well been taking my little morning pernod for nearly three weeks now. (i have the alcoholic aniseed flavoured tomaxifen) the only change i see is that i am salivating a lot, and am a bit moist down below.My hair feels more lustrous and I just have more joi de vivre.
Is it just too early for side effects to set in?? or perhaps these changes are me just getting back to normal health after the cancer?
oh and i will say this quietly, with my fingers crossed. I think i am loosing a bit of weight.
I have a packet in the cupboard, just need the nod. I think I like the sound of this already! :o)
is it your decision when to start it??
Nope oldandlumpy. I’m back in the ‘waiting room’ after more surgery. Will find out this week if I can start rads planning, but being reffered for trials and the tamox. If I don’t need more surgery I can start. It might sound odd, but until now I was trip neg so the tamox feels like a bit of moral support, and also I feel as though i’m going to be turning off the motorway, and heading along the slip road, Make sense?
A few night sweats, but I was getting those anyway since at age 50 I was heading into menopause. Apart from that, no signs of the notorious dryness “down below” and if anything my hair seems to be growing thicker than ever. Long may this continue!
i am a bit confused when i read of people starting tamoxifen during rads. The reading i have done suggests that the drug makes the cancer cells imune to the effects of radiation. it make them more like normal cells.
Wonder if its easier for older women?? my menopause was ages ago, so perhaps the drug is not really changing my body chemistry that much.
I think it takes time though. It’s not as though tamox kicks in like a pain killer, is it not slow release, hense the 5 years?
Oh that’s a thought. I’m not at menopause age yet.
Hi OAL
I was told to start the tamoxifen the same day I started rads, which was 3 weeks after I finished chemo.
Now been on it for nearly 7 weeks with no obvious SEs of any kind. Hoping this continues. Before I started chemo I was pre-menopausal - they’ll wait a year before blood testing me to see if chemo has pushed me through an early menopause.
Dx
HI ladies
No problems at all for me
Still pre menopausal although 51 and the only SEs I have had are less periods and therefore less migraines
…good news for me as both are a pain in the ass!
x
Hi All,
I started Tamoxifen 3/4 weeks ago. The first weekend I was very sick but was also finishing an antibiotic so maybe the 2 clashed. But apart from that I have had LESS hot flushes than I did prior to HRT which was stopped when i was diagnosed in July.I had ovaries removed last October so had been thrown straight into Menopause.
OAL, I have Rads to start in a couple of weeks, seen Onc but waiting CT scan date, so I hope the Tamoxifen wont render my rads a waste of time?I was told by Consultant to start taking it. Onc didnt mention it. Maybe I should mention it at the planning meeting. (sounds like I’m having renovations lol)
i was told to start the day after rads finished.
hi,
When seen by onc I was told to start tamoxifen basically that day 1 month before start of rads. Got me worried now! x
Might be totally wrong, but I thought the timing of starting tamoxifen was not related to rads at all.
If you are not having chemo, or are neo-adjuvant, they need to wait until the risk of post op clots reduces. If you are having chemo, they wait until 3 weeks or so after you’ve finished.
I get the impression that the timing is not an exact science and a week or two either way won’t make a huge difference.
Just my thoughts.
Dx
I started my Tamoxifen about 2 weeks after my surgery… my onc saw no reason to delay and every reason to get going! As DJ007 says, it’s not an exact science and each onc will advise as s/he sees fit.
In answer to the title question… I don’t really see my Tam-flushes as a problem, just a necessary evil to increase my chances of staying NED. I’d rather not have the flushes, but compared to the alternative… on my case a ‘no brainer’
I’ve been taking Tam for a week or so and OK so far.
I’ve had a few hot flushes (hoodie on, hoodie off, duvet on, duvet off repeat ad nauseum) but they’re not as bad as peri-menopausal ones; I had a fairly early menopause so got the T-shirt for that already.
I haven’t tried to kill the OH yet and neither has he tried to murder me ;o)
I asked him yesterday if he thought that I’d changed mood/attitude so far and he said, “no”. But then the peri-menopause, although it caused me some horrendous physical symptoms, didn’t cause any mood changes for me, either.
I am going through the menopause at the moment and once all my treatment has finished, I will be put on Tamoxifen. Can anyone tell me as I haven’t suffered hot flushes so far with normal menopause do you think I will be spared them once I am on the medication. Just a thought.
Thanks x
So far, and I’ve only been on it for a week or so, it’s been milder than full-on peri-menopause for me.
Watch this space.
I did not have any symptoms at all when I went through menopause. Apparatnly it was some time after my hysterectomy(still have overies) it was only picked up on a blood test to investigate my osteoporosis. Perhaps that is why so far (fingers crossed) i have no SE’s. I never had period pains either. But the first type of pill made me almost suicidal and it was such a relief when the next type came in.(gosh that dates me, the only way an unmarried women could get the pill then was to pretend she had horrible period problems)