TAMOXIFEN

rhiannondreams
rhiannondreams Member Posts: 1
edited June 2014 in Managing Side Effects of Breast Cancer and Its Treatment

My mom after surgery and radiation has started Tamoxifen about 9-20-10.  About a week ago she started having pain in her bones that has become horrific.  Her oncologist wanted her to originally take a medicine I think was "arrimedex"..not even sure of the spelling?  My mom has degenerative disk disease and that medicine she was told may break her bones.  She is in so much pain she says breathing hurts and the treatment for the cancer is killing her.  Our pharmacist told us she heard tamoxifen may cause bone pain but may stop awhile after?  Has anyone ever had this problem or heard of this problem?  She is in so much pain and any information would help us right now.  My mother is unsure how to proceed with this and options are unfortunately so limited.  Thank you to anyone with any information.

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  • 1Athena1
    1Athena1 Member Posts: 6,696
    edited October 2010

    rihannondreams,

    Welcome, and I am sorry to hear that your mother is in so much pain. Bone pain can certainly be caused by Tamoxifen, and if you look under the Hormone Therapy forum you will find plenty of information. Side effects may or may not abate, and I have no knowledge of how the Tamoxifen could affect the degenerative disc disease.

    Sometimes high doses of vitamin D3 may ease the pain, but there are other things that can be done. Exercise, believe it or not, can also help. Your mother's oncologist may have a good idea in the form of a pain med. Tamoxifen is actually good for the bones, so the pain is a bit ironic:

    http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/78/topic/754232?page=6#idx_170

    The above link leads to one of many conversations about Tamoxifen side effects.

    Your mother should know that she is not alone in her suffering and in having limited treatment options, so we can all sympathize there too....and you and she will find lots of people here who can give you good ideas on how to cope. 

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