Levothyroxine & breast cancer.

[hairyfairy]

Iv`e read on the internet that Women who take Levothyroxine have a 200 percent increased risk of breast cancer. I don`t know what to make of this, & now I`m very scared! Should I stop taking my Levo, or consider having a double mastectomy?

[Jazzw]

No, don't stop taking your Levo. That'll increase the risk.

This is one of those "cause and effect" issues. People with hypothyroidism, that is, untreated or undertreated hypothyroidism, often have a parallel condition of oestrogen dominance. That's partly because oestrogen is produced in fat cells, and hypothyroid folk do tend to put on weight, though like all things thyroid, it's more complicated than that. So it's the excess oestrogen - more common than people think - that increases the risk of breast cancer.

And what do we know about people on Levothyroxine? Why, that many of them had to fight for years for a diagnosis, and when they finally got one, couldn't persuade their doctors to treat the symptoms instead of the infallible TSH. So in the meantime, their wayward oestrogen production is left unchecked

I suspect the correlation isn't so much about the fact people are on thyroxine - it's about people not being on enough thyroid replacement hormone full stop.

But I'm looking forward to reading what others have to say on this!

[Angel_of_the_North]

But you can't tell whether it is the levo (or the fillers in it), iodine deficiency, generally poorer health in hypo women or the fact that most hypo women are undertreated that makes them more susceptible to cancer.

Stopping levo won't help - although substituting NDT or T3 might.

Getting a double mastectomy will only mutilate you - it won't stop you getting cancer (which is a an immune system problem).

There are lies, damn lies and statistics. Correlation and causation are NOT the same thing.

[shaws Administrator]

If we are not medicated optimally, we can develop other problems unfortunately. If we are hypothyroid which is usually caused by lack of iodine and Levothyroxine contains iodine so that's why we don't supplement. This is an informative link:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK28/

We have to be sure we are given an optimum of medication and not kept under-dosed according to the whereabouts of the TSH.

[LuckyKat]

You need to keep taking your thyroid medication, but if you're worried about cancer there are preventative measures you can take:

cancer likes sugar, so cut it out of your diet

aim for alkalinity in your body because cancer thrives on an acid environment (iodine perhaps)

increase oxygen in your body because cancer doesn't like it (ozone is a good way)

lipsomal vitamin c + l-lysine is also regarded as preventative.

Do some research and you'll find there are lots of steps you can take without resorting to surgery. Lots of things recommended to fight cancer are also used to prevent it in the first place.

Regards, Katy

[Glynisrose]

Just think how much better off you'd be if you didn't have an UAT!! Continue with your meds, its so much better than without them, ignore the scare stories whats dangerous this week is a saviour next week!!

[greygoose]

There are a lot of scare-mongers out there (and a lot of people that believe them!). Have a look at this :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu....