Bottle 'o Tamoxifen

Hi, I am finding out since the breast indexing test is relatively new, not all facilities are using it. Mine included, Bonniebee maybe ask your MO next time you see him/her and ask if they can test you? I have asked mine and they are not being used at my facility yet.

I have a question. can anyone share their Tamoxifen dosage with me? When I was previously on Tamoxifen before surgical menaupause I was on 20 MG once a day. I picked up my prescription of Tamoxifen and never bothered to read the bottle and so been taking the 20 MG once a day but on the bottle and also I noticed in my visit summery it says I am to be taking Tamoxifen twice a day- 20 MG . I am confused again. I thought 20 MG was the standard dosage of it? Anyone else take it twice a day and does the dosage matter if you are pre or post menopausal? I really think I may need a diff MO as this one sure never explains anything,

Yes, I do on occasion used Benedryl or Tylenol PM to sleep but been afraid to mix it with the Tamoxifen as so many doctors have varying opinions on the matter, I am going to take Melatonin if I could remember where to go about getting the controlled release kind that I had read about before in the boards. I think it was 3 MG.

Thanks everyone

ndgrrl...40 mg is NOT the standard dose. Please check with both your doc and pharmacist!

I'm on 20mg a day -- and wonder if I should be on 10mg. I know that's not standard (ever) but I don't weight much. I'm kid sized.

And now to my next question for the team here.

I know it's not the most common complaint, but I think I'm losing weight on tamox. And I have NONE to lose. Yes, I'm eating well and exercising more. I wasn't actually bad on either count before C. But anyhooo....I cannot attribute this to anything else. Having no issues aside from that. I lost a quick 5 at C diagnosis from I think cutting out nightly wine/cheese combo! And now another 5-7 gone like nothing in the last month. I'm literally disappearing. I don't skip meals, etc. But may have to go on higher calorie but less healthy for the summer to try and combat this. Any advice?

Hi- Thanks so much for the advice- I contacted my MO and my prescription was incorrect. I was only supposed to be taking 20 MG once a day and not twice.

I am on day 4 and woke up with some nasty nausea. I got myself some probiotics and sure hope they work.

I have a message out to my MO about taking a baby aspirin. I wasn't told to take one.

Tammy

I do sweat and have bo more in my right armpit, the side where no cancer was. Left one where nodes were taken out can but not like the right one.

Tammy- I was told baby aspirin because I'm at risk for blood clots with my inactivity and still having my port in which u/s had shown possible formation of clots awhile back. It's low dose and so many take it for stroke prevention and heart stuff. Definitely ask before just popping it even though it's low dose to make sure you aren't on something or have something that would make an issue problematic.

Haven't heard of MO saying less than 5 years is ok. Maybe change MO? Can't stand up to you stuff. We are there to find out what to do and are not qualified to decide such things ourselves.

I have LESS sweating and armpit BO!

nudgrri...I have never heard of less than 5 years. That is the standard protocol. I would ask your MO or find another! Good luck and keep us posted.

Reckless:

Agree. I kinda think it's diet change (one bypassing nightly glass of wine and cheese! -- LOL) and increased exercise. Aside from taking a week off this week (somewhat) and just eating what I want, which still wasn't horrible, I think I'll put it back on. Hoping NOT around the middle. Geez.

For those reading, I also switched brands, as mentioned. Now on Teva, because pharmacy said that is what they usually get. I figured, oh, well, let's try. No noticeable effects to date.

The pharmacist was really nice and said she'll get me whatever brand I need with regard to brand but, again, since they get Teva normally, that's what I am trying. Told her to note on my file that I want to stick with one brand. Her sister has BC and apparently is having difficult time but she's younger (37). I wonder if younger women have more issues because these changes are being forced on the body earlier. I was already having sleep issues due to age and some things I attributed to hormonal levels dipping. Not hot flashes, though. I'm 50 in Sept and already peri (and have been for a few years we suspected) or perhaps even menopausal (hormones level not completely telling us), but so far, I can't tell much from taking Tamox.

Hi there,

I was prescribed spirolactone for hair thinning. My derm said not contraindicated for breast cancer, but now I've heard it is.

Ade, I started on Tamoxifen,was put into surgical menaupause started Armidrx, then Femara and a yr later I am back on Tamoxifen. I have minimal side effects on Tamoxifen. I lost some hair. It eventually came back, trigger thumb and mild body stiffness. Tamoxifen might be your thing. My MO said Tamoxifen may bring back the bone loss I had from the Al's and bring my cholesterol back down. I sure hope so

If you're going to try tumeric, get the tumeric curcumin with black pepper in it. Before I could really tell, my warm flushes went down significantly but I know some people say it works for them.

Outdoorswoman, I'm not certain if it was tamoxifen, or the surprising pathology report, but my sleep is definitely not as deep. I take melatonin (dual release) which gets me to sleep and the slow release allows me to fall back to sleep, even when I get night sweats. My brain was very foggy at the beginning, which I now attribute to the longer term effects of anesthesia. I do still have a little word finding difficulty, but I think that it is getting better. My fatigue has also lifted substantially. I'm 11 months out from surgery and I've been on tamoxifen for 9 1/2 months. Starting the drug when there are so many other physical and emotional factors makes it difficult to decouple what is really the fault of tamoxifen. One thing that is for sure due to tamoxifen is dryness!!!

I read the above article. Me and T have 8 years to go and I am post menopausal.

I take the same thing! I was having horrible hip pain and hot flashes and found taking the Gaia turmeric with 10,000 of bit d every other day along with magnesium has helped so much. The magnesium glycinate allows you to absorb more of the magnesium. These meds have been a saving grace to me!!