Tamoxifen--Does it turn you into a bear?!

cakeisgreat

Hey, everyone...

I am finding that my very nice and helpful husband is ANNOYING me to no end!  But I'm wondering if this is just hormonal changes and the start of taking Tamoxifen (started Oct 2).  I'm not yelling and screaming, but he is so getting on my nerves, and then I find myself kind of arguing with him about everything (I still think I'm right btw!)

Is this what I have to deal with the next five years?

leaf

Everybody is different.  I don't think it turned me into a bear, or at least more of a bear than I was before.

They've even listed tamoxifen as a 3rd line agent for mood disorders. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19419382

Of course, mood changes can happen in others. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19377026

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11328315

cakeisgreat

Thanks!  Great articles! 

Y'know, maybe it's me just being grumpy.  I'm still trying to get through this whole thing.

flfish

Oh, you will go through so many emotional changes.  I had the same problem.  My dh's breathing use to annoy me.  Then I would cry.  Up, down, up, down.  But it does get better.  I have been on tamox for 1 1/2 years, and I still have bad days, but it has gotten MUCH better.  Best of luck to you!

cakeisgreat

Yes, flfish!  That's exactly what I'm thinking.  I'm getting the "almost cry at the drop of the hat" feeling, and I have to "think" about smiling, to make sure people dont think I'm upset because I dont realize I'm frowning.  It IS kinda like PMS, but different.  I am REALLY glad you mentioned that it gets better, but this is depressing.  I am ridiculously upbeat normally, so this is not a person I want to turn into. (It's not really that bad, but to me it's so different I am not used to it.)

I guess my new challenge is just to think more consciously about how I respond to others and continue to smile!!!  

leaf

I learned a new term recently - nocebo.

I'm sure you've heard of placebo - where you get the pleasant effects of a drug without taking the drug.  Nocebo is when you get the unpleasant effects of a drug without taking the drug.

Of course, if you're taking tamoxifen, you can't get nocebo effects, but it makes your journey harder if you expect it to be bad - its more likely to be bad.  I know that's much more easily said than done.

Of course, its important to feel your feelings whatever they are (good or bad). On the other hand, several inspirational posters here say: a) remember to breathe, and b) Don't Postpone Joy (at least when you can.)

foxxf

I found I had uncontrollable rage episodes one minute I would be laughing and joking with the kids and the next screaming like a Banshee. All the while I was thinking what am I screaming at them for but unable to stop.  The look on their faces still haunts me.

Speak to your Onc get your meds changed.

Foxxf

HelenaJ

Cakeisgreat ...I had some bad times in the first few weeks on tamoxifen and actually took a 2 week break (with my Onc's approval) and now 7 months down the track things have really settled down.  I still get crappy and snappy (I call it my rabid dog syndrome), especially with my poor daughters but I have so much more going on in my head now that the overload has to dissipate somehow.  I do apologise to them and my DH (and yes, most of the time I am right too LOL!!) on a regular basis but this is also getting less and less, the episodes that is,not the apologising!!!

Love what leaf said... breathe or escape and go for a walk if you can.  You're early days, be gentle on yourself, hug your DH when he isn't annoying you.  And come here to vent.. crikey we have all be through it some way or another.

big hugs

Helena

flfish

Cakeisgreat...I laughed at the way my oncologist wanted to deal with my moods.  Right away, throw me some anti-depressants.  I have NOTHING against anti-depressants, I think they are very helpful for people, but what the good doc did not understand is that I wasn't actually depressed, I just cried at the drop of a hat, and than laughed my a$$ off over how stupid it was to cry over such silly things.  It was the range of moods that drove me nuts.  You will get through it!

spinnaker

Glad to see this question. I started Tamoxifen about 6 weeks ago and my mood swings are driving me (and my family) crazy.  I get so angry about the littlest things that never used to bother me. Then I'll watch a dumb TV show and start bawling my eyes out, and I've never cried much before my DX.  I have a follow up with my onc in two weeks, so I'm curious what he'll say about this.  Thanks for the encouragement that we'll get through this turbulent time.

cakeisgreat

Exactly, flfish and spinnaker!  Like today, I was just talking to someone at school, and then I turned and looked at my staff mailbox (I worked at a school before all this happened, then decided to take time off so I'm officially not working there anymore) and saw that they took my name away...no more staff.  And I just started to cry.  Just like that!  I was FINE a second before.  I agree about the antideps...I'm not depressed...they are just mood swings that I wasnt prepared for.

I'm also sweating today...all day! weird.  

bethaib

I've been on Tamox for 4.5 months now. I can't say I've experienced mood swings from it. I seem to be pretty much my normal self, except happier as I've had no period since April...yeah!!!   (I am/was premenopausal lol), but sadder with all that has gone on over the past 8 months...sex/desire? what's that?

I seem to be having more of a hard time dealing with hot flashes rather than mood swings. I am already so sick of getting heated up all the time with the back of my neck all sweaty lol

So I guess it's different for all of us......

linn56

I have been wondering about this. I will be starting Tamoxifen after radiation is finished, maybe will start on it mid December.

I am still technically pre-menopausal. Keep thinking I'm done and then get another mini-period. But while I have been tapering off into menopause my mood swings have been SO much better. What  relief to not have PMS or hormonal migraines anymore! Not until I was out of it did I realize how difficult it made my life. It was the volatility that killed me. When I see my poor 18 year old daughter feeling the same things, now I feel doubly sorry for her, now that I have come out on the other side and realize there is another way of being. I thought everyone felt that way all the time...until I didn't anymore. I have been thrilled with my almost-menopause. The periods were nothing...it was the emotional aspects. My hot flashes were not much of a concern either: had them for a few months, then they stopped. Surgery "woke" them up again, then they tapered off quickly afterward.

I am NOT ready to start that up again. I told my husband that mood swings might be among the side effects, he almost lay his head down on the counter. Is there any way to tell which kind of a witch you will be??? If you had an easy menopause, will you have easy Tamoxifen moods?