DCIS while on tamoxifen

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Member_of_the_Club
Member_of_the_Club Member Posts: 3,646
edited June 2014 in Life After Breast Cancer

I've posted this question in several places. I had stage IIb IDC three years ago and am on tamoxifen. I am having a stereotactic biopsy in both breasts on Tuesday. I think the one in the "good" breast is just to humor me because no one thinks it is anything, but the one in my treated breast is because of calcifications. I just read in the DCIS section someone saying that if you get DCIS while on tamoxifen it means the tamoxifen has failed. Is this true? It isn't my breast I'm worried about, its my bones/liver/lungs/brain.



The area of concern is in a different quadrant of the breast from my original lumpectomy so would not be a recurrence.

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  • AnneW
    AnneW Member Posts: 4,050
    edited October 2007

    Calcifications don't necessarily mean DCIS (I had them a few years back when on Femara, and it was ALH--a marker for what I have now.) And yes, Tamoxifen and AIs can "fail." But also keep in mind that there's much we don't know about DCIS. Some never will go on to be invasive or a threat to your health.

    Getting the biopsies is smart. Keep believing in your Tamoxifen till proven otherwise.

    Anne

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  • Member_of_the_Club
    Member_of_the_Club Member Posts: 3,646
    edited October 2007

    It isn't the possibility of DCIS that I am worried about, its the possibility that if I have DCIS it means that tamoxifen has failed for my previous cancer.



    Reassurances anyone?

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  • roseg
    roseg Member Posts: 3,133
    edited October 2007

    Well, I think it might initiate a re-thinking of whether tamoxifen is such a great drug for you. 

    One thing tamoxifen was shown to do was to reduce breast changes in women (DCIS or otherwise) that generated biopsies. 

    If it's not at least doing that for you, then you have to wonder! 

    That said, I do think that different medical groups do biopsies at different for different degrees of calficiations. I'm always reading posts from women who've had multiple biopies over the years. Yet when I look back at my own history, where I had multiple call-backs on mammograms I only ever had one biopsy. 

    Did the "birad" rating on your mammogram call for a biopsy? I kind of have the impression that's some kind of standard that they use to determine if you need one.

    Anyway, the point of that would be that if you have a group that's really proactive about biopsies (plus you've already had cancer once), then maybe tamoxifen is doing just fine, but you are in a risk category such that you qualify for the biopsy. 

    Did you ever have that metabolizer test? 

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  • Member_of_the_Club
    Member_of_the_Club Member Posts: 3,646
    edited October 2007

    um . . . you guys are making me feel worse.

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  • ginger2345
    ginger2345 Member Posts: 517
    edited October 2007

    Birad 4 and 5 call for biopsy; birad 3 is usually a 6 month recheck/dx mammo and whatever else the docs decide would be beneficial.

    I'm sorry you're having to go thru this and am hoping you'll get benign results. Hang in there.

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  • Member_of_the_Club
    Member_of_the_Club Member Posts: 3,646
    edited October 2007

    Thanks so much Layne, that does help actually. My surgeon did say to me "because you had breast cancer -- and I am intentionally using the past tense -- you will get stuck more." I didn't realize rads can cause changes but it makes sense.

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  • Hattie
    Hattie Member Posts: 414
    edited October 2007

    You don't have cancer so assume the tamox is still working for you. Keeping an eye out and getting tests is smart.



    Sometimes we read stuff that really doesn't apply to our own circumstances.



    Sorry for your worries. Hope all is well.



    Take care,

    --Hattie

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited October 2007

    If more DCIS is found, it doesn't automatically mean the tamox didn't work.  It could be that the area of DCIS (IF that is what it turns out to be ) was there all the time and it went undetected.  (I have LCIS and take tamox--that is how it was explained to me).  Praying for good results for you.

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited October 2007

    I'm not going to tell you not to worry.  I'm going to pray that it's NOTHING!  And then when you find out you're gonna come back here with a BIG smile and tell us you are still dancing with NED.  Wink

    Hang in here and take one of them anti-anxiety pills. Laughing

    Shirley

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  • djd
    djd Member Posts: 866
    edited October 2007

    My first dx was DCIS.  I was treated with lumpectomy, mammosite radiation and tamoxifen.  My second dx (a new primary)was Stage 1.   I didn't think in terms of "tamoxifen failed", but I remember my oncologist saying something to that effect.

    If they have found DCIS, and it's a new primary, your odds are  no different than any other survivor diagnosed with DCIS.

    Hang in there and try not to think the worst (I know...easier said than done!)

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  • iodine
    iodine Member Posts: 4,289
    edited October 2007

    18mos after dx I had micro cals show up in my good boob, just after the Second exchange for Second recon.  I was almost hysterical!

    Come to find out, it was due to the surgical procedure of the exchange.  So--take heart.  Also, take a deep breath and let it out.

    Hugs.

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