Tamoxifen, insomnia and sadness feelings (depresion?)

Rosa_Aurora184161

Hi! I wonder how many of you, who are taking Tamoxifen are having insomnia problems and sadness (depression?) What do you do/ take to help you? Thanks.

mrsbeasley38

Tamoxifen did some good things for me. It eliminated my PMS. Now that I am off of it it is back. Also I had started taking Tamo and a synthroid drug for slow thyroid at about the same time and I had quickly lost 5 pounds. Within a couple months of stopping the Tamo though even though I run the 5 pounds showed back up. My periods were much lighter.

peggy_j

I had a serious problem with insomnia a couple months after starting tamox, like practically no sleep day after day for about six weeks. It was horrible. And this led to some very low moods. At a friend's suggestion, I called up my BC counselor again and we talked. She did her little Q&A and said that I wasn't clinically depressed though it can happen. She also said, if a patient is clinically depressed, it's better to get help sooner rather than later. (people often have a tendency to try to "tough things out." That doesn't help and can make treatment harder).  So if you're wondering, perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to get a professional opinion just to see.

For me, even without being clinically depressed, I definitely went through a difficult period post-Tx. Basically I felt like "the other shoe dropped" and a lot of the emotional fall out caught up with me. Also, for me, after finishing treatment I realized I now I had to worry about recurrence for the rest of my life (I was in my late 40s). It was a low period. Not sure if any of this rings true for you but what helped me: 1) talking to the counselor 2) going to a guided imagery group for cancer patients and long-time survivors. 3) moving forward in life, slowly. 4) taking care of myself. The long-time survivors said that there's a period when I need to adjust to the new normal. So...maybe a support group can help. A lot of the cancer centers have free support services, including free private counseling. FWIW, I've seen people here talk about this in other threads, down below, like maybe the support and encouragement thread. Hang in there. You can get through this.  

(BTW, I remember another BC friend has sleeping problems. She tried sleeping pills but said they only worked for awhile, like a month or two, so basically she cycled through a few different Rxs. That didn't sound good to me. And I realized, at least for me, one reason I wasn't sleeping was because of this emotional fall-out. But everyone is different. And maybe I could have benefited from taking sleeping pills as I worked through the issues. I don't know.) Again, good luck with his. You can get through it. I know many long time survivors, like 15 or even 30 year survivors. It gets better.

Rosa_Aurora184161

Thank you for your replies.

Bounce

Tamoxifen definitely affects my mood and my sleep. Peggy i makes a very good point about checking out if you are actually clinically depressed and the benefit of a support group.

I have found that exercise is the best thing for me when I start to feel down (or ready to kill someone).

I am not sure what stage of treatment you are at and how easy or not easy it would be for you to exercise but it really makes a big difference to the way I feel.

I went from being a complete non-exerciser to trying to do some exercise every day.

I started by walking because that was easiest for me and I could start slowly and build up.

I also use an exercise bike (I could do 3 minutes after I finished radiation!).

I call it "riding out the demons"!

Music is also a help to me when I feel sad or tired.

The sleep problems seem to come and go. I try not to be too upset if I have a bad night. Napping earlier in the day rather than later also helps when I need to nap.

Mindful meditation helps me sometimes to fall asleep again.

How long have you been taking Tamoxifen for?

Rosa_Aurora184161

Thanks. I'm going to try to do more daily exercise to improve my mood. I haven't got any problem on falling to sleep. I go to sleep very easily. The problem is not waiking up several times during the night due to hotflashes- shivers.