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Estrogen is a "double-edged sword", normal levels can make women young and beautiful, high levels can lead to breast cancer and other diseases. What are the secrets that have to be said between estrogen and breast cancer, and how to live peacefully with estrogen after suffering from breast cancer?
Don't worry, Mutual Aid Jun invited estrogen today. Let it explain all those things about estrogen for everyone!
01. Origin: Greedy estrogen
Hello everyone, I am an endogenous estrogen, living in the ovaries since childhood, occasionally living in the liver, adrenal glands, placenta, testicles, and sometimes through aromatase acting on androgen conversion.
Originally, I was a naïve and kind person who helped adolescent women to grow breast duct epithelial cells, promote the development of breast acinar and milk production, so that they could grow into beautiful girls.
Image source: Photogram
However, I was too greedy, and a large amount of secretion caused the estrogen level in the body to be too high, stimulating the continuous proliferation of breast ductal epithelial cells until dysplasia developed into breast cancer, that is, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.
I also have another form called exogenous estrogen, which is mainly derived from synthetic estrogen, food, drugs, etc. Levels above normal levels of both endogenous and exogenous estrogen can lead to breast cancer.
02. Repentance: Relapse and metastasis are related to me
Not only will I cause breast cancer, but I will also make breast cancer patients relapse and metastasize. Most breast cancer patients are hormone-dependent, dependent on my stimulation for growth, and need endocrine therapy after cancer, on the one hand, to inhibit my level, so that cancer cells are not stimulated by me, on the other hand, directly inhibit my production, reduce estrogen from the source.
70% of breast cancer cells have estrogen receptors, and endocrine therapy can greatly reduce the recurrence rate and mortality of breast cancer.
Image source: Photogram
And the estrogen receptor in cancer cells is my good partner, after binding to me, it can estrogen breast cancer cells grow, not only that, but also stimulate cancer cells to metastasize to other parts of the body.
If estrogen levels rise again due to discontinuation of treatment or other reasons, I will resume binding to estrogen receptors in cancer cells, and cancer cells will be stimulated by me to grow back and promote recurrence and metastasis.
Here, I solemnly apologize to the sisters of breast cancer, it is really heartbreaking to see you suffer from the disease. Fortunately, as long as you learn the five major moves, you can still control me, and I hope to live peacefully with you in the future and no longer commit trouble.
03. Containment: 5 major tricks for peaceful coexistence
Trick 1: Adhere to endocrine therapy
For women without menopause, I live mainly in the ovaries, find estrogen receptors and bind to them, playing my role. However, for breast cancer sisters, the greater the amount that binds to estrogen receptors, the more it promotes the development of breast cancer.
So, the doctor used the anti-estrogen drugs tamoxifen or faloton, which combined with estrogen receptors beforehand, hindered my function, and achieved the effect of inhibiting cancer cells.
In addition, I can also use selective estrogen receptor modulators to represent the drug fulvestrant, which changes the function of estrogen receptors, even after combining with me, it does not help breast cancer cells. There is also a class of ovarian castration drugs, such as goserelin, which directly suppresses ovarian function and prevents the ovaries from secreting estrogen.
For menopausal women, their ovarian function has declined, and the aromatase enzyme in the body converts the androgens secreted by the adrenal glands into estrogen. Doctors decide to use aromatase inhibitors such as anastrozole, letrozole, exemestane, which inhibit the function of aromatase and reduce estrogen production.
Image source: Photogram
Clinical trials have shown that 5 years of endocrine therapy can reduce the risk of recurrence in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer patients, while the internationally renowned ATLAS and ATTOM studies compared the results of 5 and 10 years of endocrine drug tamoxifen administration, and endocrine therapy showed better survival at 10 years than 5 years, a 25% reduction in the risk of breast cancer-specific death, and a 16% reduction in the overall risk of death.
Therefore, it is recommended that everyone must adhere to endocrine therapy, whether it is 5 years or 10 years, always follow the doctor's advice to take medicine on time, inhibit estrogen levels, and do not fish for three days and dry nets for two days.
Trick 2: Avoid eating estrogen
The endocrine system is not entirely to blame for increased estrogen levels, but it may also be that breast cancer patients consume foods and drugs that contain higher estrogen.
