Bottle 'o Tamoxifen

Eastcoastgirl- given that tammi plays havoc with our estrogen and that menopausal gals have more problems with sleep because of estrogen levels, it makes sense that tammi messes us up...think it is pretty common....and if what I have noticed coming off of it is any indication, then I am glad I am not on it....could not do no sleep and heart med fatigue...though the last couple of days have gotten better. melatonin drops also work pretty effectively if the under the tongue lozenge does not work for you.

Good for you for doing your own research and exploring your options..having the information really helps doesn't it?

Hi, everyone! I haven't been by for quite some time. Life gets so busy, and my work schedule has been hectic. However, I have a question. I have a nasty cold, with runny nose and major congestion that is making it hard to sleep at night. But I noticed that the decongestant in the cold product I have is on the list of those that can interact with tamoxifen. So now what do I use?

 What do you ladies use when you have congestion and runny nose??

Thanks so much for any suggestions!

ECG so glad to see you on here, I missed you!  Sleep argh!!  I had so many sleep problems in the beginning and I really do believe that  since I started working out and walking a ton, sleep got easier.....I hope the Melatonin helps you.  I could'nt take it as I felt so sick the next day.....

Sherry good luck tomorrow and hope everything turns out perfect!

Sandee thinking of you and hope you are doing well too.....

Spent the last few days with my Dad and he is declining so quickly that it literally breaks my heart.  He told me he made all his plans and did his obituary.....he even asked me if I wanted to see it and have a copy.....WHAT?   NO no no..... I couldn't even go there with him.....One heartache after another and I wonder how much more my tummy can handle.  I give him no more than a month and will be so lucky if he is here longer but no how bad he is suffering.....sigh!

Taking my kids to my girlfriends house to watch the Boston marathon as she is right on the route....should be a good time.  I miss ya all!

Sherry- let us know how it goes....lots of support here if you need to talk it through tonight.

June- sooooo sorry for you and your family....I understand about not wanting to read your dad's obituary...I refused to read my dad's too...but I DID talk to him about his funeral the last time I saw him before he passed....when my mom died, he had had a recent heart attack and he was so stressed that we only had immediate family for mom's funeral...the neighbours, her old friends....they were all sooo upset...so when dad told me he just wanted the family present, I told him "I love you...but the funeral will not be for you...it will be for us....and you had a lot of people in your life who will want to say good bye so....I would like us to be able to say goodbye how we need to say it"...he was surprised but agreed....and when he passed away 8 days later, I planned a helluva funeral, including singing his favourite song....An idea? ....talk to him about some of this now June, while you can...if you are able....it may be the gift from you he needs and may actually ease your heart some....it did me anyhow...maybe not the obituary....but perhaps what song he might want ....who he might want to do the service....who he wants to make sure knows.....things that he might fret about and make it harder on him....things that you can help control...and may make it a bit easier on you...my thoughts are with you....so hard...

Thanks also for thinking of us while you are going through this....I had a better weekend..am getting my energy back and am starting to adjust to the BP medications....not as exhausted and plan on getting to the gym this week for a yoga class once I have my car back and can go to an evening class.

Jules I hate to hear this about your daughter.  She is too young to have to stress about bc.  Hopefully it will be nothing but please keep us posted.  I will had that to my prayer list. 

June I agree with Sandee on talking to your Dad.  I was my grandmothers care giver and she wanted to talk about her funeral.  I was reluctant at first but I knew she felt a need to discuss it with me.  My father had long since passed away and she was a strong Christian woman and knew my uncle did not share her beliefs.  She wanted certain Bible Scriptures read at her funeral and asked me to make sure it happend  even if it meant fighting with my uncle. So my uncle ended up planning everything but asked anyone to get up and speak so I spoke on my grandmothers behalf.  Needless to say my uncle has never spoken to me since but it was the last gift that I could give to her.  All my brothers supported me and told me I was right to do it for our grandmother.  I now look back on those talks with my grandmother and I cherise them because they were such intitmate talks that she never had with anyone else.  You will not regret having those talks with your Dad as hard as it might me now.

Had my mammo done today and everything is clear.  The original calcification's that started all this last year have not changed.  Some were removed when they took my tumor out but not all of them.  So all is good for now.  Also had my yearly gyno appt today.  I was kinda wondering why I keep having to have pap smears when I have had a hysterectomy.  Anyway she says new guideline if you have had a non cancerous hysterectomy you no long have to have pap smears.  BUT since I have had BC I get to continue to have them.  gee what a nice present!!!  So I talked to her about the whole nerve damage thing going on in my breast and the mammo and mri screening every six months yada yada yada and that my BS wants me to consider having a MX now.  And she tells me she totally agrees with my BS.  She said if she were in my shoes and with my risk ect. she would have a MX done.  So I guess that kinda seals the deal that I will go through with it in probably July or August.  I'll have to see when my BS wants to do it after I am in the post rads safe zone.  Otherwise life is good and I am still feeling great from the Tamox now that body had adjusted.  Don't know if I will every be able to not take melatonin but my gyno said if I have to stay on it to sleep don't worry about it. 

To all of you who may have been affected by the horrendous storms, my prayers go out to you! 

take good care and just breathe. . .

Teklya

Sending hugs and prayers for all of you and your families tonight. Not enough words - just praying for inner peace for each of you.

