Tamoxifen vacations/do side effects abate?

shelleym1

Hello everyone, I am close to 6 months on Tamoxifen and I am having a hard time with some of the side effects. For those of you who take or have taken tamoxifen, do the side effects get better if you stick it out? Im experiencing dizziness, fatigue, vision and anxiety/mood issues. I'm ready to quit.

How many of you took a vacation and went back on? Did it help?

jojo9999

I have been on it for 1 year. My SE come and go, right now I have very few - like one tiny hot flash per day. I wish I knew why they go away because I worry that it might not be working!

shelleym1

mine were coming and going too. Seems like they are becoming more permanent now

coraleliz

The 1st year was the worst. Especially the dizziness. I didn't take a break but at one time I reduced my dose to 10mg. I have about 10 months to go to get to 5years. Not planning to try to get to 10years.

Lenn13ka

Mine were definitely related to brand. Had little side effects on Mylan but Watson was a different story - fatigue, cognitive issues, mood, etc. hated it. I got back on Mylan for awhile until CVS couldn't get it and ended with another brand I can't remember. I just finished 2 and 1/2 years. The last couple of months were tough. I took a break before moving to Anastrazole and it was great. For the past year I have also been taking Palbociclib and I think that might have made the Tamoxifen symptoms worse.

Take a break and try switching brands? It really does make a difference

shelleym1

am I putting myself at risk by taking a month or two off? I am currently on Teva brand and have been from the beginning. Over the last month things have gotten a lot worse.

FastWalker

Hi shelleym1. I started Tamoxifen on September 4, 2015. I was experiencing dizziness so bad that I almost fainted in the supermarket when I got up from a squatting position too fast. My oncologist told me to get up a lot slower - did help, but was still having problems. I also noticed I was getting blurry vision, which I later realized was due to dry eye (something I never had before). Additionally, I became very constipated -- also something new. I finally realized what all of these had in common - dehydration. I have always been good about drinking a lot of water (at least 8 glasses per day), but for some reason, I found Tamoxifen to be extremely dehydrating. I upped my water intake by a couple of glasses - I try to drink 10 or 11 glasses per day - and my dizziness/blurry vision have greatly decreased. I hate having to drink SO much, but when I don't, I start having problems again. I have also read that other women have experienced dehydration with Tamoxifen too. Why don't you try drinking more water to see if it helps? I, too, wanted to ditch the Tamoxifen, however, I didn't do chemo so I am afraid to stop. I am trying to figure out ways to reduce side effects instead - like I am taking colace for the constipation (and also increasing fiber intake). As others have said, maybe you should consider switching brands? Good luck.

jojo9999

FYI about different generic manufacturues of Tamox. I started with Teva brand, but on my third refill, I noticed that the pill was different, even though the brand was Teva. There have been some mergers in the generic drug market - Teva merged with some company that had previously merged with Watson. So my RX bottle said Teva on the label, but the pill's imprint was a Watson #. On the drugs.com web site,you can enter the imprinted number on any pill and it lists the inactive ingredients. My 2 "Teva" brands had different numbers and hence different inactive ingredients. I called the Costco pharmacy and they looked up the number that I wanted and had no problem ordering it.