
Xenoestrogens have been blamed for a myriad of health problems. These include infertility, early puberty, hair loss, prostate problems, impotence, decreased libido, endometriosis, fibroids, and yes, breast cancer, as well as a host of other cancers.
The presence of xenoestrogens is something almost impossible to test for because all hormone panels in current use are designed to measure only human estrogen. Starting to get the picture of the seriousness of this problem?
How Can You Reduce Your Risk of Breast Cancer Coming Back?
There are many ways to decrease your risk of breast cancer recurrence (and of ever getting it in the first place) that do not expose you to harmful chemicals such as tamoxifen. It requires people to be proactive with their health choices, but the benefits derived from doing so are well worth the effort.
For instance, the same researcher who did the study demonstrating that taking tamoxifen increased the chance of getting ER- breast cancer in the contralateral breast, has researched the significance of lifestyle habits. He reported that obesity, drinking alcohol, and smoking cigarettes are associated with a seven-fold increase in the risk of having a second primary cancer in the contralateral breast. These are lifestyle choices that are definitely within your control.
Naturopaths and integrative physicians are well aware that a healthy plant-based, organic diet, combined with exercise (at least 30 minutes per day five times per week offers survivors a greatly reduced risk of breast cancer recurrence. Just those two things – diet and exercise – are hugely beneficial and definitely worth considering for anyone’s wellness regimen.
Other lifestyle changes should include detoxing the household of toxic chemicals and choosing organic personal care products. Rebuilding the immune system using key supplements and food, reducing stress levels, paying close attention to emotional health and dealing with past traumas, and cleansing the colon and liver are important steps as well. All of these play a role in staying well and help you to create a body terrain that is unfriendly to cancer cells.
This information is being suppressed from you by the mainstream media and the medical establishment. Please share this information with friends and family. It could save someone’s life!
Article Summary
For years, doctors have been telling women with ER+ breast cancer that taking tamoxifen for 5 years following their cancer treatments will offer as much as a 50% chance of living disease free.
While tamoxifen initially appeared to offer benefits and decrease rates of breast cancer recurrence, it was eventually revealed that it also promoted aggressive liver and uterine cancers. It also caused fatal blood clots and interfered with many other functions in the body.
Several studies have shown serious side effects from tamoxifen usage including irreversible damage to the retina and cornea and an increased risk of developing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) − a major cause of liver cancer.
Worldwide, tamoxifen is still the most prescribed drug for ER+ breast cancer today. In April l996, the World Health Organization formally declared tamoxifen to be a carcinogen.
What modern medicine appears to be ignoring are the environmental estrogens, known as xenoestrogens, that exert an estrogenic effect that is estimated to be between 200 to 300 times stronger than the body’s own natural estrogen!
There are many ways to decrease your risk of breast cancer recurrence − and of ever getting it in the first place − that do not expose you to harmful chemicals such as tamoxifen. (See article for list)
The sad part of this whole issue is that Tamoxifen would not be on the market today if the warning that was expressed by Dr. Samuel S. Epstein was not silenced. This physician has done ground breaking work on the causes of cancer. Read his books: Politics of Cancer and Politics of Cancer Revisited.When Tamoxifen was introduced he was on the faculty of the University of Illinois Public Health College in Chicago. He spoke out and was silenced by the University. The University was receiving funding from Bristol Myer Squibb and did not want to lose the income .Money trumps good medicine. The cattle industry pressured the FDA to allow irradiation of meat to destroy E-Coli. Dr. Epstein exposed the ill conceived concept as being a method of converting fat to benzene that is a known carcinogen. The
FDA shelved the project. The University unfortunately goes where the money is, since state funding is lacking. Our Universities should be the foundation of objective research not burdened by political and economic influences. Read the book: Science in the Private Interest by Krimsky.
Until our Universities reject funding for proprietary interests we will not change the direction of cancer treatment in the United States.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO TELL ME ABOUT TAMOXIFEN, I GOT 4 MORE CANCERS FROM USING IT.
