Vaginal atrophy. Why didn't someone warn me?

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  • Blossom1961
    Blossom1961 Member Posts: 2,377 ✭
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    @positive3negative I looked at that product but cannot find the $Aus cost of either the products or the programme. Can you please share that info?
  • Blossom1961
    Blossom1961 Member Posts: 2,377 ✭
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    @positive3negative I found an Australian site. Thank you.
  • MovinOn
    MovinOn Member Posts: 7 ✭
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    I told my oncologist I was wary of taking this medication. She thought I wasn't going to take it  at all, and prescribed me the 10 mg dose. I tried, I can't have all of those SE's and be anywhere near normal. I'm seeing my therapist next week. I can't get to see my GP for another month, and my onco appointment is also a month away.
    Bruising - it's bad, blood spots from the smallest bump, and huge blood bruises if I get a harder hit. I had a persistent lump in my throat making it hard to swallow. My tinnitus is screaming at me now (not the annoying background that I used to ignore).
    I'm on antidepressants, yet last week I was almost suicidal. It's subsided since I stopped taking the tamoxifen.


  • mum2jj
    mum2jj Member Posts: 4,330 ✭
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    Hang in there, so good you can get professional help. I hope your therapist can help. It really is a risk v’s benefit. I hope there can be some alternative for you. Please if you feel like you were contact the help line or lifeline. Please don’t try t bear it on your own. 
    Big hugs. 
    Paula xxx
  • MovinOn
    MovinOn Member Posts: 7 ✭
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    This is really interesting and I'm going to show the book, and this link to both my onco and GP.
    https://www.balance-menopause.com/menopause-library/039-oestrogen-matters-dr-avrum-bluming-dr-louise-newson/
  • arpie
    arpie Member Posts: 7,587 ✭
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    I have an e-copy of Oestrogen Matters .....  if anyone would like to read it, please message me

    I've had shocking tinnitus for decades  :(  It is a SHOCKER

  • positive3negative
    positive3negative Member Posts: 323 ✭
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    @Movingon I've just caught up on all your comments and I am SO sorry to read that you're having such an awful time of it. It sounds like you have a lot more going on that the horrible side effects and that you are in a very dark place. I don't know if this will help (but I hope so): One of the most difficult things about being in a dark place is believing in the light. People will suggest all kinds of things but your mind responds with "what's the point!" and keeps sending you messages like "give up!" and "you're useless!" and "you deserve this!" and when people try to tell you otherwise this internal bully over-rides them. 

    Please know that this pattern started as your mind trying to keep you safe. You are not broken and it doesn't matter whether or not the stories your mind is telling you are true. What matters is, are they USEFUL? Do they help you to live a life aligned with your values, or do they keep pushing you further into that dark place? It IS possible to make friends with your mind and to learn how to overcome internal bullying. If you can find a psychologist trained in Acceptance Commitment Therapy I highly recommend it. 

    If you can't find one, or can't afford one, there are lots of resources out there, including a book I wrote for people dealing with fear of recurrence, anxiety and depression following cancer treatment. It's called "Free From Fear - Living Well After Cancer" and you can get it cheaply for Kindle on Amazon. I also keep the paper copies cheap so that everyone can afford them and any small profit I make gets donated. Here's the link:
    https://www.amazon.com.au/Free-Fear-Living-after-cancer/dp/1521249377/ref=sr_1_1?crid=G867VF83FJ5X&keywords=free+from+fear+living+well+after+cancer&qid=1703196938&s=books&sprefix=free+from+fear+living+well+after+cance%2Cstripbooks%2C232&sr=1-1 

    My very best wishes for your future recovery. Please remember that our lives have ebbs and flows and that even when times are very dark we can be sure that light will come again, but sometimes we need to look up, and climb out. 

    With love
    Meg

  • MovinOn
    MovinOn Member Posts: 7 ✭
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    I have had intensive therapy - DBT for more than two years and it changed my life. I finally started living the life I should have had.
    The breast cancer diagnosis wasn't a big deal, the surgery (both of them) wasn't a big deal, the recovery from the surgery wasn't a big deal. My partner was supportive.
    Tamoxifen - for ten days - had a greater effect on me than all of the rest of it. 
    FFS - I know what my clitoris and labia looked and felt like. After ten days on Tamoxifen they disappeared. I wasn't suicidal until the tamoxifen. I did not have PMS, hot flushes, night sweats, insomnia and the rest of those symptoms until the Tamoxifen. 
    I want a better life than what Tamoxifen will let me have.


  • Afraser
    Afraser Member Posts: 4,373 ✭
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    In the final analysis, whatever we do should be our own considered choice. Someone else’s choice may be instructive, useful to know or completely irrelevant. We throw in our tuppenceworth here in the interests of helping to explore all options or providing some reassurance. That’s all. Best wishes for the future and make it bright. 
  • MovinOn
    MovinOn Member Posts: 7 ✭
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    I greatly appreciate the comments from everyone. I am not at risk of suicide, unless I start taking that horrible drug again. 
    The issues I have are that none of my physicians warned me that the side effects would be so brutal.
    I've read that they only give this drug to men for 2.5 years as they don't like the side effects. 

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