Of course, there are many rumors about me, "You can't drink soy milk, soy milk contains estrogen and can cause breast cancer." "You can't drink milk because it contains estrogen"...
After all, rumors are rumors, and I want to debunk them for everyone.
Soy milk, can be drunk. The estrogen in soy milk is called phytoestrogen, which is similar in structure to me, but has a very low ability to bind to estrogen receptors in mammals. It has the effect of bidirectional regulation of estrogen, that is, it shows anti-estrogen activity for those with high estrogen levels; In people with low estrogen levels, estrogenic activity is shown.
Image source: Photogram
What foods with high estrogen content should be avoided?
Royal jelly, which contains a lot of substances with estrogenic activity, and other components that affect the secretion of estrogen in the human body. The fatty acids in it can increase the function of estrogen, and the content is quite large, so it is not recommended for breast cancer patients to take royal jelly.
Zihe car, also known as placenta, is a precious Chinese herbal medicine that nourishes, but contains a large amount of estrogen and is not edible by breast cancer patients.
Saikusaponin in saihuri and flavonoids in eucommia can be measured in vitro experiments and animal experiments. Therefore, such Chinese herbal medicines or drugs containing such Chinese herbal ingredients should also be eliminated as much as possible.
In addition, estrogen-containing health products, birth control pills are also the main source of exogenous estrogen, breast cancer patients should refuse to take health products, use condoms instead of contraceptives, avoid exogenous estrogen intake.
Trick 3: Maintain a peaceful mood
As a member of the endocrine family, I can stimulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to secrete, such as when emotional, stressed, and nervous, the hypothalamus receives signals of emotional changes and promotes the adrenal glands to produce estrogen.
In the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal lobe of the human brain, estrogen receptors are distributed, which are important brain regions related to emotional cognition, and estrogen affects the changes in neurons in these brain areas, thereby affecting mood. All in all, emotions and I influence each other.
Image source: Photogram
Breast cancer patients should maintain a peaceful mood after surgery, avoid emotional agitation or depression, facilitate normal endocrine activity regulation, avoid the production of too much estrogen, and effectively prevent breast cancer recurrence.
Trick 4: Sex should be moderate
Everyone knows that as a hormone, I play an important role in the love of men and women. Sex can stimulate estrogen secretion, and estrogen can promote harmonious sex life, so some people have to ask, does sex stimulate estrogen secretion lead to breast cancer recurrence?
The answer is no. During sexual life, the estrogen secreted by the patient's body will be slightly increased, and after the end, it will return to normal, will not persist, and will not cause breast cancer to progress.
On the contrary, high-quality sex life can increase the patient's self-confidence, maintain the patient's endocrine balance, make the patient feel happy, and facilitate the recovery of the disease.
Frequent sexual life is easy to cause physical exertion of patients, affecting immune function and mental state. Therefore, breast cancer patients can have sex, but in moderation.
Image source: Photogram
In addition, chemotherapy may cause premature ovarian failure, causing estrogen deficiency, vaginal dryness, tender intercourse, and you need to consult a doctor to use water-soluble gel and non-hormonal lubricants to apply around the vagina, inside and the surface of the sexual organs of the spouse, do not use estrogen-containing gels.
Tip 5: Get enough sleep
Applying the most expensive mask and staying up the longest night is what many people think at the moment. Do you think staying up late can be saved by masks alone? Then you are naïve.
Long-term staying up late, in the environment of light exposure, the secretion of melatonin in the human body decreases, estrogen secretion increases, resulting in endocrine system disorders.
Image source: Photogram
In addition, the liver is the body's largest detoxification organ, and its role is most concentrated during deep sleep between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. Staying up late makes the liver unable to complete the excretion of toxins, which affects the liver's self-repair and liver function is damaged.
Estrogen binds to glucuronic acid in the liver and loses activity, and when liver function is impaired, estrogen inactivation is blocked, and spider angiomas, palmar palms will appear.
Staying up late increases estrogen from the source, and blocks estrogen from the way, of course, the estrogen level in the body has to rise. It is recommended that you stop staying up late, ensure adequate sleep, and try to fall asleep before 11 o'clock.
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In fact, it is not difficult for me to control, I hope that all sisters will concentrate on cultivation and learn these five major moves, and we will both be at peace with each other.
Responsible Editor: Breast Cancer Mutual Aid Jun
Image source: Photogram