Switching from AI to Tamoxifen

My blood levels of Estradiol are staying high, and Dr and I are trying to decide if I should switch from the AI I've been on for almost 5 yrs, to Tamoxifen.  I was happy to see this topic and thrilled Cyndi, that your joint pain is better on Tamoxifen. Do you know how strongly ER positive your tumor was?  Also if you don't mindmy asking, how old are you?

Thanks very much

I started with tamoxifen and everything was fine until about 8 months or so and then the worst pain was my achilles heel. It was so bad I could not get right up out of bed. I wept. My onco (in WI) did not care. When arimidex went generic, I started that...again, fine for a few months and then the foot pain. With Arimidex, I also had some thumb joint pains. That was it...plus thinning hair.

Interesting...my onco never suggested testing my estrogen levels so god only knows what's going on in there.

I feel "naked" without the meds but I feel better overall.

Hi Ladies, Yes please keep this thread going. I am currently deliberating on whether I switch to Tamoxifen also. I will have finished 6 years on Femara at the end of 2013, and I have been experiencing painful side affects during the 6 years, however the pain in my hips when I walk has become very painful in the last 12 months. Onc has suggested that I might like to switch to Tamoxifen, to see if that slows down my bone density loss, and also help with the painful hips.

I am undecided at this stage on what to do. I was hoping to continue Femara for a couple of more years because I didn't do chemo and had positive sentinal node. It appears that different drs have differing opinions on what is the recommended treatment.

Ched

I was initially on Arimidex. After taking it for 9 months I was in so much pain I could hardly walk from the living room to the bathroom. I actually went to the ER for pain one time.

I had severe osteoarthritis before I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and my MO warned me that the Arimidex would make the arthritis pain worse. I take Meloxicam daily for arthritis pain.

I stopped taking the Arimidex after 9 months, and at my next appt with my MO, he was very upset that I had stopped without talking to him. It had only been a few weeks since I stopped. He switched me to Tamoxifen. I'm 57 years old, finished menopause 10 years ago. He said that the Arimidex would be more effective for me, but was afraid that if I started taking it again, I would also stop again.

The plan is for me to be on Tamoxifen for 2 years, then switch back to Arimidex for 3 years.

My cancer is ER+ and my oncotype score was 32.

In my dad's family, almost every woman for 3 generations has had breast cancer. Some have also had uterine and pancreatic cancer. My paternal grandfather died at 59 from colon cancer. My dad was diagnosed at 72 with colon cancer, had surgery and 6 months of chemo. My 2 sisters and I have all had colonoscopies since our mid-30s, and have all had precancerous polyps removed.

Now that I'm taking Tamoxifen, my joint pain is still off the charts. I take Norco 3 times daily, which takes the edge off. I also continue to have hot flashes, as I did with Arimidex. But I don't have night sweats, which were so horrible with Arimidex. The sheets needed to be changed every day. Hot flashes were not nearly as bad during menopause as they are with this treatment.