My relationship with Tamoxifen today

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pjfaille

I've been on Tamoxifen for little over 2 months. Was warned about side effects of hot flashes and night sweats. It's awful! Interrupting my sleep, etc. I never had this when I went through menopause! My Onc recommend going off for 2 weeks, seek acupuncture to get the sweating under control, then go back on. But that's another expense that I can't afford, insurance does not cover alternative treatments like acupuncture. If I took another med it has side effects of joint stiffness an effect on bone density. No way I'll take that. My diagnosis was IDC, early stage breast cancer. Both surgeon and Onc are recommending this, but thinking about quitting T altogether.

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pjfaille:

I've been on it for almost two years. Starting it was definately a hurdle. I had a lot of hot flashes and some depression and was quick to cry, which is unusual for me. Thankfully the emotional difficulties were transient and the hot flashes have decreased but I've developed some more recent issues of which the Tamoxifen might be the cause. I think about quitting it but going off anti-hormone therapy entirely would decrease my odds of survival by about 9% which is a big enough drop to scare me in to staying on it. I share your concerns about the AIs. I already have joint issues and osteoporosis at 40, but if my current issues are from the Tamoxifen then AIs might be the better choice for me.

FindingOptimism

Those cartoons are excellent and perfectly capture my feelings. I am feeling fairly in control of the Big T this week, but tomorrow who knows

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FindingOptimism:

There's a meme for every occasion!

Trishavip

I started Tamoxifen about one month ago. First week I had pretty severe headaches and some joint pain. There was also nausea but I went on Pepcid for that issue. I think I have adapted fairly well now. Some sleeping issues but that is not unusual for me. I know there are a lot of posts about how horrible this medicine is so I thought I would share my prospective too. I am 47 years old and when the doctor took my blood tests to see if I was near menopause all of my levels were still very high - not even showing peri-menopause yet so I was so afraid Tamoxifen would really affect me. Overall I am watching what I eat, walking at least two miles per day, and trying to keep a positive attitude. I thought it would be much worse.

Good luck ladies! I hope we all stay cancer free!!