I said no to tamoxifen. 4 weeks out from rads now and counting.

CancerStinks

Well, not exactly, but I am seriously leaning that way after a second opinion that hasn't swayed me either way.  I have a third opinion next week because I don't want to be foolish, but just haven't had anyone say anything that will help me decided definitively either way.  Any body else out there say no and willing to share your experiences?  how long have you been out of Rads?  Of course I'm looking for someone in the 80% who won't have the recurrence rather than the 20 % who will. Oh wait;  That is 80 who won't have a new diagnosis of BC; I still don't know how to calculate a recurrence odds and when I do look at these numbers I prefer to look at them in the positive light instead of the negative.  I have a perscription in my hot little hands, but have no desire to fill it though I am have gone through the motions of getting ready for it in case I decide to take it:  eye doc appt:  eyes oked to take Tamox, blood work etc. many thanks!

Hindsfeet

I declined tamoxifen. Seventy five percent with surgery alone, those who are DCIS and stage 1a cancer, will not have a recerrence. The odds with surgery alone, we won't have another recurrence. As long as I am NED, I see no need to suck the estrogen out of my body. Aging begins around menapause when the estrogen disappears from our body. I am not anxious to get diseases that come along with age so I'll keep what little estrogen I have.

Down the road if I by chance I did have micromets that spread from the stage 1a cancer then I'll rethink my treatment options. Right now, I feel like it's over treatment. However, I did succumb to herceptin in that it's an aggressive form of cancer, but without evidence of disease I don't see the need to do a year's treatment. I've done four so far, I hope it is enough. I chose herceptin because it works well with the immune system.

Tamoxifen works best with those who are dx with breast cancer. Tamoxifen is not so good outside the breast tissue. There are bc women, who choose a BLMX to rid them of breast tissue so to not need tamoxifen. That is an excellent reason to have a BLMX. For me, this is the number one reason to have a blmx.

Anonymous

Hello there, Cancerstinks,

I didn't do Tamoxifen or radiation. Check my profile and PM me if necessary. There are a lot of us surgery only women. Most don't come here to correspond.

I'm so sorry you have to go thru all this stressful decision making. We all did. Whatever choice we made we finally learned to live with it.

itsjustme10

I did a BMX, chemo and rads, but declined tamoxifen - well, I agreed to try it, but it didn't react well with me - which was just as well, since I didn't want to take it anyway. 

I will be speaking with the Integrative Medicine department at the hospital my oncologist is associated with, to find out if my guess of Calcium D-glucarate will be good enough of an estrogen blocker, or what they recommend.

I finished radiation in february, but didn't see my MO until a couple of weeks ago - somehow we got our signals crossed, but she knew I wasn't taking the Tamoxifen, and didn't want to be put into fake menopause, which is how I ended up with this integrative medicine phone number.