If you started on tamoxifen and stopped taking it...

CeciliaVera

If you started on tamoxifen but discontinued it in favor of an alternative treatment, I'd love to hear your story. I'm currently trying to decide between taking tamoxifen and relying on naturopathic medicine, diet changes, lifestyle changes. etc. As one of those never-sick types, I've had very little experience with any medication/treatment at all, whether modern Western or alternative, so this is new territory for me.

For a little background, my DCIS/IDC was caught at my first screening mammo. I was 41. Stage 1, grade 2, lumpectomy, radiation, oncotype 16. We hope/think that cancer is gone and now want to prevent recurrences. I'm wary of taking a drug with so many side effects and risks for what my med onc describes as a 3% reduction in chance of recurrence--from around 6% to around 2-3% if this "behaves" the way such a cancer usually does.

Because we never know what or whether side effects will trouble us, logic says maybe I should start the drug and see how it goes--which is why I am asking you if you started it and stopped it. Why? What was the discontinuation process like? How long did it take to get back to "normal"?

Thanks for any info.