Bottle 'o Tamoxifen

Anna - I take my Tamox in the mornings. I was nauseous for about 2 weeks and then it got better. I don't notice it at all anymore. I have enough sleepign issues already so I didnt want to risk intensified hot flashes at night so I take it in teh mornigns.

CCNC I’m on Tamoxifen too. Don’t know anything about TEVA but would be interested as well. I’m in NC also.

Molly, the thought that the lump might have just existed is a wonderful thought. However chances are it would have grown, gone into the lymph nodes metastasized and eventually kill you. You are blessed that it was found at a very early stage. Hope you are doing well. Love, Jean

lala1

Thank you so much. You have no idea how much I appreciate you posting that information. I just called the pharmacy and they are going to order it, so the information is still good. Hope you have a great weekend!

I feel very fortunate to say that I have been taking Tamoxifin since October 1st and have really very few side effects. I seem to yawn a lot more but truthfully I am sleeping really good. I was worried about nausea as I tend to be a little sensitive that way but I haven't had any. Some vaginal discharge but it seems to be taken care of with a pantyliner.

I saw a post on this forum somewhere when I was fretting over taking the Tamoxifin and it was a girl indicating that she had to change her mindset and start telling herself every morning that she was grateful to have something like Tamoxifin to possibly prevent recurrence. I was inspired by her post and have taken that thought to heart and every morning I look at that darn pill and say Thank you!

TaRenee Gabapentin helps with insomnia and Effexor helps with night sweats. They put us on these two pills usually. I am on them and they help allot.

okay

I decided to take a closer look at my bottle. I use CVS in Houston

It reads TEVA on the green cap. On the side of the bottle, in the fine print, it reads: " manufactured by TEVA Pharmaceutical IND. LTD. Jerusalem, 9777402, Israel. Distributedby: Mayne Pharma, Greenville, NC 27834..

On the bottle: Expiration 5/2019, even though the CVS paper wrapping has the generic date one year from now.

I have almost no side effects as long as I drinks tons of water, especially since I take it in the morning. I drink 16 ounces in the morning before I take the pill and 96 ounces of water every day. When I started, I didn't know how dehydrating that little pull us! My NO clued me in...He said a lot of reported A ed are related to this...dizziness, leg cramps etc...

Well the day is finally here. day one on this drug for me. mine save TEVA (I am in Canada) and nothing about Mayne on it. but has been dispensed from its original bottle. took the drug an hour and a half ago, so far so good.  I will just be on it a few days then I go off it until after my ALND surgery. Right now I am finishing a 4 month course of fragmin injections as I got a clot from the PICC line so no worries about clots while taking it for now. After I restart, am to use 81mg ASA.

Candyapple--I hear ya on the idea of thanking tamoxifen instead of being scared of it. I looked at that bottle for 2 weeks before i got brave enough to take it. Now I'm coming up on my 5 years and have had the BCI test which shows me to have low benefit from continuing for another 5 years. I asked my MO if I could just keep taking it and he said "you do realize it'll just be giving you the placebo effect?" He just doesn't understand that I now look at it as my security blanket! I've agreed to go off it Feb 1 (that's my 5 years) for one month. If my stupid little brain can handle it, then I'll go for another month. And so on.... I just feel silly...scared to go on and now scared to go off. But I'm tired of fear running my life so I'm going to at least give it a try!

Legomaster---You're welcome all for the research. It's one of my favorite things to do! It's the only thing that got me through all these damn SEs from Tamoxifen!

If the code is different then, yes, it's a different Tamoxifen. I believe I may remember (VERY spotty memory!) that the rep at the company said something about TEVA buying Actavis but that Actavis actually took over another company and got their version of Tamoxifen. I may have dreamed that because quite frankly, I barely remember breakfast (thank you, Tamoxifen) but it could be why you have different numbers on the pills.

Lala1, I am confused. So, for the first 5 years tamoxifen was a needed drug but for another 5 years all it would offer you is a placebo effect? Does that make sense to you? I would have felt utterly betrayed because if it will have a placebo effect after 5 years, was it having that same 'placebo' effect for the previous 5?

