Bottle 'o Tamoxifen

Well, I gave up on trying to get by on 3-4 hours of bad sleep each night. Saw my family doc today and got a script for Effexor and Klonapin. Sure hope it helps. Don't want to be on it forever but I sure need some good sleep.

Hope y'all are having a good week.

teachermomfl--My advice is to just jump in and take it. The anticipation may be way worse than the meds. I didn't even have any SEs for the first year! By then I'd read enough to figure out how to work with whatever SEs I got. I'm betting you be one who does pretty well on it. I just finished my 5 years and with hindsight realized that I was way more scared to start it than I should have been. Way I look at it now, if you can fight cancer, you can do anything.

Or better, depending on what you're anticipating!

Very true la la! Vampeyes, I have noticed the fatigue, but I blamed it on not exercising. It is like a vicious circle. If I exercised I think I would have more energy. I didn't think about it being from the Tamoxifen. Hmmmm, I wonder if it's the lack of exercise or the Tamoxifen? Do a lot of people complain of fatigue while on it?

I've been on the ol' Tee-Mox just a tad over 4 years. I used to suffer the 'my feet have been beaten within an inch of their lives' feeling until I joined a gym, hired a trainer and started lifting weights combined with cardio. If I take a break from the gym for more than say 5 days the feet start screaming at me to get my lazy derriere back into the gym. No biggie I enjoy working out, lets me know I'm alive.....or at least insane. I can deal with the hair thinning....Trump has actually asked me for comb over advice. I can deal with bursting into tears occasionally (and for no reason besides hearing something soppy). Dry skin, trouble getting weight down, fatigue, meh....no problem as I'm very grateful to have meds that just might give me a fighting chance.

What I can't get past, and pardon my wording here, but really pisses me off to no end....the HOT flash. I get approx. 2 a day....so I guess I'm very lucky. So why am I complaining? Timing my dears, it's all in the timing.....EVERY SINGLE TIME I get out of the shower or complete my makeup - BOOM, it hits. It's as if it KNOWS and lurks in the background waiting to make me look like Marilyn Manson and feel like a sweaty runner completing a 30 mile marathon. I've sweated off more dollars in product within minutes of application that I might as well start using Dollar Store cosmetics, creams, lotions and potions. I've tried all the tricks, nothing works, so I've grown to expect it.......don't have to like it, but expect it.

Just my whiny 2 cents worth

I never had much fatigue (fatigue, what a limp wristed word for when you feel fall on your face tired) and the other side effects have eased off. But wait. No. Back for round two! The legs cramp. Oh dear lord in heaven, the leg cramps. I had THREE attacks the other night, leaping out of bed to hobble around in the dark, walk it off, walk it off, trip over the vacuum cleaner and the dog. Trying to walk while digging fingers into my thigh and swearing between gritted teeth trying not to wake husband. And then when it finally passes you're afraid to go to sleep cause you know there's another one, waiting, lurking, just doze off and stretch that leg out and BOOM got you again! If I have fatigue now it's because I'm scared to go to sleep and move a leg in such a way as to trigger a cramp. I fear the cramps!

Hair is still thinning. I have aged 15 years. Periods stopped instantly and completely. Hot flashes in day, luckily not bad enough to melt my mascara, but seem worse at night in bed. I am a balding, sweating, cramping ball of sexy. Who wouldn't want to get with this?

vampeyes---Thought I'd share one thing I was told when diagnosed. My dad is a retired doctor and when I was diagnosed he sat me down and offered some advice. One thing he told me was to expect to be tired....not just tired but so tired you can barely hold a conversation. He feels that anesthesia does a real number on some people. My doctor told me to be prepared to have 2 or 3 months of tired but dad said BS! He thinks it hits you hard for about a year. He told me that whenever I felt really really tired to just sit down and nap, whenever I could, wherever I could. He feels that's one of the best things we can do for our bodies when recovering from all this. So that was what I did. I'm not a napper normally but I took LOTS of them that first year. And I joined a gym. I dragged myself there and forced myself to workout and sure enough, eventually I started feeling less and less tired till one day I didn't need a nap! Don't get me wrong....about once a month or so I will find myself so tired I can't even think. And it's been 5 years! But I just find time and get a quick nap even if just for 5 minutes and then I move on. Don't worry. It'll get better. You got this.

