Yes, my dear Meningimates,

I have been saying this since 1992, the sudden recurrent growth spurt of my
previously surgically removed?meningioma?was definitely influenced by the HRT
estrogen shots and Premarin pills I was automatically given in 1992 right after
my total hysterectomy for uterine fibroids and?"instant menopause."? The big
Boston women's health survey that came out in 2001 was less specific, but
basically said the same thing.?

Thank You so much Mary for finding and?sending me this recently published?2008
article actually presented and written in 2004 documenting the hormone
replacement therapy association that doubles the risk of benign meningioma brain
tumor growth for thousands of mostly middle-aged women, 35 to 55 currently on
HRT??

I do hope all doctors, gynocologists and their female patients are aware by now
of the HRT drug risk of promoting the growth of?any abnormal pre-cancerous cells
hidden in their bodies when they attempt to remain physically younger, but less
fully mature than they actually are, using modern man-made medical hormone drug
equivilant interventions like HRT.? And?I do hope dear Dr. Christine Northrup
will put a meningioma note in her next womens health book, so I don't have to
write my own book or try to sell anyone anything i write, lol

GBYAY most affectionately yours,??
Anne McGinnis Breen, an ordinary older married woman and?longterm twenty plus
year meningioma patient still learning new things,?thriving and living well with
my hubby in sunny Tucson, Arizona.

left temporal lobe?meningioma, grade 2, dx & sx October 1986, at age 39, 5cm in
diameter, totally removed, we hoped at St Mary's Carondelet Hospital in Tucson,
Arizona, I gradually went to full-time work and all regular activities in one
year post-op, I was driving in three months, and finally off all drugs in six
months, ?.
Six years later, after five years of good clean MRi scans,
an approx 2 cm in diameter soft recurrence was documented on MRI scan in 1992, I
chose to "watch and wait' for eight more years, it wasn't bothering me on the
left spheniod medial ridge/wing where it had returned, it was still much smaller
than before and?I had no new symptoms,?I figured why bother it again, so I
postponed the Southwest Tumor Board recommended brain surgery and follow up
brain radiation and continued to work fulltime and raise our three children.?

In the meantime, I discovered, signed up and participated with my doctors and
health insurance plan approval in a NCI SWOG 9005 Phase 3, a clinical trial of
Mifeprex (mifepristone, a progesterone receptor modulating compound with no
hormones) for meningioma from 1995-1999, the clinical trial closed
inconclusively late in 1999, saying the drug was no more effective than placebo,
but my tumor was unchanged and stable for the three years in the cross-over arm
of the investigational study while I was on the real drug.
?
It was finally FDA government approved safe for long term use in 2000, but
powerful political views and religious opinions have continuously distorted the
health risks of this safe effective medication of reproductive health.
I am not afraid of Addisons Disease, and I am certainly not worried about
getting pregnant again. LOL.

I finally agreed to a second surgery for the?2 cm recurrence to safely debulk
the residual remainder of soft tumor and scrap the bony involvement growth
documented by CT scan October 1999 in January 2000, I had it done by the great
Dr Robert Spetzler, and his fine medical team of residents at Barrows
Neurological Institute, at St Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. I was out
and about again and driving in a few weeks, flying around on my own again in
three months..

I had some?slow undocumented by MRI minor regrowth post -op 2001 -2004 which
gradually continued to compress my optic nerve and?slowly stole my left eye
vision in about two?years from 2003-- 2005.
Surgery and/or brain radiation was recommended again in March 2004 when I told
them my vision was getting worse, I didn't know it would take a full year, but I
managed to convince my doctors and the hospital IRB and FDA with the help of Dr
Beth Jordan, then at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale Arizona to let me take Mifeprex
again, finally starting in Feb 2005 at my own expense, (my dear hubby pays the
bill from the FMF) ?I started taking 200mg daily, for the small slim remainder
of residual tumor. but it was too late to save any vision in my left eye.? It
is?a less toxic, systemic anti-hormone agent, (like tamoxifen was for breast
cancer), a progesterone receptor modulating compound, (PRM) for my 2 cm mostly
thin sheet enplaque type?meningioma recurrence.? In a way, I was already
following the current medical thinking of personalizing and designing
cancer?drug treatment therapies for specific individuals by targeting specific
markers in their own tumor type background.??

It still isn't hard to get HRT hormone pills from our doctors, but it is ALMOST
IMPOSSIBLE and now?extremely? expensive for me $6000 A YEAR OFF LABEL USE to get
this oral contraceptive pill for my meningioma condition.?

YOU CAN contact Dr. Beth Jordan AT THE FEMINIST MAJORITY FOUNDATION?
www.feminist.org?AND PLEASE TELL HER YOU ARE INTERESTED IN?EXPANDING
MIFEPRISTONE RESEARCH FOR MENINGIOMA? AND PROGESTERONE DEPENDENT OVARIAN CANCER,
UTERINE FIBROIDS, ETC.???

Mifepristone (Mifeprex)?is blocking or intercepting my remaining progesterone,
progestin receptor (you spell it your way,. I'll spell it my way, hehehe,)
dependent growth hormones, I have regular blood work by my doctors to check TSH
and cortisol levels, therefore I know?I have NO RISK of Addison's Disease.
.
Since 1992 I have postponed the recommended brain radiation, and every year new
brain radiation machines get safer and more accurate, if I ever need that
aggressive medical option for my low grade2 benign tumor condition in the
future.

