Spironolactone = Cancer?

[Sarah]

Reading the FDA info about spiro, my spouse and i ran across this:

"Spironolactone has been shown to be a tumorigen in chronic toxicity studies in rats (see PRECAUTIONS). Spironolactone should be used only in those conditions described under INDICATIONS AND USAGE. Unnecessary use of this drug should be avoided."

http://www.drugs.com/pro/spironolactone.html

anyone have any further information on this?

It seems to specifically imply that long term use should be avoided.

Following our own intuition, both my spouse and i have switched to an alternative.
Spiro for some time has sat kinda ill with us on a gut instinct level.

anybody know anything about the tumorogen and/or carcinigenic side effects of spiro?

We would ask our doctor, who prescribed it, but he is in another state now and we are no longer under his care.

-sara

[LordKAT]

Sarah, first Love the avatar.

Second I haven't heard of spiro causing cancer but haven't researched it either. I do believe my father had it right in saying that too much of any one thing can cause cancer. variety is not only the spice of life but often the sanity of life.

[Sarah]

thanks for the comps on the av.
I made it in Illustrator my first quarter in  ARt school.

Yeah i know what you mean about too much of a good thing, but this seems a bit wierd to me.
I mean correct me if i am wrong, but isn't spiro used as an anti-androgyn as a secondary effect of the drug?

it seems like it is primarily prescribed for other things.

I was doing a little reading and it seemed unclear that it was even clearly understood how spiro did it's anti-adrogenic effects (of course i may simply be misunderstanding)

One of the things that concens me is that we (the genderqueer community) may be (or are ) the longterm case study.

I'd really like to hear more on this.
-sara

[LordKAT]

I have a sister who is a registered nurse. I am gong to call her and see if she has heard anything.

[tekla]

If you google Spironolactone and cancer you'll get about a quarter of a million hits.  Anything that enhances growth can cause cancer.

[Firelight]

Cell phone use and artificial sweeteners have also been reported to possibly cause cancer. You've got to understand that there risks are out there and often hard to pin down, especially with the C word.

[GinaDouglas]

Anything you give to rats in "chronic toxicity" can kill them.

[katherine]

If you look at the precautions for a number of the HRT meds you'll see they range from rashes to stroke.  Not really much different from many other meds.  The information sheets that come with your meds are pretty well detailed regarding this, listing various possible side effects from the least to most serious.  That's why we watch for reactions and have regularly scheduled check-ups while taking HRT regimens.  Some won't experience any of these reactions, others may and check-ups will allow your doctor to adjust medications accordingly. Honestly, if we worried too much about those things that cause cancer, we'd be eating and drinking far less and spending most of our time in a dark room...

[Autumn]

From what a nurse practitioner told me, any 'side effects' or reactions that patients in the test groups experience while on the medication go on the 'side effects' list. This is why you see 'may cause asthma' on anti-allergen medications and such.

[Cindy]

The drug companies have to list any reported side effects of what they sell. The risk may be banishingly small, but if not listed, some one will sue. One reason among many why drugs are so expensive. All drugs are tested on animals to see a number of effects. They are given increasing doses until an effect is seen. That dose is then calculated from the body volume of the rat/ mouse etc to the body volume of a human, if it is percivable that a human that size exists, the warning goes on.

To be a bit radicle and hoping not to scare everyone. We all have cancer. It is how our physiology takes care of cells carrying mutations is important. We have many known, and godess knows  how many unknown ways of dealing with this. Our genetic material in each cell is scrutinised and repaired, if not the cell is programmed to die (called apoptosis BTW), our cells are examined by cells from our immune system to see if they are "odd" if so they are destroyed (necrosis). But we have a lot of cells, we have a lot of cell divisions, we have a lot of genetic material. Things can go wrong.

In taking ANY drug we put ourselves at risk. By not taking medication we are also at risk. Spirolactone is not equivalent to walking into high dose radiation. No HRT is. Some chemotherapies are not far off it but what alternative is there?

Please don't get too worried, worry itself increases the risk of cancer .

NONE OF THE ABOVE IS MEDICAL OPINION, MY PERSONNAL COMMENTS ONLY AND SHOULD BE REGARDED ONLY IN THAT WAY.

Cindy

[Sarah]

the point of the topic isn't whether there is a romote, possible chance of cancer.
the point is if there is a high risk of cancer from taking it.

Please do not befuddle this topic with responses such as "my sweetener can cause cancer if taken enough!"

What we are talking about here is if taken at normal prescribed doses for a long term, if it increases the chances of getting a tumor considerably.

Please leave intelligent, serious reply's when responding.

Does anyone have any information on this?

[Janet_Girl]

I have read several things on Spironolactone and the only thing I see mentioned is it causes cancer in mice.  But then mice are not human.  My doctor said that the long term side effect of Spironolactone is minimal at best.

But I still would like a Orchie and do away with the Spironolactone.



Janet

[katherine]

Other than laboratory rats, there is very little reference to this causing cancer in humans, other than what is stated in the document:
"Carcinoma of the breast has been reported in patients taking Aldactone but a cause and effect relationship has not been established."
I'm guessing that those who have responded, like myself, have found no further information regarding the administration of this drug and cancer, excepting as mentioned in lab rats that received long-term doses.
As an aside, the results here are not unlike the results in the artificial sweeteners mentioned, wherein lab rats exposed to certain sweeteners in chronic and/or high doses developed cancer, but apparently no link to cancer in humans.
It would appear that, lacking any data that concludes this drug to cause cancer in humans, it is best to take this drug on advice from your doctor with regular tests as required.

[Ms.Behavin]

The key words are "chronic toxicity"  IE ultra high dosages.  Spiro in humans is as safe as any other medication, and far far less a cancer agent then say estradol or T.  Spiro is primary a blood pressure med.  It's secondary effect is to block T absortion in the body.  It's used in the treatment of prostrate cancers too.

It's as safe as any other T blocker and probably has fewer side effects.  Plus most only take it for a year or two.  Estradol on the other hand, must be taken for life with post op MtF's.  Am I worried....NO.

Oxygen at 100% concentration can cause blindness, but try living without it. 

If you read the warnings on just about any drug, they are all bad in some form or another.  Just have to choose your poison.