I think I know what your doc was trying to say. That another 5 years will not do you any good, you will not gain any more cancer free years. He meant to say (I'm guessing) that you've done all you can and there is no evidence to support that another 5 years will make things better. But to say it will have a placebo effect was the wrong choice of words!

I hate taking this drug and worry about not taking it too! I rub my newly impressive chin hairs (thank you tamoxifen) and ponder the future. Or ponder not having a future. I wonder if I would continue this drug past 5 years. I think I might, but not at a daily dose. I might cut back to half a pill 3 times a week, or something like that.

I asked my onc if I should be removing my ovaries. He said he couldn't think of any good reasons to. Good. I'm cool with that. I haven't had a period since July and I was regular before that. I hope I don't get switched to AIs because to me they sound worse. You know what they say, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know.

But I do understand your feeling of free falling into a life with unkind statistics looming overhead.

I tried duloxetine for my bone pain from Tamoxifen which I thought was neuropathy from chemo until recently. I also have a headache most of the time from Tamo. I am weaning off duloxetine because it didnt help as much as I had hoped however my pain is increasing. What is everyone else taking. BTW - I take gabopentin at night and will wean off that next. I just want to start over and try to find something that works. Any ideas?

Well, I know someone who refused to take Tamoxifen and she has already had one recurrence. It was about 3 years out.

Trvler, I wish we could definitely point to NOT taking tamoxifen as the reason a woman gets a recurrence. I always hear a slight hint of 'blame the victim' when I hear someone say, see, you could have taken tamoxifen and you didn't take tamoxifen and now you have a recurrence and it's your own damn fault for not taking this fabulous drug that we all know saves every single woman who takes it!

Only it doesn't.

It hurts our bones. It dries our vaginas. It shreds our emotions. Our hair falls out of our heads and grows on our chins. We have hot flashes all day, night sweats all night, leg cramps and would forget our head if it wasn't screwed on. It gives us ovarian cancer, uterine cancer and blood clots. And women faithfully take this shitty little pill, offered to them as a slim hope against a rising tide of recurrence and many of them still get cancer again! So when I hear of a woman who has studied the numbers (oh good god the endless sea of numbers) and decided that the benefit she will gain IS NOT WORTH the bullshit she will suffer, I have two thoughts. 1) she is not smart 2) she has big balls and I admire the hell out of her.

On another thread someone posted a link to a study. The study went on and on with its techno talk that flew right over my head but near the end it said, "Take all your medication in the dose and exactly as prescribed by your doctor." And I just about barfed. There it was, the religious warning to follow, to the letter, the wise and healing word of our almighty doctors, in whose hands all healing and wellness is contained. BULLSHIT! If you got 20 doctors in a room you would NOT get a consensus about this disease! All anyone can offer us is their best guess. Their most current advice. What the most recent study shows. But the idea, handed down, right here in an article printed by breastcancer.org, is that we are the mindless masses who must be good girls and do as we are told. Ask no questions, cause no ripples, shut up and swallow that pill.

It is us, you and me, who have this stuff in our bodies, maybe to strike again, maybe not. But that anyone should ever suggest that I get cancer again because I didn't follow the rules, jump through the hoops and sacrifice the appropriate pound of my flesh to the gods of cancer had better not be in striking distance when they say it. If this disease ends up killing me, it will be on MY terms. And taking tamoxifen, or not, does not mean the wolf will stay away from the door. The idea that tamoxifen or chemo or surgery will guarantee us life free from cancer is just, plain WRONG and a horrible guilt trip to lay on women who did everything they could and get this disease again anyway.

Trvler, this post was not directed at you personally, but at the idea that we must all follow the rules to live. If we do, no guarantees. If we don't, no guarantees. Just millions of women terrified and doing the best they can.

Thank you runor! You always have a way of getting to the heart of the matter.

bcky I am going to ask about that. I don’t have a follow up till almost January. I’m going to email my MO and ask. It’s miserable being so dang tired from not sleeping. Thanks