Bottle 'o Tamoxifen

Marketing Mom if you are post menopause Tamoxifen does help. There is an article on this website that mentions it. But it doesn't help if you still have periods. Weird how this white pill effects women.

Congratulations on being free for 10 years!!

https://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/hormonal/se...

Benefits of tamoxifen

Since its approval in 1998, tamoxifen has been used to treat millions of women and men diagnosed with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer. While an aromatase inhibitor is the first hormonal therapy medicine choice for postmenopausal women, tamoxifen is the first choice for premenopausal women and is still a good choice for postmenopausal women who can't take an aromatase inhibitor.

Tamoxifen can:

• reduce the risk of breast cancer coming back by 40% to 50% in postmenopausal women and by 30% to 50% in premenopausal women
• reduce the risk of a new cancer developing in the other breast by about 50%
• shrink large, hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers before surgery
• slow or stop the growth or advanced (metastatic) hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer in both pre- and postmenopausal women
• lower breast cancer risk in women who have a higher-than-average risk of disease but have not been diagnosed

Tamoxifen offers other health benefits that aren't related to treating cancer. Because it's a SERM, it selectively either blocks or activates estrogen's action on specific cells. While tamoxifen blocks estrogen's action on breast cells, it activates estrogen's action in bone and liver cells. So tamoxifen can:

• help stop bone loss after menopause
• lower cholesterol levels

My MO said that the price of Relizen has went down significantly just recently, haven’t checked but that’s what she told me a few weeks ago when I complained about the price. Pretty sure she said it was down to $25 a month.

Hi ladies,

Haven't checked in much lately but I do read posts daily.

I am still having the same SE, which amounts to everyone possible. Lol. Dizziness is the newest one to add. I've tried taking the big T at different times and makes no difference.

The hot flashes / night sweats have actually leveled off.

My MO considers me in full blown menopause, haven't had a period since February of 2017. And blood work showed my levels in menopause of a 65 year old. 😟 I'm 45. I see her again in March do you ladies think she still switch me to an AI?

I take my tamoxifen with food and in the morning. When I took it on an empty stomach the SEs were bad, including dizziness.

TWills and sm627 Thanks for the info! On Amazon right now, it is still $57 for one month (slightly less if you buy multiple months at a time) & another site, JDF Womens Health has it for $50 one time or $35/mo for subscription sent every 30 days, same as the Relizen site subscription. That is not bad. I may try one month to see how it works & then do the subscription if it works. I heard it may take at least a month or two to know?

Alternatively, I saw on Amazon (and sold at GNC & other supplement places) another brand with positive customer reviews - Source Naturals Swedish Flower Pollen extract tablets, 90 tabs for only $13.65. This seems to be the same product, but a lot less expensive, but not sure what the "proprietary blend" is in Relizen. Marketed to men for prostate but reviews say works for hot flashes (like Relizen). Anyone with experience with this product?

Yes, my hot flashes just recently got really bad - I had gotten down to only one or two during the evening and then as I was waking up, but now they're coming on stronger (downright sweating vs. just warm) and more during the day, which is tough in an office environment. I dress in layers but I'm sure my colleagues wonder when I'm peeling my cardigan off & on every 30 mins lol That has really been my only SE of what I thought was from the Tamoxifen. I thought I was in menopause (hadn't had a cycle for 1 yr 10 months) then I had a very short cycle last month! Last April when we checked my Estradiol levels, I was stilI not close to menopause, so not sure.

Re: UCSF I would highly recommend them to anyone who is newly diagnosed or wants another opinion. Even if it's too far to get treated there, their collective brains there are some of the best. Always at the forefront of everything, and I have had great care there. I was seeing my Onc/NP every 6 mos for a while, then they tapered me off to annually. Now they said I don't have to come in every year unless I want to. I probably will for at least a few more years.

Thanks!

I guess I’m one of the blessed ones because I took Tamoxifen for 4 years - first year on Arimidex and when my 5 years were up my MO said I was done with it. Yea!

My experience with Tamoxifen wasn’t too bad. Hot flashes and joint pain at night however I can relate to hot flashes at work. I even had a small fan on my desk. Gotta admit itwas pretty obvious I was sweating. It was embarrassing.

I know lots of women have debilitating SEs from the drug. If I had had them I would have opted for something else. QOL is important.

Diane

Does anyone have cold chills? I don't have hot flashes I have spells were I freeze! I'm sleeping in so many layers and under 4 blankets. I added leg warmers to my layers and it has helped. I'm not waking up because I'm cold.

