Best advice I can give to pre menopausal women, is do not take tamoxifen, its has different side affects for diffent people, all negative. In my experience its not worth it.
I'm really sorry to hear that you've had a negative experience with taking Tamoxifen.
As you've mentioned it is different for every woman and some women find that they have no/minimal side effects whilst others have a much more difficult time with things.
We'd encourage anyone who has concerns about a medication that is recommended by their Oncologist to speak to the Consultant for advice and support.
Hi [@Walkaway] I'm on Anastrozole rather than Tamoxifen as I am postmenopausal at the age of 52. My drug also works to reduce oestrogen in the body but in a different way because of the difference in menopause status. Tamoxifen works to reduce the oestrogen produced in the ovaries of pre-menopausal women and Aromatase Inhibitors like my Anastrozole (and Letrozole is another common one) work to stop oestrogen being made in the body fat of menopausal women.
Either way, they are working to reduce oestrogen on the body so they don't feed ER postiive cancer cells. My breast cancer was 8/8 fpr ER+ so it really likes oestrogen to feed of! I knew that taking my Anastrozole was going to be important to help reduce my risk of recurrence.
I was beside myself at the thought of taking it though as the side effects sounded just horrendous - bone thinning, increased cholesterol, low mood, menopause symptoms, insomnia and the one I was really dreading was the joint and bone pain as I am really active and I didn't want that impacting on my quality of life. I sat and looked at the box for days not wanting to start on it as I had read so many horrid stories of women having a really hard time with it. I was getting myself really worked up about it!
Well, two and a half weeks on and I have had absolutely NO side effects at all apart from one hot flush on Sunday night that lasted about 60 seconds. Other than that I feel absolutely fine.
Tamoxifen has its own list of side effects which can differ to those of Anastrozole but I think the message I want to share is that we women are all so different in how our bodies respond to medication. There is nothing to lose by starting and seeing how you get on - you might find it tough but you also may be completely fine or have modest symptoms that you can tolerate knowing that it is doing the job of reducing recurrence.
My oncologist is following up with me eight weeks after I started on these as she said it takes about that long for symptoms to generally settle down. If I carry on as I am now I will be pleased to tell her I am absolutely fine. I am waiting on a bone scan for a baseline measurement so we can keep an eye on my bones (not crazy about the idea of my bones thinning) but meanwhile it feels good to know I am doing all that I can to help myself.
