Hi Girls
I have just noticed a posting saying that she had ben on Tamoxifen for 5 years and was now on an inhibitor for 5 years, I wonder why this is? Why can’t we be on an inhibitor for 10 years?
Hello
I think that you might be referring to me, had 5 years of Tamoxifen now on Femara for 5 years(might need to change to another AI)
My Onc said that 5 years of Tamoxifen and then 3-5 years of an AI is now recommended. Now I thought that I was only going to have 3 years of Femara but yesterday I learnt that I would have 5 years and as I am having problems with Femara I wasn’t too happy.
Anyway why I am having 5 tamoxifen and 5 of Femara could be due to my age. I was 46 when diagnosed and am now 53 so would be postmenopsal now.
Can’t really answer your question about 10 years of AIs. I know some ladies have problems with Tamoxifen which I was okay on but Femara is not so good so might have to change.
Hazel
Hi everyone, I was first on Tamoxifen for a year, but weight became a problem, so was switched to Arimadex almost 4 years ago. Am now worrying that when my five year point comes up the oncologist will take me off Arimadex altogether and not offer anything else. Any one know what the current thinking is as to benefits of staying on treatment after 5 year point? daisies x
Hi LancsLass
I think you’ll find that AIs are only used for women who are post-menopausal - tamoxifen, zoladex etc are usually used for pre-menopausal women. So if you are around the time for menopause you get treated as pre-menopausal for a while, then they switch you to AIs.
I was 50 at dx so put on tamoxifen + zoladex, probably for two years, then they’ll do a blood test to check if I’m post-menopause, then change over to AIs. No doubt more sleepless nights to come!
i was told only this week by hospital that my five years of hormone therapy will end July 2012 i have done 2 and half years on tamoxfen and will be 2 and half on exemastane. i asked the question “what then” and was told thats it. i asked if i could go back to tamoixfen when my five years are up and was told it was not up to hospital but to "discuss it " with my gp when the time comes.
making me feel nervous already.
hugs
Annie
I’m 45 and was originally told I’ll be on Tamoxifen for 5 years but yesterday my onc told me I’ll have it for 2 years, then be on AIs after that, but I will have a blood test to check if I’ve become menopausal or not. I thought I’d still only have 5 years in total but maybe it’ll be more after reading this…
She’s going to talk more about the hormone side when I see her again in three weeks just before my final Tax so I’ll see what she says then.
Jane xxx