Below you’ll find a collection of things that worked for me. This is not medical advice, I am simply consolidating the items that I tell newly diagnosed women time and time again.

Collagen Powder
If you’re taking a hormone blocker (Tamoxifen, Anastrozle, etc.) you’re likely experiencing some bone pain. Some of these medications cause worse pain than others. When I began experiencing this bone pain, I started researching things I could take that would ease it and learned about Collagen Powder.  I took a container of it to my Medical Oncologist so he could review the ingredients to make sure they were safe for me and after he cleared it, I began using two scoops in my tea every day. It’s completely tasteless and after using it for 2-3 weeks, I began to notice that my bone pain was decreasing. Now, after using it for three years, my bone pain is non-existent and I will be forever grateful that I found this!

Build Your Own Product Safety Report
It’s important to know, even more so following a cancer diagnosis, how safe or harmful the personal care products are that you’re using every day. Use this website to copy and past the ingredients from your products to better understand where you should be choosing safer options. I personally won’t use anything that scores higher than a 3. You can also download the “EWG’s Healthy Living” app to see if your products are already in their database.

Claritin & Neulasta
Neulasta is given to chemo patients the day after their treatment. It is used to reduce the risk of infection during chemotherapy treatment. It can be given either as a shot in the office or as an “on-board” device where it’s temporarily attached to the patient’s arm and administers itself, removing the need for a patient to return to the office. This worked wonders for me and I never experienced the bone pain that is very common with this drug. Your doctor may prescribe a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) such as ibuprofen or naproxen to treat bone pain caused by Neulasta. Neulasta helps the body make more white blood cells by stimulating the immune system, which also creates histamines. So your doctor also may recommend an antihistamine such as Claritin (chemical name: loratadine) – NOT Claritin-D – to ease bone pain caused by Neulasta. Before starting Claritin, talk to your Medical Oncologist.

MORE TO COME…