Yes! Beaverntx! I almost put that in my post! I've always had a tendency to be cold but this is extreme! It's not new either. I have felt like this since my lumpectomy so it's been almost 2 years. Most of the post are about hot flashes and joint pain so I was curious if anyone else had the cold chills. Thanks for responding! I'm not alone

re cold chills, yes I seem to have surpassed 5 years of hot flashes (which I still get time and again in the wee hours) and substituted periods of extreme cold, inability to get warm. I wear 2 layers do of clothes. A fleece and a Sherpa and I might warm up. I now have a heater in my office where I once dreamed of January breezes. How sad is that?

Well, I'm afraid Tamoxifen has finally got the best of me and I'm taking a break for a month or so. I have been losing fistfuls of hair and I can't take the stress of it any longer.

If the hair loss lets up after a month, I guess I'll know it was definitely the Tamoxifen. Otherwise I'll see a dermatologist. Such a hard decision to make...

I am sure that my behaviour today can be chalked up to tamoxifen induced batshitcrazy. Even my adult daughter was like, whoa, mom, dial it back a notch.

I make a handmade item and decided (crazy) that a local big chain store should carry them. I called the store. They don't handle such decisions. I must call Head Office and talk to Bob Blahblah. So I call Bob and get his voicemail. I leave a long detailed message about the greatness of my item and how he should carry them.

Not happy at that, I phone him again the next day, to make sure he got my message, which he did, and to make sure he saw my website, which he did. But he says my items are kind of pricey (not really considering the quality) and that most people won't pay that (wrong, I've sold quite a few at the price) and besides they already offer a made local product from some other maker. Thanks for calling but no.

Not ready to give up yet I send him an email. I pitch my product AGAIN. I have seriously tipped over into lunatic behaviour, but I don't think I'm being a lunatic, no, I'm just being super motivated in pursuing my goals. Pushing myself past my comfort zone. Asking the universe for what I want. Oh my god.

In the meantime I do research on the local crafter of their made locally product and I find nothing. NOTHING. There is not a hint, whiff, hair of evidence that this person exists. You can find nothing about her product or anything. Weird. Most people who handcraft at that rate for such a big chain boast about it. But there was nothing. It was like she didn't exist. Turns out, she doesn't. Turns out that 'she' is a manufacturing company churning them out in bulk with off shore, cheap goods making it look locally made, hand crafted, when it is not!

So, I send the guy ANOTHER email telling him to basically go get stuffed! I accuse him of dishonest business practices, allowing me to think that he carried locally produced handmade items when, in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. And the difference between what he pawns off as local and MY product is worlds apart and all he has to do is try one of mine on and one of his own to tell the difference!

If the cops knock on my door and accuse me of being a crazed stalker, I will probably deserve it. I can't believe how pissed off I got over this. It makes no sense! I'm going to give corporate Canada a piece of my mind and smarten them right up? As if! What am I thinking? What is wrong with me? How come I get so pissed off over everyday bullshit? Poor Bob Blahblah, he must think I'm a nut job. I think I'm a nut job. It's the damn tamoxifen!

yeah the hairloss sucks. I have alopecia to begin with. My hair is wavy and curly so have been able to hide those large areas of loss with a good hair stylist and colors but the front is now unhideable. So I'm just making the most of it. At 54 it sucks. I've had alopecia since early 40s and it's finally to where the front sucks and counting. But what can ya do. I assume T is working and since i can't do AIs due to real shitty ses, got to stay on the T.

FindingOptimism--I think you just have to learn what your new normal is. And it will depend on what resources you have available to you. In a perfect world, you'd be able to have acupuncture and get a good massage a couple of times a month. And working out in some form most days of the week will definitely help. I do cardio, weights and yoga every week and feel it's the single most important thing that got me through my 5 years. Well, that and turmeric and ginger. Those really helped with the joint pain. Oh, and magnesium which helped with constipation as well as insomnia. And once I finally realized how dehydrating Tamoxifen is (wish my docs had told me that one!) I upped my water intake and got rid of the nausea and dizziness that I had every day. It took me about a year to find all the things that helped me but after that it was a fairly easy 4 more years. Hope you get there as well!

I used to have thin hair before diagnosis, was so scared that T will take the rest , but surprisingly my hair got thicker than normal...my joints pain is sooooo bad, if I sit for 10 mins Standing up and walking is so painful, it takes 1 min of walking to get back to kind of normal, my knees and ankles are the most painful parts, should I get concerned about metastasis??? Really don't know which pain is normal which is not, taking mag/cal but pain is still there......my bone density was lower than normal in last week exam

I've had hot flashes due to too much Synthroid and I had some hot flashes during chemotherapy as my ovaries were being poisoned but I've noticed something strange about these Tamoxifen hot flashes.

Right before I have the hot flash, I have a cold flash. I will literally be sitting there and realize I am cold, and then, without taking any action, I suddenly realize I am hot.