June - glad it helped...and you know...I don't think you hav eto worry about cryign in front of your dad...if you cry and keep crying...well....he has seen you cry before...and it is important and hard and might allow him the space to be sad too....I bawled when my dad and I talked about it...but I sang one of his favourite songs (His eye is on the sparrow) that I had recorded with a group....no way could I possibly speak...but I could sing and it was my last gift to him ..it represented my brother and sisters and helped us all. You will do whatever feels right...

Jules- she may have butthead teachers but she also has you....and that is a gift...you will get through this...she will get through this...

Just read about all the tornados you folks are dealing with....I cannot imagine a scarier thing to see outside my window...we hav ehad big hurricanes here in Halifax but not a tornado...my thoughts are with you.

Tekla- I can now officiay say having been off tamoxifen for 10 days, that I am now sleeping better!!! I have had 5 sleeps where I slept uninteripted (still with the pill..but totaly interupted) for 7, 8 hours!....

Thanks for the info, Rennasus!

Guess I am going to get some melatonin. Dr. gave me sleeping pills but they have not worked at all. I sleep about an hour, then wake up, sleep a few more then awake......most I have slept lately is about 4-5 hours total !!      And with fibromyalgia, it sucks and plays havoc on me even worse!!

Jules, My heart goes out to you and your daughter......I pray things are ok with her!!!

June, my dad passed away when I was 27. He had been horribly sick/disabled with heart condition since I was 15. He had so many surgeries, and three times during that time we rushed to the hospital knowing he would not be alive when we got there. Well, he made it then one night he was at a really nice restaurant in Ga, had taken his wife and mother in law out to dinner, and he passed away right there at  the table!

  I didn't have him in my life much after he and my mother divorced when I was 7, but got pretty close to him in the last few years he was alive. One night he called me to come stay with him and his wife at their house way out in the country. He came in my room and woke me up at 5:30 in the morning!! Sissy you have to come see this!!!! I sleepily got up and walked in the front room, what daddy>??? He said just sit by me and watch, and handed me a cup of coffee.  He just would keep putting his hand over on mine and tell me he loved me. He told me he knew he wouldn't be here much longer and wanted to share one thing with me.       It was the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen in my life!!!!!!!! It came up over the hills (between them), thru a huge front window they had.       And he told me that every time I seen a sunrise remember that he would be watching it with me thru my eyes.     I am 54 and take pics of sunrises all the time....remembering what he said.       and so so so thankful I had that time and that talk with him that morning. It was the last time I seen him, he passed away a little over a week later.

YES I CRIED that morning with him and we held each other......daddy's understand when we aren't strong.........you don't have to be He is your daddy and you love him and he understands that I am sure..........     HUGS to you and your daddy!!!

I also had a stepdady that was my daddy from the time I was 9 until I was 44. He was really sick and we had the "talk" too......I will never forget our talk. I laid in his arms and cried and he cried too.....but we had that talk.....we had that time, and both of us told each other how thankful we were that we had had it.  

girlfriday- I had a lumpectomy 14 years ago because of ADH I was 34 at the time.  So for the last 14 years I have had yearly mammo's.  A few times was called back for more views but was always told OK in the end.  this last year not OK and wanted a biopsy.  When I went for the needle loc biopsy they could not get the calcification's to line up right in all the views with the wire so they could not get it.  Plan B was then to do a MRI to rule out cancer and follow up in 6 months.  Well the MRI did rule out cancer on the calcification's but I had a 1.6 cm tumor that was hiding behind all the scar tissue from my previous lumpectomy.  I have extremely dense breast tissue which make my mammo's hard to read as well. Everything happened so fast when they found the tumor and I had made some comments regarding my MIL MX that my surgeon did not push the issue with me on it at the time.  Since rads I now have nerve damage that my BS thinks is permanent.  She put me on medication for it and it works for the most part.  My risk are that I am 48, dense breast tissue, history of ADH (which rads does nothing for and can turn into cancer), massive scar tissue in my breast, and tumor did not show on my mammo.  So if I do not have the MX, I will have to have mammo's and MRI alternating every six months for life and stay on medication for my nerve damage.  The MRI each year will cost be about 2K out of pocket. If I have the MX I will only have self breast Exams and clinical breast exams and the BS can sever the nerves that are causing me problems.  I told her numb would feel better that the pain that I have.  I have not discussed it with my MO yet as I don't go back to see him until June.  But I think he will probably say not too and do all the testing, but one of the things that really bothers me is how am I suppose to have a good quality of life when I am having to be tested every 6 months for the rest of my life.  I will never have the see ya yearly thing unless I do the MX or I choose not to do all the testing but I would not feel comfortable with that either. I am not worried about getting a distance recurrance with the current BC that is being treated but I do worry about getting another new bc because of my risk.  My BS feels that I will likely get another bc in my lifetime so the MX would cut that risk greatly and cut all the imaging.  So life goes on, decisions, decisions.

This is what I don't get: if your oncotype is 4, why are they saying you will likely have a recurrence?

surfette: That's my question!  But she still said recurrence...and then when I asked more questions she said I should get a second opinion. 

sufette:  I asked similar questions and go no answer, but "Seek a second opinion"  My beau was with me, and we were both shocked, dismayed and frustrated at the end of the appointment.  It still lingers...especially with the impending appointment in May.  If she can't give me answers, I'll find another doc. My RO, scoffed at her suggestion. And said, perhaps she was speaking in terms of the stats...i.e. 1 in 8 women get BC after the age of 60 (or something like that).  Whatever her reasons or meaning, I'm having issues with my ovaries and uterus, so I have to chase the answers to those issues before I even begin to fight with a non-sensical MO.