The chemical structure for DES which Tamoxifen is similar is very different than normal hormones. The body doesn’t know what to do with it and can’t get rid of it very well. It blocks the action regular hormones help with. Taking bioidentical hormones and no gluten/dairy/soy/sugar/GMO….taking vitamins/good oils/minerals..probiotics…LDN…detoxing may help cancer.
My mother developed once a benign polyp in her uterus from the tamoxifan. However, the polyp was removed from her womb and had no problems with her uterus after that.
Would the same situation exist for one who is taking Anastrozole- aromatase inhibitor? I have had endometrial cancer, then 10 years later in 2013, breast cancer. Both my breasts have been removed and seeing as I don’t have any breast tissue nor uterus, ovaries, cervix,etc. I’m wondering if taking this is doing me more harm than good. My oncologist says it may be protecting me from microscopic cells that are hiding out somewhere. I have taken it for 3.5 years and would like to get some estrogen back into my body. Not by taking any extra, but just by letting my body produce whatever it needs naturally and me not messing with it.
DIM may help estrogen be removed if needed. Meat/dairy/soy/BPA may raise estrogen. Estrogen helps circulation and hot flashes/primes progesterone that helps the immune system. Taking bioidentical hormones…estriol/progesterone/testosterone may help keep the right hormone balance/ratio needed for the immune system to work right. Low progesterone which helps the immune system may have gotten the problem started in the first place and gluten/dairy/soy/sugar/GMO which may lower the immune system and nutrients absorbed/pH/minerals/oxygen. If gluten/low progesterone is the root cause then fixing this is needed so cancer doesn’t affect other places. Lowing estrogen may help, depending on how you eat,and if you are estrogen dominant, but missing progesterone/stopping gluten maybe needed to be well. Gluten is wheat/barley/rye/oats/corn/rice…so some people so grain free. I need no gluten/dairy/soy/sugar/GMO…take vitamins/good oils/minerals..probiotic…LDN…detoxing. Best wishes.
The oncologists’ mantra is always the same. We are going to get the very last cancer cell with the chemo. My wife had 8 rounds of chops with that mantra from the oncologist. Years later they determined 6 rounds was the maximum. The cure is from within and depends on a strong immune system. Avoiding trace toxins that abound in our food supply including the trace toxins from GMO food crops and determining that your nutrient levels are robust and full will insure a robust immune system. Check out http://www.spectracell.com The cure is from within and the immune system will get the very last abnormal cell as long as it is operating at 100%. Having too many events negatively impacting the immune system does not help. That is the challenge. Shasha’s comments have a lot of validity.
Thanks Thomas! Chemo/radiation lowers the immune system and hurts the gut lining/mitochondria…..may cause cancer it self. Antibiotics also lower the immune system/hurt the mitochondria/hurt the gut lining/lower Mg. No gluten/GMO/Chemo/antibiotics etc may help the gut lining…then more nutrients absorb and cells are made right again to burn oxygen/food and make ATP. Many people die from the Chemo/radiation/antibiotics. When the person fixes the gluten issue and eats pure organic food/good water/no food with a label/restaurants etc then they may heal as intestines start to work again. Gluten hurting the stomach cells may lower HCl (stomach acid) and intrinsic factor that carries Vit B12 into the intestines which raises oxygen. A person can HCl and enyzmes and Vit B12 with intrinsic factor/folate, but stopping the root cause may help the brain/body/immune system/cancer heal fast. The Pill/progestin instead of progesterone and meat/dairy/soy/BPA making someone estrogen dominant may hurt. American food may hurt the brain/body fast. New people to the U.S. may get hurt fast. My Hmong neighbor died age 56. I said..eat your Hmong food only..no American food. She didn’t want to since gluten is like Heroin and sugar like cocaine to the brain. Even if she only cheated once a month her gut lining may never heal since it may take 1 1/2 months to heal from microscopic gluten damage to the intestines. Non stop antibiotics for Lyme and Chemo may not let the body heal and those also hurt and many die. Some people are born Celiac, but doctors don’t tell them since tests may not work for Celiac and Conventional doctors are not trained in Celiac…diet/supplements/detoxing etc. Would an oncologist say to go gluten/dairy/soy/sugar/GMO free? MS is also due to Celiac and it is big money also like the cancer industry. Fix the root cause and watch many health issues disappear fast.
