Part of my treatment includes taking estrogen reduction medication and it’s really getting me down. Originally I was on Letrozole for 3 months, but the joint pain was so severe I became bed bound. My consultant swapped me to Tamoxifen which I’ve been taking for 8 months and I’ve been suffering from night sweats and disturbed sleep. I spoke to my consultant and he said ask the pharmacist to change brands and see if they improve. I did that and my pharmacist told me that they can’t order in specific brands but they would try and put aside alternative brands as they come in. Eventually I’ve found a brand that suits me better, the symptoms are not completely gone but in comparison are hugely improved. However, the pharmacist has reiterated they can’t order specify brands on their orders and indeed I’ve ended up with a brand that has set be back with extreme side effects. I’ve only had a couple of hours sleep each night for the past week and I’m exhausted and at my wits end. I don’t know what to do as the breast care team are adamant that the pharmacist should be able to get the brand that suits me best. Any advice is greatly appreciated, thank you
Hi am sorry your having to go through this.
I’ve been taking Anastrozole for 7 weeks with no side effects so I asked my GP if he would put a note on my records so that I was always given the same brand , like you I was told no despite the medicine order line telling me it can be done .
I’ve just requested more meds , if they are a different brand and I can’t tolerate them I’m going to ask the oncologist of he can do anything . Would you be able to contact your oncologist and ask him ? x
hello - My Gp also has added the brand name to my prescription for the same reason… but, as you have found out, seems to make no difference in as much the chemists do not order specific brands. I rang around about 8 chemists until I found my brand - but exhausting thinking will have to do this every time and may not find it either!
xx
At our support group we were advised to try a smaller independent Pharmacy as if you commit to ordering from them they can sometimes commit to getting a specific brand for you whereas the bigger ones are bulk buying for very many people so they need to use the company that can fulfil a large order . You could try taking it a different time of day - forgive me if you’ve tried this already. I stopped taking Anastrozole eventually due to a combination of severe side effects and very low predicted benefit - sleep / night sweats were not a problem but I was constantly dripping with sweat in the evening and taking it at night instead of morning did help with that particular problem and didn’t aggravate my other side effects xx
Thanks for your message. I have a telephone appointment in a couple of weeks so will ask then 
I’m sorry you have to do this, it really is hard work both physically and emotionally dealing with the day to day life x
Thank you for your message. Unfortunately our small independent chemist closed down earlier this year so I ended up using the local hospital one hoping that because it was linked to the hospital they’d be able to help but it seems not. I’ve found that I try different times of day, etc but because every month I get a different brand it doesn’t help. Hope my oncologist can give me some more support when I speak to him in a couple of weeks x
I’m sorry that you’re having so many problems I hope you find some relief soon xx
My pharmacy is great and always get me in the brand that suits me . I did get my prescription originally from the pharmacy at my GP practice but they struggled to get the correct brand so I called around pharmacies and found one that could supply the brand I wanted and so far it’s not been a problem.
Hi @kaz5 ,
It sounds like this is a difficult situation that you and others are experiencing in getting a specific brand of hormone treatment as @butterfly and @jolou mention it has been a problem for them too.
You mention you had been struggling with initially letrozole and having switched to tamoxifen you have found that the side effects have improved with a specific brand but are unfortunately having difficulties accessing the same brand and now on a different brand you are struggling again. Even though others have tried it maybe worth contacting your GP to see if they can help request the brand of tamoxifen that suits you.
As @Pitters says they rang around different pharmacies to get the brand that suited them and found one that could supply them with what they wanted and so far, has not been a problem. This does sound exhausting and frustrating but worth a try.
You may find asking the consultant when you speak to them at your upcoming appointment to write to your GP explaining why it’s helpful for you to have a specific brand stated on the prescription.
You may find our upcoming Speaker live session on Understanding Hormone Treatments of interest.
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