Refusing tamoxifen
hi friends i am off to see my doc tomorrow to discuss tamoxifen. I am NOT KEEN. I am already suffering hot flashes and vaginal atrophy and muscle aches and no periods for nearly a year thanks ...
Forum Discussion
Tamoxifen/hormone therapy side effects may be minimal for some, but not for others. The same as chemo and radiation.
There are no guarantees either way. I did pretty good with chemo, and radiation I found was just a nuisance driving there.
Tamoxifen is the thing that has given me grief to the point of ready to throw it in the bin.
Constant bone pain that does not respond to pain killers. I take, fish oil, calcium, magnesium, glucosamine and a ton of vitamin b, c and d it hasn't done one thing to help. My skin is ridiculously dry all of a sudden and age spots starting to appear rapidly.
The worst part is brain fog, blurred vision, poor memory, my sentences come out backwards half the time, poor recollection for words, disorientation in places that I don't know very well and pretty much total brain shutdown in high stress situations. Makes working very interesting to say the least.
I'v had two brain MRI's to make sure it's not mets which are all clear
Honestly, if someone said to me "Go do another 6 months of chemo and you will never have to take this stuff" I would be there in a heartbeat.
I took three weeks off Tamoxifen over xmas and all but the bone pain disappeared. It did back off a lot but I don't think I was off the tablets long enough for it to go completely. My brain was clear from day four and vision improved as well.
I had a chat with my onc the other day and was very politely reminded about the amount of lymph nodes involved and that the ER/PR stats were at 90%.
So, to live for 10 years feeling like crap for a maybe, or, 10 years feeling normal for a maybe? That is the question nobody knows the answer to. Very sad to be scared of your own hormones.
There are no guarantees either way. I did pretty good with chemo, and radiation I found was just a nuisance driving there.
Tamoxifen is the thing that has given me grief to the point of ready to throw it in the bin.
Constant bone pain that does not respond to pain killers. I take, fish oil, calcium, magnesium, glucosamine and a ton of vitamin b, c and d it hasn't done one thing to help. My skin is ridiculously dry all of a sudden and age spots starting to appear rapidly.
The worst part is brain fog, blurred vision, poor memory, my sentences come out backwards half the time, poor recollection for words, disorientation in places that I don't know very well and pretty much total brain shutdown in high stress situations. Makes working very interesting to say the least.
I'v had two brain MRI's to make sure it's not mets which are all clear
Honestly, if someone said to me "Go do another 6 months of chemo and you will never have to take this stuff" I would be there in a heartbeat.
I took three weeks off Tamoxifen over xmas and all but the bone pain disappeared. It did back off a lot but I don't think I was off the tablets long enough for it to go completely. My brain was clear from day four and vision improved as well.
I had a chat with my onc the other day and was very politely reminded about the amount of lymph nodes involved and that the ER/PR stats were at 90%.
So, to live for 10 years feeling like crap for a maybe, or, 10 years feeling normal for a maybe? That is the question nobody knows the answer to. Very sad to be scared of your own hormones.