A major contributing factor to many of these disease states is a deficient blood content of Vitamin D. An essential driver of a strong immune system. There is an International group of learned Vitamin D researchers who understand the problem and are being side lined by bias anti-vitamin D research driven by the status quo.
Cindy, I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer, and had a radical hysterectomy, although I had really wanted to keep my ovaries, which turned out to be unaffected (no cancer in them or the cervix). The standard protocol for surgery is too aggressive, in my opinion. There are studies showing that someone who only had her uterus removed, leaving the ovaries, was no more likely to develop further cancer. Unfortunately, these studies all involved pre-menopausal women. No studies were conducted for post menopausal women, I presume because so many think that after menopause, the ovaries no longer are needed to produce estrogen. But they continue to produce estrogen, just at a lower level. Far too many people are “messing” with their hormones, in my opinion, encouraged by Big Pharma and “Big Med.” I also didn’t want my lymph nodes removed, but once I signed consent, under the intense pressure of fear, 15 were removed, against my expressed wishes. One of my surgeons ended up committing suicide a year later! There were microscopic cancer cells found in two out of 15 biopsied lymph nodes. They were not forming tumors, had no blood vessels. I believe these microscopic cells were probably being cleared from my system, through sweat or urination, which is the function of the lymphs. I just have to pray that my other glands will somehow make up for my lack of naturally created estrogen. Also, I take pseudo estrogen supplements, like Wild Yams and Milk Thistle. I refused any radiation or chemo, although they were both recommended by doctors with whom I consulted upon my surgeons’ recommendation and my family’s insistence. So far, after 2 1/2 years, I am in far better health. I changed my lifestyle, by changing my nutrition and exercising much more, losing 70 pounds, so far. Also, I have done my best to drastically reduce stress. Thank you so much to TTAC and all the doctors, health care providers and survivors associated with this inspiring movement. As to what we have lost, by surgical removal, the Serenity Prayer truly helps me to release and to accept what is.
Studies are not always helpful. Keeping ovaries may help hormones. Yes..ovaries may have no problem. When lymph nodes are taken out it interferes with the Lymph to do it’s job. Rebounding may help Lymph move. Estriol/progesterone/testosterone in bioidentical hormones may help. Stress steals progesterone and B vitamins/Zn. Progesterone helps the immune system. God is real and you are doing what is awesome. No gluten/dairy/soy/sugar/GMO…taking vitamins/good oils/minerals…probiotic…LDN..detoxing..sunlight/exercise/good water/organic/pure water may help and yes low stress. Milk thistle/alpha lipoic acid is good. Chemo/radiation is poison that hurts all cells/gut lining/immune system/gut lining/hurt mitochondria/hurt and may cause cancer. Awesome you are helping with diet/life style and more. Far Infrared Sauna may help detox fast. No food with a label/cook own food may help. God bless!
Thank you, Shasha. I am rebounding, on mini-trampoline, and as far as regaining my health. I hope to find a doctor that will prescribe bioidentical hormones, as you mentioned. God bless you, too, for sharing and caring ♥
Hi, You are welcome! You can ask at a compounding pharmacy or health food store or chiropractor/acupuncturist for the name of a doctor who gives Bioidentical hormones in your area. Progesterone helps the immune system/blood sugar/energy/sleep thyroid etc. People may need all three hormones..not just progesterone. I am glad you are doing Rebounding. God is real. God bless!
I am 45 – facing the exact same decision right now. Was diagnosed with BC just 3 weeks ago – having lumpectomy on Tuesday – not sure yet if I need chemo or not. However, my BC surgeon and my OB are both recommending I remove my ovaries/uterus as preventative. Besides freaking out about BC, I am also now freaking out about yanking out my ovaries because of everything negative I have read that it potentially can do to the rest of your body, especially the risks for dementia and other cancers. Damned if you do…
Does the studies and Comments also pertain to the other drugs related to tamoxifen? Femara etc?
Hi. I had a right breast- mastectomy in October 2015, had chemo treatments for roughly 6 months and just underwent my reconstructive surgery. According to my pathology reports my breast cancer had high HER-2 levels which indicate my cancer was estrogen based. My oncologist prescribed Tamoxifen and I don’t intend to take it. However, I was in a health food store and they recommended OliveLeaf (oil) Complex by Barlean’s as an alternative to Tamoxifen to regulate my estrogen.
