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adean's avatar
adean
Member
13 years ago

A pain in the gut

After suffering weeks of a niggling gut and vomitting in the mouth often and major belching, I went to the gp who is indicating that I have an ulcer bought on by tamoxifen, the radioligist did suspect it in may but I refused to believe, poor dr said have you also been under stress lately I cracked up laughing stress ha ha. He wants me to stop the tamoxifen , till the ulcer heals 1 to 2 months, I've rang the oncologist who was busy and will call when able. Has anyone else had this issue? DR gave me nexium to take. Regards adean
coping
side-effects
tamoxifen

7 Replies

  • adean's avatar
    adean
    Member
    13 years ago
    Hey that's a good point to about the gastritis, I'm of to my proper gp on Wednesday and my oncologist wants me to ask him for a scope so lets hope that will give me an answer, nexium is good but only lasts till mid afternoon then I'm drinking chamomile tea to give me relief. Thanks for your thoughts. Adean
  • dawngirl's avatar
    dawngirl
    Member
    13 years ago
    Phew. Glad to hear you are in the hands of an amazing GP (usually!). It helps. And great to hear the drugs have brought you relief too. Horrible thing to be going through on top of all else. I skipped tamoxifen and went straight to the hard stuff - femera :-). No stomach issues, just very creaky these days, but if it keeps the bastard at bay, I truly don't care :-). Keep on keeping on x
  • dawngirl's avatar
    dawngirl
    Member
    13 years ago
    Phew. Glad to hear you are in the hands of an amazing GP (usually!). It helps. And great to hear the drugs have brought you relief too. Horrible thing to be going through on top of all else. I skipped tamoxifen and went straight to the hard stuff - femera :-). No stomach issues, just very creaky these days, but if it keeps the bastard at bay, I truly don't care :-). Keep on keeping on x
  • adean's avatar
    adean
    Member
    13 years ago
    Hi dawn, unfortunately my gp who is amazing is on holidays so yes this young dr was my only choice at the time when I became defensive about stopping tamoxifen he soon backed of and did say ring the onco. My own dr asks me in depth about bc progress he learns from us . I've met a couple of Doosey nurses looking after me too, I've just always kept my humour..Surprisingly I remember my onco asking in depth questions before tamoxifen started ,about any gastric issues, and also very recently at Peter mac by a very young registra, perhaps if you have a underlying issue it agravates it along with everything else, joy oh joy. Mind you the nexium is working a treat and only 2tablets so far. Thanks for your concern . Adean
  • dawngirl's avatar
    dawngirl
    Member
    13 years ago

    I am not a doctor, but I cannot believe this GP has advised you to stop your tamoxifen without consulting your oncologist...and has he tested you for the bacteria which commonly causes ulcers? TreAtment required?  some antibiotics? I really hope you've been able to get onto your oncologist. If not, perhaps call the oncall oncologists at your treating hospital (assuming you had chemo) ... I found the ones at RPA excellent for answering concerns re niggles at times over what was happening during treatment. I wrote it before and I'll write it again. I can't believe your GP has told you to stop tamoxifen without consulting with your oncologist first, or testing for the bacteria which I can't currently recall how to spell! It's heptisomething  pylori . Hope this helps guide you to a second opinion and the right treatment. Perhaps it is the tamoxife, but unless he's ruled out the other (far more common) possibility, telling you to stop tamoxifen is dingbat crazy on their part. You know what I've found most exhausting about BC? Not the surgery, not the chemo, but the emotional and intellectual energy required to stay on top of what some of my health care providers are doing, and occasionally doing their job for them. I could regale you with all the things I've had to correct, prod them to do, etc but will save that for another post! Hope you feel better soon and treatment ends up being as simple as popping some antibiotics. Have can beautiful day x

  • adean's avatar
    adean
    Member
    13 years ago
    Thanks Janet, so far I've been ok and lots of the symptoms are menopausal any way so itsnot to bad, my hot flushes have actually nearly stopped , have been experiencing muscle aches, but that's my age as so do my colleagues at work who are menopausal, I really don't want the ulcer but maybe I stress internally as I'm a very lay back person and its the whole amalgamation .Of the whole bc year. Regards adean
  • Janet_Plummer's avatar
    Janet_Plummer
    Member
    13 years ago

    Bloody hell, is there no end to the side effects tamoxifen can cause!  I thought I had read about all of them, but haven't come across stomach ulcers before.Sorry to hear you are going through all that Adean. I'm taking it too but I guess I've been pretty lucky - just hot flushes at night, lowered libido and no more periods. And I think it interferes with my sleep a bit but it's managable. Good luck, I hope you feel better soon. Janet :)