Antidepressant with Tamoxifen

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laurasurvivor
laurasurvivor Member Posts: 3
edited June 2014 in Managing Side Effects of Breast Cancer and Its Treatment

Hi,

I survived stage 4 cancer and now I have to take Tamoxifen. I tried other hormonal treatments and I had really bad side effects (pain), so I had to settle for Tamoxifen. Unfortunately it makes me depressed and agitated. My oncologist said that antidepressants interfere with Tamoxifen, so she did not prescribe them. She prescribed Xanax (a tranquillizer) instead.

It is not working well. I read that the only antidepressant one can take with Tamoxifen is Effexor, but I read (in only one post) that Effexor makes people really "active". It sounds like it would work for people who are in a slump, but not for people who have to calm down.

Do you have experience with Effexor? Did it make you agitated? I really hope I can take an antidepressant - I need it.

Thank you! 

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  • farmerlucy
    farmerlucy Member Posts: 3,985
    edited August 2013

    I am taking Effexor. Not only is it a great antidepressant, it helps with hot flashes from taking Tamoxifen. I was taking Prozac. I was worried about switching because I really liked Prozac. My onco started me on 37.5 mg of Effexor. A couple months later I asked her to increase the dosage because I was feeling irritable and anxious. The new dosage is 75mg and I love it. It does not make me agitated, just the opposite, I feel calmer. I think it is a great drug. Since I may be going thru menopause it really helps with the mood swings and all the other stuff. The only warning my onco said is that I will need to wean off it when I quit. For now I see no reason to stop while I'm on T, though I may reduce the dose in a year or so. Check out the tamoxifen threads on the Hormonal Treatment forum. It has a lot of posts you may be interested in. Hugs!

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  • laurasurvivor
    laurasurvivor Member Posts: 3
    edited August 2013

    Thank you very much for your answer!

    I had checked out the Tamoxifen thread, but most people seemed to deal with hot flashes, not depression. I might be dealing with depression because I went into "instant" menopause by prophilactically removing the ovaries (at the green age of 51 I still had no signs of menopause). Fortunately the Tamoxifen works for people in menopause too.

    Lots of hugs to you too!

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  • szsz
    szsz Member Posts: 4
    edited August 2013

    Effexor is definitely helping me deal with Tamoxifen (and BC in general). I started getting symptoms of depression once my active treatment ended (after the surgeries were over) and it definitely helped.

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