hot flushes
hot flushes am experiencing horrendous hot flushes and night sweats.
am on tamoxifen, therefore dont know if i can take herbal
supplements etc.
friends have recommended maca and things like that but am wary
about anything that interferes with the tamoxifen.
would much appreciate any help/advice as these are interfering
with my daily life, and of course my sleep!!
supplements Hi annieo,
I had horrendous nightsweats on tamoxifen, then my breast care nurse changed me to Nolvadex D which is still tamoxifen but in a purer form. Sometimes the bulking agents they use in the generic brand exaggerates symptoms. Since changing the nightsweats have stopped.(I was also having bad joint pain and mood swings-these too have stopped).
As for supplements I take a few and we are encouraged to take anything that will help such as omega 3 oils and evening primrose. It is a case of finding what suits you. If in doubt your breastcare nurse should be able to help you. A good book that helps is the cancer directory. published by the bristol cancer centre it has all the info. on supplements that may help.
Hope this helps
take care
Karenanne:-)
Hot Flushes Hi Annieo
I am also on tamoxifen. However, I have changes to Novadex D, still tamoxifen, but diffferent brands have different symptoms. I do have night sweats and hot flushes but they are not as bad as the original type of tamoxifen I got for the hospital - think it was APS.
It may be worth trying another brand of tamoxifen. I was also told that Red Sage is helpful. However, I haven’t taken this as I am very unsure about the estrogen content.
Hope that is helpful to you.
Regards
Jeannie
Me too… hot flushes whilst on Tamoxifen…great, arent they? Im not taking supplements at the mo , but have found the chillow pillow eases them & I ve recently bought a fan for my bedroom, which is very quiet & very effective. It has a remote control & a timer on, which is really usefull!
Think I’ll ask to be changed to Nolvadex from APS as well, as a few other women have mentioned theyve found the effects better.
Hello there I bet all the GPs in the country love us, here exchanging information and gaining knowledge that they would rather we did’nt have.
I also asked to be changed to Novadex D after reading the posts on here, my GP looked at me as if I was mad and said that all the brands are exactly the same but anyway agreed to give them to me. I expect they are more expensive.
In the old days we would have just taken what we were given, end of story, but the internet has put pay to that.
Jan
thanks appreciate the advice, spoke to my gp re changing to nolvadex this
evening, a script is waiting for me to collect tomorrow.
by the way she was talking, i think it is more expensive.
she gave me an appt to see her friday for a chat re the mood swings.
luckily she is very nice and nothing seems too much bother, then
again she is female! i used to see the male gp in our practice
but he wasnt very understanding.
also plan to look into the evening primrose etc
thanks again
hot fiushes Hi Iam new to the forums, I was also on tamoxifen and had horrible hot flushes. My doctor has now put me on aimidex ,at first it lessened the hot flushes, though I still had them. But over the last month they have got worst and are now just as bad. I cannot understand why they have come back, I wondered if anyone else has experienced this and if they know of anything that can help. I have started taking soya capsules and soya drinks in the hope it will help. Any advice would be much appreciated.
hot flushes Hi annieo been on one of the other chat forums and found advice on hot flushes from clouise. She posted about something called a COBBER, other people also heard about it. I have just receive mine today going to try it out. If you would like to know more about one, go onto google and type cobber loads of info. val
Have also been having horrendous hot flushes particularly at night don’t think I’ve ever had so many cool showers in my life! Have tried venlaflexine which didn’t offer much relief and my oncologist has suggested Red Clover apparantly its the only herbal prep that hormone positive women can take…taken it for two weeks without much joy, but will persevere.
Apparantly accupuncture is extremely effective and I’ve been waiting two months for an appt at the hospital so hopefully any day now!!
hot flushes I too have and am having hot flushes but am on Arimadex.One must be careful with some alternative remedies --cos of the oestrogen problem .Evening Primrose is ok and Acupuncture can help.I wonder if they get better or they go away with time??anyone know??The thought of having to put up with them for ever horrifies me!that is if i dont come off tablet in 5 yrs time.Trisha
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hot flushes Hi Annieo, I am not on the same medication as you but I take Arimidex and also had the most awful hot flushes. My consultant suggested a half dose of the anti depressent venlafaxine. 37.5 mg per day. This works great, hasn’t stopped them altogether but I can now sleep through the night and can cope with the daytime ones. I am also hearing a great deal of mixed reports on acupuncture so intend to ask about it at my next check up. Will let you know what they say. Hope this helps, regards, Eileen
Silk Duvet for flushes I recently got a lovely silk filled duvet and it’s cooler and lighter than down ones. Cheaper too. They are sold by Mandarina Textiles (Google Mandarina silk duvets) and my 3.0 tog one was just under £100. (I have nothing to do with the company!) They also do 4.5 tog and warmer for winter.
I too am on Venlafaxine for flushes also red clover and a starflower oil capsule daily. I don’ t know if they help or not. I was very depressed after my BC finished, unlike those irritating women who are full of joy and run half marathons. Am getting over it slowly. Ignore me, it’s just envy! Good luck for the future.
Sue
Thermo regulated duvets Really can’t say if this works, but it was in a mail order catalogue that came in: something called Climarelle, made by Dacron, which apparently draws heat as the body’s temperature rises into itself, stores it, and then releases the heat when the body temperature drops. Have a look at www.telegraphliving.co.uk/summer. Not cheap!
I have been getting flushes for afew months now (pre-meno) due to chemo, however they started to get worse and then even more stronger since starting tamoxifen. After i finished chemo i started taking EPO again ( taken it for the last 20 years but stoped in chemo as i couldnt face swallowing them) but only half my normal amount (1 gram) i uped it to 2grm afew weeks ago and can honestly say i havent noticed any hotflushes - maybe a couple of mild ones during the day (but hardly noticed) but they have stopped at night !!! well they aren´t waking me up ! My onc said its ok to take them because they dont contain phyto-oestrgen so happy days.
I would like to add that i have always taken them at night because they are oil based they take abit longer to get into the system and taken at night when you wont be eating gives them longer in your system than being flushed through quickly with food .
Hi Pineapple Thanks for the advise re EPO , might get some today. Ive heard they tend to make you put weight on, does anyone know if this is common with EPO?
My friend found she put weight on with EPO, Ididn’t! I haven’t really found any medication that has helped, but I have finally got an appt for accupuncture this week so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it has some effect!