Cancer patients pick antidepressant for hot flashes

Gail Perry wrote:

"It’s not just about hot flashes and night sweats; there is a very powerful emotional shift taking place in your life, as the way in which you now view yourself — and the way in which women at menopause are viewed at large — is changing..."
Bull hockey!
Maybe it's that way for some women. For me, it WAS about the hot flashes.
PERIOD.
The incredibly biased and sexist statement above ... well, if anyone on the staff of a doctor's office announced to me that all or even most women are in some kind of emotional turmoil over the facts of menopause, experiencing a "powerful emotional shift" because of "changes in their lives ..." I would leave and refuse to pay the bill.
Who writes such trash? WHEN will women be seen as individuals? How sexist to think that we see ourselves as used up if we can't have babies.

It may not be how you see yourself and good it isn't but there is a media frenzy on the young we all know that. When I think of Madonna in her last video and hear a comedian taking pot shots at her video saying she is hot but she has a fifty year old vagina well it says a lot about how the young see people who are not 20 her talent and fame were both wash with a derogatory brush instantly with those words. I changed the channel but still it does exist I am sure some women feel it. I do but I cannot say it is just older it is poor sick withdrawal, mental health user ect it all adds up to beat a person up. I am sure people reading the worst about me would miss all the good as there is more to everyone than the eye can behold or words can convey.

btdt wrote:

<quoted text>
It may not be how you see yourself and good it isn't but there is a media frenzy on the young we all know that. When I think of Madonna in her last video and hear a comedian taking pot shots at her video saying she is hot but she has a fifty year old vagina well it says a lot about how the young see people who are not 20 her talent and fame were both wash with a derogatory brush instantly with those words. I changed the channel but still it does exist I am sure some women feel it. I do but I cannot say it is just older it is poor sick withdrawal, mental health user ect it all adds up to beat a person up. I am sure people reading the worst about me would miss all the good as there is more to everyone than the eye can behold or words can convey.

Fortunately for me, I do not govern my life based on media frenzies.

I am sure SOME women experience something or other. We are all individuals. But IMO anyone who falls apart because she can't have babies any more needs some counseling. To assume that all, or even most, women react to menopause in that way, is absurd ... and sexist.

Think of how colored that medical care would be by that sexist bias.

I ran into that with breast cancer -- from medical people: "OH MY GOD YOU CAN'T HAVE A MASTECTOMY! THAT'S AWFUL! SAVE YOUR BREAST!!!!!"

"Uh ... tell me again where it's most likely to come back?"

"Well, er ... in the breast where you first had it, but ... SAVE YOUR BREAST!!!!!"

"What if I really, really, really don't want it to come back?"

"The life expectancy is just as good for lumpectomies as mastectomies. SAVE YOUR BREAST!!!!!!"

"Do you remember what my last question was?"

"It was whether or not you should have a mastectomy."

"No,it was 'Where is this breast cancer most likely to come back. I pointed out that I really, really, really don't want it to come back."

"Wait a minute -- I'm confused. You're OK with a mastectomy? SAVE YOUR BREAST!!!!"

Unfortunately I'm not exaggerating.

I had a mastectomy, five years ago. FOR ME, that's five years of not feeling I had a ticking time bomb hanging off my chest.

Other people will make different choices. That's their right, but ... we're all individuals.

Gail Perry wrote:

<quoted text>
Fortunately for me, I do not govern my life based on media frenzies.
I am sure SOME women experience something or other. We are all individuals. But IMO anyone who falls apart because she can't have babies any more needs some counseling. To assume that all, or even most, women react to menopause in that way, is absurd ... and sexist.
Think of how colored that medical care would be by that sexist bias.
I ran into that with breast cancer -- from medical people: "OH MY GOD YOU CAN'T HAVE A MASTECTOMY! THAT'S AWFUL! SAVE YOUR BREAST!!!!!"
"Uh ... tell me again where it's most likely to come back?"
"Well, er ... in the breast where you first had it, but ... SAVE YOUR BREAST!!!!!"
"What if I really, really, really don't want it to come back?"
"The life expectancy is just as good for lumpectomies as mastectomies. SAVE YOUR BREAST!!!!!!"
"Do you remember what my last question was?"
"It was whether or not you should have a mastectomy."
"No,it was 'Where is this breast cancer most likely to come back. I pointed out that I really, really, really don't want it to come back."
"Wait a minute -- I'm confused. You're OK with a mastectomy? SAVE YOUR BREAST!!!!"
Unfortunately I'm not exaggerating.
I had a mastectomy, five years ago. FOR ME, that's five years of not feeling I had a ticking time bomb hanging off my chest.
Other people will make different choices. That's their right, but ... we're all individuals.

I am glad you are well and applaud your sense of well being and proactive spirit. My aunt had the breast cancer come back in her lung she just had the cancer removed not the entire beast. I had a lump removed at 18 it was not cancerous. I have had frequent mamograms in the last few years they are watching a few places... also had lumps under my breast in under my arm. The thyroid issue is new of course I have had all these withdrawal symptoms (or that is what I thought it was for years now so who knows if some of it was thyroid) I am due for another mamogram now actually but need to call and set it up myself there has been so much going on it slipped my mind. Not crazy about all this radiation it can't be good for me having a nuclear scan next wk for the thyroid it all adds up...
so far it may not be cancer but if it is Effexor will be in the back of my mind as thyroid is listed on the side effects at the FDA

Endocrine system—Rare: goiter, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, thyroid nodule, thyroiditis.

It does not say cancer but when I took it one step further nodules which is what I have is broken down into different kinds mine is solid which cancer nodules are.

Although the majority of thyroid nodules are benign (not cancerous), about 10% of nodules do contain cancer . Therefore, the primary purpose for evaluating a thyroid nodule is to determine whether cancer is present.

So chances are good it is not cancer. I have been through a lot in withdrawal and do not consider myself healthy at this point not by a long stretch... other things have been affected my liver is hurting and has been since before I quit effexor 4 years ago I know it is a body part that I am going to need to deal with drugs to treat cancer if that is indeed my fate. I am now focusing on healing my liver to give myself a better shot at health. I have been trying to heal it for a long time and do not drink or do anything to slow it's healing however it has not responded so now I am specifically targeting my liver with diet and supplements.

Time will tell.

You are a strong person it comes through in your writing and I am a strong person too but anyone even the strong can be worn down given enough time and enough hits. I feel worn down just now rather like water washing a rock away and in my mind it has a lot to do with Effexor. So I am one sided where this drug in concerned at this point in time. Given that I have been unwell a number of years now and do blame effexor and I doubt my thinking will change.

You should not have to praise a drug you don't like.

As for "all that radiation," that's one reason I chose a mastectomy. I didn't want all that radiation.

I was already facing surgery, three different chemos (two given together and one with Herceptin -- and then Herceptin continued for a year, PLUS an AI.

I really thought that was quite enough to do to my body without radiation. But if I had a lumpectomy, I had to have radiation in order to have a good survival chance.

It still astounds me how many medical "experts" didn't get that there's no one right answer to that, and that what's right for one person won't be right for another.

I knew that *psychologically* I would be better off not having to go in for radiation every week day for six weeks, also. None of these "experts" had ever met me before. They couldn't possibly know what I knew about myself.

Only you know how you feel on Effexor. If the doctors "helping" you don't get that, maybe it's time to shop around if you can.

Gail Perry wrote:

You should not have to praise a drug you don't like.
As for "all that radiation," that's one reason I chose a mastectomy. I didn't want all that radiation.
I was already facing surgery, three different chemos (two given together and one with Herceptin -- and then Herceptin continued for a year, PLUS an AI.
I really thought that was quite enough to do to my body without radiation. But if I had a lumpectomy, I had to have radiation in order to have a good survival chance.
It still astounds me how many medical "experts" didn't get that there's no one right answer to that, and that what's right for one person won't be right for another.
I knew that *psychologically* I would be better off not having to go in for radiation every week day for six weeks, also. None of these "experts" had ever met me before. They couldn't possibly know what I knew about myself.
Only you know how you feel on Effexor. If the doctors "helping" you don't get that, maybe it's time to shop around if you can.

There is not a doctor who has been within ear shot of me in the last few years that has not hear exactly how I feel about Effexor I am long off that drug. A neurologist told me to get off it after I had symptoms of MS/Parkinsonism... he wanted me to switch to another antidepressant my shrink and him did not agree they left me in limbo I was already so sick and not thinking or functioning well... that is how I ended up quitting cold turkey. At the point of quitting I was too ill to read and had only the doctors to follow they wore me out I gave up waiting on them. The neurologist gave me other drugs besides which I tried one at a time even at low low doses I could not tolerate them as I already had what a lot of antidepressant uses get in withdrawal I was hypersensitive to ALL meds they tried. I quit it all cold turkey. Looking back now after the research that I have done I believe I had reach tolerance on Effexor a least two years before I quit taking it of my own volition I was sick about 2 and a half years before I quit. I ran to doctors all over my province trying to find out what was wrong with me. It started with a gastro bleed pancreatitis serial infection ovarian cysts constant bleeding in the end I could not get out of bed... lost my job my house ... I gave up on trying to have a life in 2006 and started focusing on getting well... that is a long time ago. I have improved a great deal the infections are few I have had some really good period but I have not been what you would call normal or completely well since 2004 when this all started. It is a long time to be ill to be dependent. I have one old specialist and newer ones and a family doctor something I could not get in the town I use to live in due to the doctor shortages here in Canada.
I know something about radiation I took my mother every day before she died and watched it all go down. The city I lived in at that time had a cancer center and it made sense she should move in with me and have her treatment there rather than go by herself to a strange city where normally she would go alone for treatment staying in a hospital the entire time. I know cancer quite well it has taken some people I love so I know the treatments I am no stranger to the struggle. With how I feel about effexor and what I know about it from personal experience I could not keep quiet about the chance it made cancer drugs less effective.
Peace to you Gail cherish these healthy days and live it to he fullest. Thanks for the conversation at this point I am not talking too much about it to people in my life. My son lost his father to cancer while I was still quite deep in withdrawal... I just can't put this on his mind until I know for sure. So I am keeping a rather low profile my sisters know but that is about it. It seems every xmass there is something like this for the last few years merry ho ho my ass. I am hoping for the best and doing my best not to worry.