Bottle 'o Tamoxifen

Cpeachymom - so it's okay to take melatonin? I have been so hesistant to take anything in fear of it reacting with the Tamoxifen. I just never know what my restrictions are. Also, I read back to where you were talking about the coconut oil? Does it really help? Dryness has been a huge issue for me

Joshua- I would check with your MO, but mine recommended the melatonin to me. I don’t need it to fall asleep anymore, but it helps me get back to sleep in the middle of the night. I was warned it could cause nightmares, but that hasn’t been a problem, even when I was taking a full 10mg every night, trying to combat the steroids that were keeping me up. Now I just take 2.5 mg once in a while. And yes, many ladies on this site recommended the coconut oil, so that’s what I’m doing and it’s working for me. That and drinking LOTS of water!

Pamela, i hope things go good, remember to drink lots of water when you take it and all day. Stay hydrated. I also found it helpful to keep a journal to write down any SE.

Sleep is the big one for me, too. I see my MO today and I am going to talk to her about it. Melatonin doesn't really do it for me and she wanted to put me on Effexor. I don't want to take an antidepressant. I can still at least orgasm even if I have no sex drive. I am not putting the final nail in that coffin. Gabapentin has also been mentioned by my GP but others tell me that's for nerve stuff. I will report back. My MO is kind of useless so my expectations are low.

Ladies, My MO has a sign in her exam room that has helpful hints. #1 is find something to laugh about every day. I have to say reading all your posts gives me a 😂 laugh every day. I admit I have developed a perverse sense of humor.....

Egads- I just visualized a tiny little group of Red Devils pushing a leg around....maybe they were red Tasmanian devils...👹👺👿😈

Veeder- The MO who actually said that she had patients who were happy with vaginal dryness. I thought of Football cheerleaders cheering & yelling "go dryness, Go dryness". I was laughing & my husband thought I was 😜 crazy. 🤸🏻♀️🤸🏻♀️🤸🏾♂️

Everyone- When I visited with my elderly family I promised myself I would never spend my retirement watching soap operas. Now as a retiree, I find myself spending my days reading posts on constipation. 💩💩

Runor- I keep a plastic grocery bag on the counter while I'm cooking. My husband thinks it's because I've suddenly become a neat nut. It's really there to hide the hair I pull out of pots, off of plates, etc., etc. Thanks to you, I think I'll wash each hair off, put in in my fridge in a glass jar with a lid & if anyone asks, my reply will be "I've read that aging your hair, then using it to season sauces, provides "natural vitamins" to our 🥘 food.

Thanks to everyone for sharing & maybe with a little humor we'll all have better days!

Barbara

I think you should count your blessings. I remember being on pregnancy boards and women who had no morning sickness always thought they had miscarried. Some people just get lucky.

Thanks for responding, Allison! I am post menopausal at 64. I am on Tamoxifen because I have mild osteoporosis/osteopenia and Tamoxifen is supposed to be bone friendly. Of note, when I went through menopause many years ago, I never had a single hot flash then either!

ThreeC - I only wish there were tiny Tasmanian devils pushing my legs around during exercise.. I could sit back and read a magazine at the gym LOL! I know one thing, the exercises feel like hell some days!

Love your 'perverse' sense of humour....just about died laughing when you said your retirement is filled with postsabout constipation LOL!!! As for 'hair seasoning' well, might be worth a try...if it doesn't work out you can use it for dental floss...or filling pillows! Thanks for giving me my daily laugh!

🤣🤪🤣

There is a test you can order online (urinalysis I think it was) that I did to test for CYP2D6 . I read about it on here -- and now can't recall the specifics! Try Google. I had to list a doctor, so listed my MO, who brushed off testing too for this.

(I have few SEs -- some but mild, no hot flashes -- and just did this for my comfort.) Maybe it's baseless but what the hey. I came in at rapid metabolizer I think it was, which is good.

wifewbc- I have also read that a lower dose may be just as effective. If you go back to January on this thread there is a discussion on it

I hope it helps your hot flashes gigibee, my sleep varies a bit but has gotten better. I fall asleep fine but I wake up a little before daylight, it was much earlier so hopefully this will last a while. I can usually fall back to sleep. Good luck!

Twills, the funny thing is I haven’t had any hot flashes. I live in the cold Midwest and have been actually hoping for one it’s been so darn cold !

Low Dose Tamoxifen Report

For those interested in reviewing the article I read on low dose tamoxifen research results, then above is the link. It's compelling enough for me to consider reducing my own dosage. Hope the link works for everyone.

Twills,muscle aches and insomnia , fingers crossed , neither are horrible but figured I’d give it a shot to see if either improve.

I am assuming that most of us considering or investigating Tamoxifen dosage changes fall into those premenopausal. Therefore, had our diagnosis in our 30s and 40s type of thing. Difficult to tell on this forum outside of a little deduction or questioning a poster their age

While forum has been an excellent source of information for people living with breast cancer, for many years there is always room for improvement. One of the biggest problems, for me personally, which I mentioned several years back, is that we detail all our cancer related diagnosis with indelicate precision, but omit one of the more helpful details which is our age.

Knowing the age of a poster who may have posted something pertinent to my own struggle, would help me ascertain if it was relevant to my own case. With breast cancer, being able to then compare as many apples to apples, without having to ask more details of a poster, would sure help many of us. Which is surely what his place is about. Perhaps there is a suggestion box I don't know about.

It's been almost 5 years since I started posting on here, and I still have to guess the age of my fellow cancer strugglers, while the intimate details of their disease are openly shared

Understand please, this is far from a gripe. I just want this place to evenbetter. Age at diagnosis is a key marker in how breast cancer is treated, and I think it would be useful in helping people navigate this forum.