Intolerant to heat with tamoxifen

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Herculesmulligan
Herculesmulligan Member Posts: 175
edited April 2017 in Hormonal Therapy - Before, During, and After

I'm a 47 year old who has been diagnosed with invasive carcinoma, undergone a BMX with tissue expander, and started on tamoxifen all in the last 3 months. First off, thanks to you all. I've found so much comfort and strength here.

My question is: since starting on tamoxifen 6 weeks ago, my personal thermostat is all out of whack. I'll be cold one minute and sweating the next. It's especially noticeable when I'm trying to dry my hair. I end up drenched in sweat. Does anyone have any tricks or suggestions? Summer is coming up and I don't want to go through it sweaty all the time

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  • dtad
    dtad Member Posts: 2,323
    edited April 2017

    Sorry you are suffering. Tamoxifen can definitely mess with your thermostat. You might want to try getting a small tabletop fan to put by your bedside. There are also some supplements you can take that might help but check with doc first. One is Relizen and the other is Icool. Hope this helps!

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  • gb2115
    gb2115 Member Posts: 1,894
    edited April 2017

    I don't know. I have been on tamoxifen for about approaching 6 weeks and have started waking up really hot in the middle of the night. I sleep with a body pillow too (to sort of splint my lumpectomy breast so it doesn't sag down when I sleep on my side---the scar tugs and hurts when I don't splint/prop it)...and the body pillow is a crazy source of heat. Yuck. I haven't noticed much during the day hot flashing, just twice so far, but I imagine it'll continue to build as time goes on.

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited April 2017

    Hi Hercules and welcome to Breastcancer.org!

    We're sorry you're dealing with such an uncomfortable side effect of treatment. But, you come to the best place for support, suggestions, and advice, as you can already see!

    Along with the suggestions from the others above, you may want to check out the following pages on the main Breastcancer.org site, which offer some tips to help keep your chills and hot flashes at bay:

    We hope this helps! Please come back and let us know if you find other solutions!

    --The Mods

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  • Herculesmulligan
    Herculesmulligan Member Posts: 175
    edited April 2017

    thanks guys. I've done some common sense things like using the cool setting on my hair dryer, and drying my hair with my head upside down so the hot hair doesn't sit on my shoulders. Those things have helped somewhat. Has anyone tried the dyson hair dryer? Isit faster?

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