I AM BLESSED AND STABLE AND 60 YEARS OLD, no significant changes were documented
on Nov 2007 Head MRI when compared to Feb 2005 MRI by U of A Cancer Center
radiolgists after 34 months on OC Mifeprex by Danco Inc, NYC

Please find my own?28 MNG questions list again to ask your medical team and 150
things to think about with your significant others for any brain tumor after
some of my other saved meningioma research articles and Iraq views, if you'd
like to read more
??
Please look for my August and October 2006 "view archives" section on the URL
below (my AOL journal webpage) to find some of my personal musings on common
meningioma grade labels and tales (details like dural tails or growth spurs?)
and other IMPORTANT GREY MATTERS to me about MIFEPREX, a badly maligned
alternative drug therapy for incidental meningioma brain tumors, my views about
donating doomed surplus frozen and fresh embryonic lab specimens to medical
science research, the birth of new adult brain cells, the scientific facts of
neurogenesis vers longterm medical brain radiation injury, common medical
abbreviations, brain tumor and brain injury organizations that have helped me
and medical chat lingo, etc

My daily mantra to live by?is:?

Keep the faith, cherish my reason, treasure my mind and hold to my own good
purposes

Two tangental rambling poems I just want to add on to this post today:

I like to make new friends and keep the old, because one is silver and the other
is gold
I had an energizing and invigorating time at the Florida brain tumor conference
with my dear meningimates old friends and new,
I was so busy listening to doctors, talking with other patient survivors, and
their loved ones that the time just flew
I wish I could share the comfort, enthusiasm and true hope of my weekend medical
co-survivor adventure with you,
So here's just what to do,
Next time you read or hear about a medical bt conference weekend, all
day?program or bt support group meeting,
I hope you will go and experience it yourself with your loved ones too.?
??
This year I truly missed seeing many of my dear meningimates who couldn't come
again this year,
Cindi, Jim, Kathy K, Donna, Kim, Jesse and Jody, probably the most,
but I got to meet and greet Bonnie L and Maria S and her sister Helen,?from the
JHU m list for the first time...?
I finally met Jan, dear Shannon's mom, and as always our dear Fred was a great
comfort and?the best host,
Dear Bea and Cliff, especially Karen C, Trisha, and Nancy CL were helping others
there again too..,God Bless US ALL?
I was so glad to see Matthew F, David B, Samantha Jane S,.Murray, Sheryl S and
Kris,
I was almost bursting with excitement looking forward to?their warm hugs as I
walked down the hall.
The BRAINTRUST.ORG delivered them all to me, plus a free dinner and new T shirt,
and I had a ball.?
I wore my high heels to the dinner and I didn't even trip or fall.

And I got lots of complements on?a new blouse I got on sale while waiting two
hours for my doctor appt?and wore for the conference occasion, because it boldly
says
?
I CANCERVIVE???

its sort of like mind over matter, and where there is a will there is a way... I
am not crazy, but it may help continue to make any potential cancer mentally
disappear from my mind?when i read it outloud to myself because it actually says

I CAN SURVIVE

and I have survived well for twenty one years longer than anyone expected me to
in 1986 before emergency brain surgery when I was 39 and diagnosed by Ct scan by
a new primary care family doctor after several years of emotional distress from
PMS type symptoms, sudden sharp stabbing headaches, fainting spells, loss of
vision,?sinus headaches and minutes of profound muscle weakness upon any sudden
changes of elevation, like getting up too fast from the couch,?or quickly
bending over to untie my shoes.

Actually?they were TIA's, stroke warning symptoms, my blood pressure was
extremely low and my new doctor found a very large 5 cm in diameter?undetermined
solid mass in my brain a few weeks after a local doctor of internal medicine had
done a complete physical and written?"mildly overweight middle-aged lady". so I
believe anything is possible and I was skiing again, but poorly, cuz my balance,
depth perception?and motor coordination was still recovering three months
later...??

My AOL journal webpage is found?at??
http://journals.aol.com/anne91547/anne-mcginnis-breens-articles/?
GBYAY Anne McGinnis Breen?
Anne91547@...
?


-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Lander <mary.lander@...>
To: Anne Breen <Anne91547@...>
Sent: Wed, 30 Jan 2008 3:54 am
Subject: Is There an Association Between Meningioma and Hormone Replacement
Therapy?




Is There an Association Between Meningioma and Hormone Replacement Therapy?

http://jco.ascopubs.org/cgi/content/abstract/26/2/279

?


From the Department of Neurology and Biostatistics Unit, Mayo Clinic,
Jacksonville, FL

Purpose: Molecular and clinical observations suggest a role of sex steroid
hormones in the occurrence of meningioma. However, there is limited and often
conflicting data on the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as a possible
risk factor for meningioma. The goal of this study was to investigate whether
there is an association between a diagnosis of meningioma and either current or
past HRT use in women.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed records in the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville
electronic patient database between 1993 and 2003 to identify women with a
diagnosis of either symptomatic or incidentally discovered, clinically silent
meningioma. Records were also searched to identify women with a documented
history of either current or past HRT use.

Results: Of the 355,318 women, ages 26 to 86, evaluated for any medical issue,
18,037 (5%) were documented as current or past HRT users. A total of 1,390 women
with a history of symptomatic or incidentally discovered meningiomas were
identified, 156 (11%) of whom were either current or past HRT users. A logistic
regression analysis, adjusted for age, demonstrated a positive association
between a diagnosis of meningioma and HRT use, with an odds ratio of 2.2 (95%
CI, 1.9 to 2.6; P < .0001). The frequency of meningioma in women with either
current or past HRT use was 865 in 100,000, whereas the frequency of meningioma
in women without the history of HRT use was 366 in 100,000.

Conclusion: The study provides evidence of a positive association between HRT
use and diagnosis of meningioma, and therefore, HRT use may be a risk factor for
meningioma.

Presented in part at the 9th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuro-Oncology,
November 18-21, 2004, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Authors' disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and author contributions
are found at the end of this article.




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