my Breast nurse recommended i take evening primrose for this but didnot say how much
Does anyone else take evening primrose and what dosage?
Jools
Hi Jools
I got mine from the health shop. They are 1000mg, but is says you can take 1-2 with food up to a maximum of 6!
I just take 1 in a morning but I suppose you can take more. Maybe best to check with your BC nurse . Would be interested to know myself.
Take care
Norma X
Hi Jools. I take 1000mg a day and have done for about 20 years as I used to have psoriasis. My consultant says that is fine. Not sure it helps or not with hot flushes but the GOOD THING about Tamoxifen is that my psoriasis has disappeared. ( Had to put that in capitals as it is one positive thing, apart from helping cancer not to come back Obviously ).
Debbie
xx
Hi everyone,
I have posted on various threads about the dreaded flushes and sweats, have had one holiday ruined by sweating so much had to take a towel and fresh underwear everywhere with me. I USED to have up to 3 flushes and sweats and hour, I felt i had no quality of life whatsoever as every time i moved it seemed to cause a sweat. the flushes were a whole lot different to the sweats, flushes were my body going hot but sweats made me literally drip from my head down to my feet and make me suffer extreme nausea afterwards.
I tried sage, starflower oil, confiance tablets, vitamin e, omega 3 you name it i tried it, I would have remortgaged the house just to stop them and paid anything. I eventually went to my GP with an article I had read in Aoema Life magazine about the sweats and flushes suggesting several medical remedies. I was put on Clonidine 25mg and it has revolutionised my life and pray it continues to do so. I started off on 3 tablets a day which had no effect so increased to 3 tablets 3 times a day, nine in all. I had tried all the herbal and vitamin rememdies all to no avail and just was desperate to have some of my life back again.
I would love to tell you that the flushes have stopped but can’t lie, I now have perhaps one flush every 1 to 2 hours but it is nothing like the old severe ones and if i am busy don’t really notice it, i just carry on with what i am doing and let it pass. The sweats where i was dripping i have perhaps 3 a day and usually when i am tired and perhaps doing too much.
Anyway it has allowed me to start a little part time job in my local Edinburgh Wool shop for 10 hours a week and while i am there they do not seem so bad at all, perhaps because i have some normality in my life after 6 months of hell. I know most people want to try the natural approach, i was one of them but after 3 months of dripping everywhere and over everyone i just had to try the old fashioned medical approach. If i need to up the dose again i can as my doctor says they are very safe to take. There are other things that people have taken too which work quite well, megace, anti depressants etc., all i say is do not suffer there is help out there and we have all suffered enough anyway.
Love to you all
Suzy
Hi
I also take Clonidine but about 16 a day. They DO help because I had 24 hours without them and noticed the difference but this week it has been brutal, even the thought of a hot drink is enough to burn me up.
Various anti-depressants have, in small doses, been known to help a lot and also a medication (used by Olivia07) has been recommended - Pro Banthine.
Also worth getting a Chillow to have on your back - good investment.
I’m on Arimidex and can say there was no change in the hotties when going from Tamoxifen to Arimidex.
Drives you nuts sometimes.
D
Hi Suzy
Glad you are getting some respite at last. Mine weren’t as bad as yours and have settled a bit but I have now discovered that I get them in cycles so I can cope as I know that they will be bad for a few weeks then I will get 6 weeks of only occasional ones. My periods are now exactly 8 weeks apart and I get all the usual syptoms along with the flushes
Debbie
xxx
Hi Debbie,
I find it amazing how these side effects differ from person to person, haveing them in cycles is amazing, not sure if that is convenient or not. I was at work today for 4 hours and had 2 flushes the young girl beside me on the till just handed me my fan and let me get on with it, my face apparently goes red as does my chest! I was in total despair only 3 months ago, so for things to have improved as they have is wonderful, i can cope with what i am having at the moment and if they get worse can up my dosage of Clonidine. Daft though it may seem when i was standing at the bus stop tonight freezing waiting for my bus i would have loved one then but it did not happen!
For anyone out there really suffering there really is a light at the end of the tunnel it is just perservering until you reach that light.
All the best to everyone
Hi Suzzanne
Isn’t it ironic? My husband drives to work early on a morning and, when I need the car, I go also to drive it home. Every morning the heater is up and down…up and down… on and off…window open…window shut…air con on…off etc. My husband has gone without coats for years as he doesn’t feel the cold and now he does and I don’t. This week, however, I have had two attacks of what has felt like the shakes you get when coming round from an op. Once after a row with my husband and once whilst in the dentists chair and now, when I feel the cold, boy do I feel the cold. You can’t win can you??
Love
Debbie
Hi Debbie,
I do believe that a bit of stress however small does bring on an attack of the sweats, I am fed up of my husband saying to me “stop getting yourself worked up, thats whats making the sweats worse”! My 25stone husband always goes out without a coat no matter if it is sub zero temperatures outside, says he has enough lagging to keep warm! I used to be the one frozen and wearing two vests, tights socks mittens the lot, now there is a fan in each and every room, yes i even have one in the littlest room of the houseand now he complains about the draught coming from my fan making him cold! We just can’t win can we, i laughed so much when i read about your car temps.
