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stemi's avatar
stemi
Member
9 years ago

A neverending story ... Tamoxifen

Good morning,
I had my yearly blood test to see how my hormone levels are.
What can I say ... 13 months of Tamoxifen and obviously it is not doing it's job. My estrogen level is up again.
Anybody else here with the same problem ?
Cheers
Micha

6 Replies

  • Unicornkisses's avatar
    Unicornkisses
    Member
    9 years ago
    I had a really good heart to heart with a friend of mine in the pathology field after my initial diagnosis fiasco.
    She was very good at helping me get my head around the limitations of the screening procedures.
    One thing she did mention, and I only remember it vaguely as it didn't really involve me at the time, was that Tamoxifen is under investigation at the moment because it has been shown to stop working after a while. Apparently you need to have some sort of tests to examine if it is still working for you.
    I am sorry to be so vague, but it did stick in my mind, perhaps you can ask more questions about it with the experts.
  • melclarity's avatar
    melclarity
    Member
    9 years ago
    There's actually no way of knowing if it is working or not working I was on it 4yrs and had a recurrence. Their opinion is it stopped working which is what they say happened in my case, that's not everyone though Stemi, some never see it again. x Melinda
  • stemi's avatar
    stemi
    Member
    9 years ago
    @Zoffel
    My GP recommends now the removing of the ovaries as well.
    I can't understand why this medication is not working. I have all the common side effects.
    All this 'pain' for nothing ?
  • melclarity's avatar
    melclarity
    Member
    9 years ago
    @Stemi I actually had a friend also who had Breast Cancer and she had high Oestrogen levels, I asked my Oncologist about it and here's the STRANGE part and a misconception. That's not how Tamoxifen works, it has nothing to do with the Oestrogen levels in your body, its to do with the blocking of the receptors. So he said it's absolutely fine, if anything it shows it's doing its job. Odd I know...Melinda xo
  • Zoffiel's avatar
    Zoffiel
    Member
    9 years ago
    1. Yep. My periods came back while I was taking it. Everyone seemed a bit perplexed (Are you sure you are taking it every day?) Nothing was done. I took it for five years then had a recurrence after ten. I'm assuming it didn't work, or maybe it worked enough to suppress the disease for a decade. Who knows. This time I'm pulling out the heavy artillery--I had my ovaries out and am now taking letrazole. It would be nice if that does what it's supposed to.
  • Brenda5's avatar
    Brenda5
    Member
    9 years ago
    I presume I was tested. Didn't hear anything bad about the test so mine must be ok.