As well as hot flushes I am getting really cold , esp at night, i have a double thickness duvet & hubby for insulation, to him I feel warm but I am all goosebumpy and cold. This usually happens before I get hot… then its duvet off etc etc! Only been on Tamoxifen for 2 1/2 weeks, any one else had this happen? My BCN said it was just me!!
Mand
BC nurse is WRONG,WRONG,WRONG. I have had cold episodes this week so severe that I have physically shook. I can only compare it to the horrible feeling you get when you come round from anaesthetic when you feel like you will never be warm again. I sleep with a blanket and thin summer quilt but with a fleecy blanket over my feet and a ceiling fan on. My lower half is somewhere in the Arctic and my head and body are in the tropics. To quote someone else on this site, I have my clothes off faster than a stripper on speed when a flush strikes. I have been on Tamoxifen for 13 months. It isn’t constant…before I make you feel really depressed. tam side effects for me have settled and reoccurred and it is all linked with my monthly cycle…sorry that should be two monthly cycles.
Love
debbie
No, it’s not just you.
I am constantly covers on ,covers off, covers on etc. and it’s driving me barmy, never mind my poor husband!
My feet are almost constantly cold due to neuropathy and the rest of me is ready to combust.
I was like this during chemotherapy so I can’t say that Tamoxifen (5 months) or Arimidex (7 months) has made it worse. This summer was okay but these past weeks the daytime flushes have been brutal; previously I only had them late afternoon and evening but now there isn’t a part of the day that is free from the hotties.
We’ve put a man on the moon but we can’t solve hot flushes, grrrr.
If men had hot flushes they’d have found a cure by now!!! ( I have to say that was my hubbys comment!)
I could hug you two, I thought I was just being paranoid & my BCN didnt really help THANKS xxx
You are welcome Mandy
Am sitting here in my jeans and bra. Not a pretty sight as I am 3 stone overweight but every time I put a top on, I am too hot. Feet are cold though. Any more questions re Tamoxifen and I am here. Have you had the feet and leg cramps yet???
Debbie
xx
No - it’s not just you - I have awful hot flushes and I sweat buckets especially at night. Then after a major flush/sweat I feel terribly cold. I’m continually throwing the duvet off and on again.
I had some flushes during chemo but they’re worse now I’m on Aromasin. My onc has given me Venlafaxine which have improved things slightly but not much.
Best wishes everyone
Anthi x
Hi Anthi
My consultant wrote to my doctor advising them to give me Venlafaxine and she said she wasn’t allowed to prescribe it.
Last night, I was awake almost all night. Freezing one minute, boiling the next. I never know if it is hot flushes or I am coming down with something. I got up at 3am, accidentally woke hubbie, started crying and said " I am never taking another tam pill again. Can’t stand this for another 4 years". The dog came to see what was going on and sat on me which set off another flush. Hubbie tried to hug me and I thought I was going to spontaneously combust. In the end, I went downstairs and read for a bit, laid on the settee in the nude. God what a sight. Today I feel ill
Oh the joys of womanhood. I am 45 and still having periods. I am worried I am going to have 5 years of a pretend menopause and then the real one. Perish the thought. I can’t even exercise as the bc nurse suggested (maybe she was hinting that I was fat) as I get too hot. Wait until she is going through menopause. I bet she comes over all sympathetic then…lol
Debbie
xx
I too am hot and cold throughout the night. I started tamoxifen Oct 18, and so far the flushes are getting worse although they are erratic - some days are not too bad at all, others are awful . I’m sitting recording the times of them at the moment and they’re coming every half hour. I struggle to get to sleep at night because I’m so hot, I wake several times with flushes and then I always wake early in the morning too cold. Often at this point my legs ache too.
Debbie - re your BC nurse suggesting exercise. I’ve noticed I sleep much better after I’ve been swimming - now there’s something you can do without getting too hot! However, running seems to make no difference. As I only swim once a week, I’m getting one half-decent night’s sleep a week at the moment.
Hi all
As you are all struggling with terrible flushes, you might be interested in this Breast Cancer Care factsheet as there is a list of helpful tips included that have been recommended by other women and may help you cope better with hot flushes and night sweats:
breastcancercare.org.uk/docs/menopausal_symptoms_jun_2006_0.pdf
I really hope it can offer some useful, effective advice for you all.
Kind regards.
Louise
Facilitator
Breast Cancer Care
Thanks Louise
Am going to print that off. Wonder why I have never seen it before??
Have a good Xmas
Debbie
xxx
I’ve had cold spells but I think it started before I took the Tamoxifen, it’s not the sort of cold you feel when you go outside but more like the shivers you feel when something frightening happens. I keep a throw on the sofa and end up with it over me most evenings. Haven’t had any hot flushes yet, thankfully.
Debbie I’m suffering from rad soreness and wish I could sit around with nothing on up top but my son still lives at home and the others have their own keys so I wouldn’t want them to walk in and be scarred for life at the sight of there also 3 stone overweight topless mother.
I hope things improve for you ladies
Caz x
Been there done that Caz. Burnt really badly under my breast. was v unpleasant. Nothing you can do really and it does get better. Sympathise, I really do. My worst day of it was Boxing Day last year and it spoilt Xmas but at least I was still alive!!!
Debbie
xxx
Louise,
Thanks for the factsheet - I hadn’t seen it either. Interesting to see stress can increase hot flushes. With Christmas just around the corner it’s hardly surprising we’re all suffering.
My sentiments exactly Debbie. I’m off to Leeds for the weekend to see my youngest, done the creaming, dressed the sore bits and taken a pain killer just in case. Determined to have a lovely weekend of shopping and nice meals. (not cooked by my daughter I might add).
Have a good weekend ladies.
Caz x
you too caz. Have a lovely time
debbie
xxx
Hi folks, no thrifty, i have not had the foot and leg cramps yet, maybe something else to look forward too!
have to say I’ve slightly lost faith in my BCN having started this thread, she was so definite that cold flushes were made up by me! I hate waking up at night all the time I’ve always been a really good sleeper, I think feeling like this is almost as bad as the chemo. Made me chuckle to read about the dog setting you off by sitting on you! My poor hubby keeps giving me sypathetic cuddles & like you it just sets me off to boiling point again. MY BCN says there is nothing that can be done about the effects of the Tamox. cos I am pre menopausal ( I’m 44) so they cant give me anything different , my periods stopped after my 4th chemo so to be honest I don’t really know where I am. I guess I need to persevere with it as this is only month one, hoping it will get better as my system gets used to it.
Mand xx
It does settle down Mandy. Sorry if I always sound so gloomy. The effects come in cycles for me now and seem to coincide with my periods which are now 8 weeks apart or were. This one hasn’t come yet. I fell asleep this afternoon on the settee as I got almost no sleep last night and woke up freezing. Ten minutes later I was again in the Tropics. I am going to take a Nytol tonight. I have found that taking one of the 25mg ones as opposed to the “One a Night” ones suits me best. They are the ones you get over pharmacist counter not the ones that have Herbal written on them. One of those and a cup of that new extra light Horlicks do help.
Stress does make them worse for me so am trying to stay calm 
Love
Debbie
xxx
Hi Mand
just reading through this thread. I have been on tamoxifen for just over 16months now.
Recently i have been trying to accept the side affects that come with tamoxifen, thinking if it keeps the spread of cancer away anything is worth it.
I could give a long list of things it has done to my body the flushes being just one aspect of the little white pill.
Everyone is right on here if it was a man who was having hot flushes a cure would have long since been found…
I just cannot work out the flushes, the summer was awful i just sweated so much so embarrassing. The winter as you say brings different problems. I gather if you are only just finishing the chemo your body may still be cold from the after affects.
Some days i will find i hardly have any flushes, last week i actually slept all night was quite shocked when i woke that it was 7am, first all night sleep in over 2years.Not one flush, then i had a few days hardly any and i was so excited. However it was short lived. Flushes for England most days and the usual awful nights sleep and flushes. I try and relax when i have them so deep breathin and it seems to help them go a bit quicker.
Good Luck
Rx
I have been taking Tamoxifen for nearly 2 months now. When I started taking it, for the first 2 to 3 weeks I was also feeling very cold at times and then getting hot flushes, usually a few times during the night. I am pleased to say that I don’t seem to get the flushes very often now or the cold feelings so it may have been whilst the Tamoxifen was working into the body. I did have a couple of hot flushes last week when I had my period which I now only get every few months. I hope I continue now without too many problems.
Sandra
I must admit I tell everyone that my thermostat has broken. I never used to suffer from the cold but now, when I do get cold, I find it really hard to warm up. It’s the same with getting hot - I find I can’t cool down very easily. Just another perk of this sh*tty disease.
Anne