does tamoxifen make you depressed?
does tamoxifen make you depressed? …started taking it a few weeks ago, i didn’t want to at first and i think that’s because i was still a bit in denial, but decided i should at least give it a go…mostly i feel OK, but my mood has dropped quite significantly. i also seem to have a permanent stuffy nose and hoarse throat and kind of background headache. i can live with the physical bit but i’m worried about the mood change. i was recovering well, (five months post-mastectomy and LD recon) feeling quite positive and had the green light from my occ health department to go back to work…however four weeks later HR have not got round to contacting me, i don’t even know where i’m going, and i find that quite demoralising. also my mum died suddenly two weeks before i was diagnosed…she died two days after Mother’s Day so all the anniversaries are approaching and i wondered if it was that. i guess it’s difficult to sort out what are side-effects of the tablets and what’s just the huge burden of stress and trauma the diagnosis brings…but i suddenly seem to be coping much less well despite being physically better and i wondered what other people thought?
Arrghhh! I’ve just written a huge long reply and lost it, and it’s one of those days where I get fed up at the smallest setback. Oh bother!
The general gist was… You seem to be having a tough time just now. Go gently! My advice, based on experience, is to go easy on yourself and let yourself be whatever you feel like… within reason, and taking care not to wallow in depths of despair just out of habit or because you feel it is in some way expected! I’ve not had quite the succession of events that you faced last year, though we did have an awful week at the end of 2004 when Dad moved into a hospice, my father-in-law told us he had prostrate cancer, I found my first breast lump, and Dad died - all in 6 days. in the event my father-in-law is fine and the lump turned out to be benign at that time. But anniveraries are strange times. Personally, I think I expected the first anniversary to be worse than it actually turned out to be. But that’s just me. I still think it’s best to go with the flow, but be open to being pleasantly surprised at how it turns out.
These medications are a nuisance though aren’t they? It’s all too easy to attribute every last little thing to one treatment or other! I’ve been on Tamoxifen for a couple of months and am still watching for side effects. in fact the oncologist last week said that it’s unlikely for any new effects to crop up now, which is good to know. I hope it’s true.
As for work, I don’t know where you work but is it possible that the message just hasn’t got through from OccHealth to HR? Mind you, I have NO idea how to be sure when we’re well enough for work - it’s hard enough to judge physical fitness before even starting to wonder about mental fitness! Personally, I can be fine for days and then have a day when I feel I can’t cope with even the slightest challenge! Still - for better or worse, I’m finally back to work on Monday having been off for 9 months.
Hmm. I hope all this drivel isn’t unhelpful.
Go easy with yourself! love and hugs, and I hope you find something pleasant to fill your time with whilst you wait for your employers to get their act together.
Hello Catkin…I am so sorry that you have and are still going through such a difficult time.
I have been on Tamoxifen for nearly a month now, I have had side effects one being depression. I had a chat with the doctor when I went for Radiotherapy yesterday about the other side effects I was getting, the Doctor said Tamoxifen was such a good drug for me he really did not want to take me off the and that the side effects usually vanish after a couple of months or so, so hopefully your side effects will disappear as well.
Take care of yourself, Spring is not far away and I think we will all feel better when we get the lighter evenings and warmer brighter days.
Hugs Val.
Hi Catkin,
I don’t think it’s the tamoxifen causing the depression.
You’ve been through so much and on such a treadmill that it’s only now at the end of it all that you have time to think.
Like you I coped all through dx and treatment putting on a brave face for everyone else. They didn’t expect me to, I managed to give myself that pressure.
It was only after finishing rads nearly 3 weeks ago that everything suddenly fell apart for me.
I think the stress and tiredness finally took their toll. I hadn’t had a decent nights sleep for weeks. Kept bursting into tears, or filling up listening to songs on the radio!
I worried myself because I’m normally so upbeat but just felt so sad all the time.
When I finally asked for help to get some sleep things improved.
(The tamoxifen definetly causes my insomnia)
Take Care over the coming weeks,
Love
Jackie
x
thanks folks …i feel better…went to speak to someone at Maggie’s Centre and of course as soon as they were nice to me i burst into tears. i think what triggered it all was being at a course where i had met a lot of people i used to work with…most of them didn’t know i had BC so i had to tell people over and over again…it’s also hard to be in a work setting when you’re not working. i had a dreadful time in my last workplace and i’m waiting to be “redeployed” after being effectively forced out of my job…i really let it get to me and affect my self esteem so being in among work people reactivated all that shame. anyway…i’m going back to see the psychologist for some help, i still have the headache and stuffy nose but i can live with that i guess!
Headaches and stuffy nose sound suspiciously like an infection in the sinuses. I would have a word with your GP about treating them. Beconase (which you can get over the counter) has done absolute wonders for my sinus problems.