With all the traffic going into our town at the moment i am using the bus and sure enough with my big coat on, i am freezing waiting for the bus, once i get on sure enough my flush starts, out comes the hand held fan, you can’t imagine the looks i get when i turn it on and it starts buzzing! I wonder what they think i am using!!!
My clothes are on and off faster than a stripper on speed! I have to layer now but like i said before they are now after medical treatment starting to ease off, still get them but am living with and coping with them at last, never thought i would ever say that!
Love to everyone
Suzy
“My clothes are on and off faster than a stripper on speed!”
Suzzanne that is so funny. Must remember that one. Had a v hormonal moment earlier and cried my eyes out over a box of recycling would you believe. My poor kind husband was trying to comfort me by hugging me while I sobbed down his shrt. Trouble was he was making me hotter so I kept pushing him away. Also I have jaw pain at the moment and I am 5ft 5 and he is 6ft 2. He kept chucking me under the chin to raise my head so he could kiss me. I was shouting " I’m too hot. Don’t touch me." Then “Owwwww. You’ve just hurt my jaw!!!” Stress def makes it worse…
Take care
Debbie
xxx
I can’t take it coz I am epileptic. Just mentioning it in case any of you out there are too.
Sleep, whats sleep. I need a full 8 hrs, I’d give anything for a full nights sleep, not had 1 for a whole yr, hot flushes rule my life.
Irene
Irene
I have read some of your other posts. You really seem to be having a tough time. I hope things improve soon for you. I am finding that my periods are every 8 weeks but that I have pmt symptoms most of the time. I can’t stop crying most days but have stopped anti depressants as I was so tired and my eyes were constantly blurred. I am v short sighted anyway and I found the blurring to be ruining my quality of life. I couldn’t read, knit or watch tv without constantly blinking. I feel tons better now apart from the spontaneous bursting into tears. If you see someone in Hartlepool weeping in the fruit and veg aisle, it will be me. I too can’t sleep. I get a bit if I take a half dose Nytol but don’t like popping pills all the time. Also, I have really awful and vivid dreams. In last night’s, the bc nurse was telling me I was about to die and was forcing pills down my throat but she wouldn’t give me any water, then my hair fell out and I haven’t even had chemo so can’t blame chemo brain.
Anyway
Hope you feel better soon
Love
Debbie
I’ve been on tamoxifen for about 6 weeks now. I’m finding my hot flushes are very erratic - some days are not too bad, others much worse. The same goes for sleeping. I haven’t yet worked out if there is any pattern to it, or if anything in particular triggers the bad days. What do others think about the things that trigger bad flushes? At first it seemed to be alcohol but not anymore which is a relief as I need the occasional glass of wine to get through the week.
Especially now, as my hand has swollen and it looks like I’ve developed lymphoedema. You know, a lot of the time it’s not the cancer that’s the problem, but the side effects of the treatment. On top of that I got up to blocked drains this morning and hubbie has gone away on business for the week… I’ve got sewage over the path outside my back door. Lovely!
Just as well I’ve decided not to stress about Christmas this year.
Keeping my fingers crossed that it’s not lymphoedema Road runner. Don’t know your dx etc so can’t really comment but fingers crossed. Re drains, I live near the sea and there is a landfill site quite close and a water treatment plant nearby. The smell recently has been horrendous. When it gets in the car you are stuck with it for ages so I can really sympathise. Re stress…its sooooo hard. Our central heating broke down recently and I felt like going to bed and staying there. I knew that it wasn’t even a difficult fault as it was just the pump and it has gone before but I feel it is so hard to deal with life these days. can’t get xmassy at all. Wish I could have egg and chips for xmas dinner and fast forward to Spring…lol
Take care
Debbie
I love the idea of egg & chips for xmas dinner! Don’t think my family would be too keen though.
Some great humour in here girls, really made me laugh. My husband and I call it ’ having a hot one’ and he laughs when I strip all my clothes off in the evening and sit here in the nude watching telly, only to start putting them back 10 mins later. I just really wanted to give everyone heart though, as 2 years on, they are many times fewer and I very rarely wake in the night with them now, and I was waking every 2 hours at first. So take heart, they do get better and I don’t think its any different on Arimidex or Tax, and I;ve taken both.
Good luck 
Grace
Oh Grace
What a picture - and I thought it was only me who does things like that - quite worrying when the doorbell rings though !
Best wishes
Maddy xxxx
So funny grace. I have been doing that this morning. I often just wear my bra on top. Hubbie and son are not impressed but I feel like I am going to explode if I don’t get my clothes off NOW. I can’t really call it a flush either. I am just really hot v quickly. Glad it improves. Thanks Grace
debbie
xxx