After reading many journal articles about Rapamycin being effective in the treatment of breast cancer, it became apparent that Rapamycin binds to the estrogen receptors.
Logically, this would seem to mean that HRT would become less effective due to the unavailability of the estrogen receptors.
I, personally, have noticed night sweats returning albeit not horrific sweats.
Any thoughts about this?
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Welcome Cathy! I had them return a couple of times when I first started rapa early this year but they went away quickly. I’m 53 and 7 years post-menopause fwiw.
Thanks for replying. I guess I am just concerned since I am on HRT for horrific night sweats.
It would be sad for the rapamycin to completely negate the benefit from the HRT.
I would suggest that you take a close look at high-dose melatonin,
My wife died in 2018 of breast cancer that had spread to many of her major organs.
She was considered to be in a low-risk group, but just as non-smokers sometimes get lung cancer she developed breast cancer which could have been found earlier if doctors had listened to her concerns.
Unfortunately, even though I was a supplement freak, my wife never bought into it.
Mainstream media back in the day thought they were a waste of time and money and you could get everything you needed in a normal diet.
By the time I convinced my wife to start taking melatonin, it was already too late.
Not medical advice, but I think every woman should look into the anti-cancer properties of melatonin, especially high-dose melatonin. Also, it dramatically reduces the negative symptoms of menopause for some women.
I have three living daughters, one of whom is in menopause now and she has told me how much melatonin has reduced her symptoms. They all take melatonin in doses of 20 to 60 mg, hopefully as a breast cancer preventative.
Shift workers might be more apt to develop breast cancer because of the suppression of melatonin and disruption of the circadian cycle.
"Two systematic reviews examining night-shift workers suggest
increasing evidence of association with increasing cancer incidence and all-cause mortality due to disruption of circadian rhythm and melatonin suppression"
Anti-proliferative actions of melatonin in breast cancer
Numerous studies have shown that melatonin exerts oncostatic effects on a variety of malignancies (Hill et al. 2011), but its effects on breast cancer have been studied most extensively. Both clinical data and animal studies have provided evidence that melatonin reduces the incidence of experimentally induced cancers.
"A Narrative Review of the Carcinogenic Effect of
Night Shift and the Potential Protective Role of
Melatonin"
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@Cathy_Gerpheide, I’m on HRT as well and everything has been fine after the initial flashes I experienced in January/February of this year. I was actually able to go down a bit on my estradiol patch dosage about 3 months ago without any problems. I’m just one person (and not a doctor or anything) though so hopefully you’ll get more input from others.
I have a tiny anecdote as a premenopausal woman that just started rapamycin. The night after I took my first 1mg dose I woke up with a terrible cramp and then mild cramping occasionally the next day. I have been taking continuous birth control for years so its been a long time since I’ve had a period and there was no bleeding in this case as my uterine lining at this point seems nonexistent. Could it suggest that rapamycin interacting with the progesterone I get from birth control? I’ll keep track of this side effect as I up my dosage.
Here is a study with daily rapa dosage but it probably holds true for weekly as well and for women without the condition in the study.
I’m a post-menopausal woman on HRT (0.05 mg estradiol patch, 100 mg progesterone, 2.5 mg testosterone cream). About 9 weeks after I started rapamycin (2-4 mg every 10 days at first, and then 6 mg per week), I experienced hormonal symptoms (breast tenderness and abdominal cramping), so had my levels tested and found that my estradiol had plummeted from 85 to 24. My testosterone remained in the low-normal range and my SBGH was high-normal. I do not want to stop the rapa because I am taking it in the hope it will prevent recurring post-Covid viral myocarditis.
I have been doing research on the link between rapamycin and estrogen. I see that mTOR inhibitors are sometimes used to treat estrogen-positive breast cancers, so there seems to be some downregulation of estrogen or its receptors. I also found this concerning study, which appears to conclude that rapamycin can impair mTORC2 to a greater extent and have a detrimental effect on the heart in presence of estradiol such as in pre-menopausal women or those on HRT. Not sure I’m reading it right or whether this study is any good and, if so, why more hasn’t been said about it.
Great podcast today on Mel Robbins re: HRT. Not specific to rapa, but great content ladies.
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