Breast cancer statistics for 2003 are in, and researchers have announced that the number of breast cancer cases dropped by an impressive seven percent, with the greatest drop occurring in women between ages 50-69 diagnosed with estrogen receptor positive (ER-positive) breast cancer.

The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center researchers attribute this good news to the fact that in the same time frame, millions of women stopped taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) over concerns that HRT led to an increased risk for breast cancer.

If the statistics hold for upcoming years, HRT will have proven a greater causative effect leading to breast cancer than originally believed.

"Incidence of breast cancer had been increasing in the 20 or so years prior to July 2002, and this increase was over and above the known role of screening mammography," stated Donald Berry, Ph.D. "HRT had been proposed as a possible factor, although the magnitude of any HRT effect was not known. Now the possibility that the effect is much greater than originally thought all along is plausible, and that is a remarkable finding."

While the researchers best guesstimate is that HRT might be the contributing factor to the drop in ER-positive breast cancer cases for 2003, they cannot be 100 percent certain at this point. We will need to wait and see what the years 2004 and 2005 tell us about any continuing declines in breast cancer cases, and learn what other, if any, contributing factors are responsible for the decline.

Previous posts we have done regarding HRT and breast cancer:

• Hooray for HRT!?
• HRT and smoking dramatically increases breast cancer risk
• HRT increases breast cancer risks

For women with estrogen-driven breast cancer suffering the symptoms of menopause, being prescribed traditional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is out of the question. The risks are simply too great in introducing any estrogen into the body. There are few alternatives and many women decide to suffer with hot flashes, flushes, night sweats and cold flashes, a clammy feeling, sporadic rapid heart beat, irritability, mood swings, sudden tears, insomnia, fatigue, feelings of anxiety, dread, apprehension, difficulty concentrating, disorientation, depression and mental confusion -- without any significant relief. One of the alternatives is personalized natural hormone replacement therapy that is individually mixed specific to each woman's needs.

According to Sydney Menopause Centre at Randwick's Royal Hospital for Women director Dr John Eden, who has diagnosed two women patients with uterine cancer, believes the cancer is linked to natural hormone replacement therapy. Australian doctors are warning women to think twice before taking handmade hormone compounds prepared by chemists, due to the danger that these preparations can lead to elevated hormone levels that could lead to excessive bleeding, increased risk of breast and uterine cancer and blood clots.

"Many women think they are getting a herbal treatment and are shocked to learn they are getting a hormone treatment," stated Dr Eden. Dr Helena Teede, research director at the Jean Hailes Foundation, also added that many women were unaware these preparations were not approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

The Family Caregiver Alliance has written an excellent article in acknowledging that becoming stressed, irritated and frustrated are normal valid emotional responses that occasionally occur when being a caregiver. While the article speaks to a caregiver of someone suffering from Alzheimer's disease, I feel the information they offer applies to all caregivers.

All caregivers are going to feel irritation and frustration at some point -- perhaps not towards the person they are caring for so much as the circumstances and the cancer that led to the need for caregiving. Controlling Frustration is packed with great information, advice and tips.

In combating frustration, the Family Caregiver Alliance offers the following suggestions: learn to recognize the warnings signs of frustration; intervene to calm yourself down physically; modify your thoughts in a way that minimizes stress and learn to ask for help.

The warning signs of frustration might be: shortness of breath; knot in the throat; stomach cramps; chest pains; headache; compulsive eating; excessive alcohol consumption; increased smoking and suddenly feeling a lack of patience.

For ways to prevent frustration from building, they recommend caregivers do three things: make time for yourself; take care of yourself and seek outside support -- because not doing these three things puts the caregiver at greater risk for anxiety, depression, frustration and physical distress that may eventually keep a caregiver from being the caregiver they want to be for their loved one battling cancer.

The article Controlling Frustration is published online in the Strength for Caring Caregiver's Manual.

Some women have chosen herbal remedies to relieve menopause symptoms over concerns about health risks associated with hormone replacement therapy (HRT). One of the herbs used is black cohosh.

After reviewing all the data on black cohosh, used by women to relieve menopausal symptoms of hot flashes, insomnia, excessive sweating, palpitations, headaches, poor sleep, depression, and irritability, Britain's Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has decided to require black cohosh products come with a warning about the potential for liver damage.

While many cancer patients use, or are interested in, herbal remedies to improve the quality of life during cancer treatments and beyond into cancer survivorship, research-based evidence in how and why herbs work is still largely ignored as scientific study. In my opinion, not nearly enough rigid investigation is going on in relation to herbal therapies even though, from a patient's perspective, there is much interest. I become very intrigued when I do read that a study will be done to further the knowledge into the validity -- or not -- of age-old herbal remedies. If it works, I want to know why.

Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia will be studying several herbs, ginseng and valerian, that might be of significant benefit to cancer patients undergoing cancer treatment to off-set some of the common troublesome symptoms like insomnia and fatigue. Ginseng is believed to fight fatigue and improve the immune system. Valerian is known to relax and calm, and act as a sleep aid. Perhaps while they are investigating these two herbs, they can figure out a novel way of toning down the smelly gym sock phenomenon associated with valerian. I still haven't found a way to use it without encountering its most unpleasant aroma.