Is this a good alternative?
Tamooxifen has estrogen. John Lee books talk about it causing cancer. Meat/dairy/soy/BPA/chemicals/fat may raise estrogen. The Pill may make a person estrogen dominant due to have progestin instead of progesterone (which helps the immune system and balances hormones). At menopause when progesterone is lower or stress can steal progesterone the immune system goes down and cancer may start. Also a cancer person maybe Celiac. Tests may not work to diagnose it. Gluten may hurt intestines so less nutrients absorb and lower the immune system/lower pH/lower oxygen burning since cells are not made right to work right when nutrients don’t absorb. Zn/Vit C/fish oil/Mg/ Vit D3 and more help the immune system which may not absorb. A person may need detoxing to remove heavy metals/chemicals which may block Zn and thyroid/chemical reactions. Sugar feeds cancer and gluten/GMO etc may hurt the gut lining. Sunlight may help and good water/organic etc. Olive leaf extract may help the immune system. Reconstruction surgery may stress the immune system and anesthesia may lower Vit B12 which helps oxygen/nerves/stress etc. Avoiding chemicals/gluten/eating no food with a label and eating organic/good water/sunlight/exercise and more may help. Vit B12 methylcobalamin with intrinsic factor/folate from Amazon may help.
https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Labs-Intrinsic-Factor-Supplement/dp/B003PQRODC/ref=sr_1_3_s_it?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1485567580&sr=1-3&keywords=intrinsic+factor
I took tamoxifen for five years, but my Doctor is telling me that the new research shows and recommandes that taking tamoxifen for 10 years intead of 5 could be much more beneficial to me. I am confused and doesn’t know what to do. Personally, I would like to stop? Please help me?
I was diagnosed in Jan 18 – had surgery in Mar 18 and 33 radiation treatments (May – Jun 18). I was first told that since I was ER+ and post menopausal that I would need an aromatase inhibitor, however, just as I was ready to say no to that my Med Onc said to play it safe he was going to prescribe Tamoxifen – I said ok. It has been 30 days and I am saying NO. The hot flashes and night sweats are back just as bad as they were 10 years ago, plus I am very irritable, I am also a DES Daughter, hence I did not take ERT. I am 57 and with clear margins and all of the genetic tests showing that 0% of recurrence, I am now saying no to Tamoxifen or anything else. I am going natural with exercise, vitamins and non GMO foods. With that and a positive attitude I am moving forward – too many negative things said about Tamoxifen.
Marybth, I am interested in what natural course of action you are taking. I had a mastectomy Nov ’18 and due to my low Onctotype (1) decided to forego chemo. My cancer was ER/PR+ and my med onc has prescribed tamoxifen. I am terrified to take it. I feel as if the anxiety of taking the drug (plus my unending fear of developing lymphedema due to ALND) will kill me before any cancer comes back. I’ve been trying to sort through all the data out there, but there is so much and it is so confusing. I already eat non-GMO, no dairy, no gluten, minimal grass-fed beef and wild salmon, but any specific vitamins?
I took tamoxifen for five years I’ve had fatty liver disease since the end of taking it, now five years after that diagnosis I have final stage cirrhosis of the liver. I wish I had been told of this possibility I wasn’t.
i am on my third year of taking tamoxifen. i can’t tell you the amount of times i have considered discontinuing it. when i discuss the concern to my oncologist, her response is, you don’t want the cancer to come back do you. what? i had breast cancer in 2017. i had a double mastectomy followed by 3 chemo treatments and 33 radiation treatments, plus a total hysterectomy. the question i have is why do i need tamoxifen? my oncologist told me that my fat produces estrogen as well. by the way i had an estrogen positive breast cancer. i take very good care of myself by eating right, excersing, and doing all the right things so cancer doesn’t come back. today i have made up my mind to stop taking tomoxifen. there are tooooo many horror stories about the side effects of the drug.
I would also like to know if this pertains to Femara (letrozole) as well as tamoxifen.