Runor- ouch! I've had the occasional leg, ankle, toe cramps that are both excruciating and annoyong. No magic words or tips, just a big virtual hug. Hope they don't continue.

TaRenee- Mind if I join you? I just posted this elsewhere: 'So, I had another fill today. Good grief these puppies are high and tight. I see the radiation oncologist next week to find out if I need radiation, per my oncologist's request. If so I get to live with these crazy-full expanders until after. Fabulous. But we do what we have to do, right? Ok. Whinefest over. Back to being thankful for something.'

Plus 3-4 hours of bad sleep a night, hot flashes, crying because the sky is blue, weight gain, irritable, achy joints. On a positive note I haven't had a period since the week before my surgery. So, I suppose that's what I'll be thankful for. I did see my family doc, had a good long chat with her and she gave me a script for Effexor. Yay, another med.

Hang in there y'all. We can do this. We just have to.

I think the fatigue is lack of sleep caused by the Tamoxifen. At least for me it is. My temperature if off most of the time, either too hot or too cold. Hard to get into a deep sleep. And my husband snores. I usually go into the guest bedroom around 1 am when he starts snoring.

Snoring- hubby sleeps in the spare room, and I have some custom-fit earplugs. Otherwise, our marriage would end, due to my irritability when underslept. My sleep (thanks to evicting husband, and some brew my naturopath cooked up) is much improved from a month ago.

My skin is much better then it was before I took T- I'm enjoying that side effect. And in fact, I read that tamoxifen can actually make estrogen more available in your skin, which is good for wound healing and general skin health. I will hold on to that SE, thank you.

I'm now coming up to 3 months on the big T.

I just want to say, you ladies are amazing. I've read through so many posts, and your stories have given me so much strength. I now have two doses of Tamoxifen in me. I followed the advice I've seen here, and I take it at night. My pharmacist stressed that I need to take it at the same time every day, so 9:00 pm it is! Yesterday, my head felt strange...somewhat dizzy...like my brain was just kind of rattling around in there. I think I'm feeling ok today, although I haven't changed out of my pj's yet! Going to work on some craft projects today. I return to work Monday, my school district has been on spring break. I'm nervous about getting up early again. I've been sleeping in until 10:00 every day, because I'm having trouble falling asleep at night. Thank you all for sharing your stories!

Since we're talking about sleep.... I wake up about every hour with a hot flash although I haven't taken Tamoxifen since thanksgiving. Thats after it takes me several hour of tossing/turning/flashing trying to get to sleep in the first place. My mind won't shut off! I'm not worried, just thinking incidental thoughts. Ambien works wonders but I don't want to be addicted to it so I only take it when I absolutely HAVE to get some sleep. I take melatonin every night and sometimes Benedryl without much luck. Speaking of cold meds, last month my hubby and I both had a cold or possibly flu. I was taking a variety of cough meds, decongestants, expectorants, antihistamines, you name it, I took it. THE HOT FLASHES STOPPED! Not sure which coctail did it but will try each one separately to figure it out.

Blownaway, are you off Tamoxifen because you hit the 5 year mark? That’s crazy you are getting so many hot flashes and aren’t taking this stuff anymore. I miss sleeping through a night without having these.

Teachermom, I started on Tamoxifen in January and had a "head feels weird"experience daily for about a week, then it went away. Hoping the same for you. I'm 59 and post-menopausal, so waking up in the middle of the night, plus occasional leg cramps, have been a fact of life even before the BC diagnosis. Hoping minimal SEs for you and everyone else riding the T train.