Did your period come back after chemo while on Tamoxifen?

hope70

I finished chemo in Jan'14. On Tamoxifen since March'14. My period stopped after the first chemo (AC/C ) . It just came back ...4 months post chemo. Much lighter period. I am not sure if it is good or bad....

Rose_d

Hi hope,

Mine also came back about 4-5 months post final chemo (which for me ended in July '12).  I completely freaked out at the time but my doctor assured me that it's perfectly fine and a sign that my body has been healing itself from the damage done during chemo.

She also assured me that the tamoxifen will do it's job and keep any cancer cells from being able to use the estrogen to grow.

I still ask every appointment if we should be shutting down my ovaries but she tells me absolutely not given my young age (I'm 42 now).

When it started coming back it was a bit spotty, I would have one and then nothing for a couple of months.  And then they were suddenly VERY heavy.  So I had to do a few ultrasounds and ultimately a D&C where they found a huge polyp.  

Since the D&C I've had several very reasonable periods that seem to be coming more regularly now.

In general I think I am facing a lot of monitoring and ultrasounds to make sure the tamoxifen isn't causing any issues with my ovaries.  And frankly I'm not all that happy about having to have my period anymore.  But I am assuming that for things like bone health it's probably best that it's still happening for now.

Hope that helps,

Rose

pajim

Mine came back 6 months later.  At that time my mo and I discussed ovarian suppression.  There are no good data about whether that is best vis a vis recurrence.  We decided to do it, but could easily have decided not to.

Some women regain ovarian function, some don't.