Help! What determines the mg of tamox you are prescribed?

oceangirl654

Help! What determines the mg of tamox you are prescribed?

oceangirl654

Hi All, I'm thinking maybe my dose of tamox is too high and I need 10mg instead of 20mg because it's making my mouth SO DRY. It's so dry that my lips are sticking to my teeth inside and my throat hurts. It is getting worse every day that I take more tamox! And I've had a constant headache for the three weeks that I've been on it. How does the doc determine your dose? Are any of you on 10mg and how much do you weigh? Maybe if I starve myself to a lower weight I could take 10mg and I'm sure half as much medicine would be a lot better. Thanks for letting me know! I am 140 pds and on 20 mg.

Moderators

Hi Oceangirl,

We're so sorry to hear of these side effects! We definitely don't think starving yourself is the answer . We first advise talking to your doctor first to see what his/her thoughts are.

In the meantime, you may find it helpful to check out the main Breastcancer.org site's side effect pages on Dry Mouth and Headaches for tips on how to manage these side effects.

We hope this helps!

--The Mods

coraleliz

oceangirl- my MO is fine with me taking 10mg. He suggested it. I tried it & found my SEs weren't that different. I went back up to 20mg. When I last researched 10 vs 20, I was unable to find much on this. I was looking for disease free survival as the endpoint. Some women are indeed told that 10mg is better than none. I've completed 3 1/2yrs & my SEs have improved. Except for the GYN stuff

oceangirl654

Thanks, everyone, for your help and advice. I called my oncologist and she said that I can't take 10mg. She wants to do a blood draw to test that my kidneys are ok. So I will do that. She said dry mouth is not a regular side effect of tamox. Maybe I took too much advil in the last four months? Kind of scared now reading about advil- I didn't realize it was so dangerous and I've been taking 6 a day for months. My oncologist told me to stop taking tamoxifen until I see her next week but I said I'm too scared to stop taking it, so she said that's ok if I want to take it and then just see her next week for the blood draw. Take care, everyone. Big hugs!