Hi
(I’ve also just posted this on the radiotherapy section - hope that’s ok?)
I just wondered whether it is any better to have my radiotherapy over before starting on tamoxifen?
I’m due to have 15 rad treatments - not got a date but likely to be early/mid September.
I’ve also been prescribed tamoxifen which I could start straight away, but the onc said it’s OK to wait till after my holiday which would mean I started it on 4th September.
I know I can’t put tamox off forever, but the thought of having hot flushes and mood swings as well as a sore/itchy breast and tiredness just is not very appealing!
Also I’m a peripatetic teacher so will be back full time to a busy busy work schedule in September.
Anyone with any advice - it would be so welcome.
Thanks
Susie.
xx
Initially, my surgeon said that hormone therapy would be given after radiotherapy as he suggested the rads worked better that way. However, my oncologist said the opposite and pointed out that SHE was the oncologist. She was going to wait until I actually started rads because I had just come off HRT and was suffering with poor sleep, etc, but the wait was so long (11 weeks) that I asked to start sooner. I felt happier knowing that I was having some form of treatment and so I ended up taking Letrozole at the same time as rads. I don’t think it made any difference to the symptoms either way, except I did feel a bit nauseous and couldn’t really say whether it was the tablets or the rads causing it.
Ann x
My surgeon wanted me to start on hormone therapy straight away but the actual start was delayed due to a cock-up with blood test results to confirm if I was pre or post menopausal. In the end, I started Tamoxifen a couple of weeks before radiotherapy. Susie, just like you I initially pondered on whether I could delay the start, but in the long wait for my blood test results and the rad start date, I started to feel desperately vulnerable and unprotected. Silly, but there you are. I was very glad to be given that prescription by the Oncologist with an instruction to fill it and take the first one that very day. As to the SEs of Tamoxifen, I take mine at night (following suggestion read on these forums) and am not (yet) having the level of difficulties others have experienced. It may be co-incidence, of course, but I’m not changing to try and find out!
Good luck with both, hope it all goes well for you.
Debs x
Hi Susie
I started my Tamoxifen at the same time as the radiotherapy with no ill effects. Please believe that you may not get ANY of the side effects of Tamoxifen…they are not inevitable. I was on it for 2 years and just been switched over to Aromasin (recommended treatment for post menopausal women). I was well on Tamoxifen. I did gain about half a stone which I have not been able to shift despite a lot of exercise and healthy eating, but, I feel great! I am not gaining weight, so that is good, also. Just for interest, I felt very tired during my first year after treatment. My doctor was a bit defeatist and said ‘you will probaly feel like this from now on, so try and get used to it’. I did not accept this and got some alternative therapy and did as much gentle exercise as I could without exhausting myself. He was wrong because two years later I am feeling energetic and just great. I think our bodies just need time to recover, so be patient. Hope this helps!
Jxx(Winchester Babe)
I had my radiotherapy last year and was told by the Oncologist to start Tamoxifen the same day as I started radiotherapy. I had no problems with radiotherapy, breast went just slightly pink but nothing worth complaining about. I have hot flushes and nights sweats, but again nothing too drastic - I have friends who have worse flushes and they are not on Tamoxifen! My opinion earlier you start earlier you finish.
Hope this helps, good luck
Sue xx
i started my tamoxifen before radiotherapy the first time and after radiotherapy the second time… never made any difference eitehr way… just didnt want to restart tamox the second time because i was going on hols and had some side effects a few weeks after starting the first time and didnt want it happen when i was in new york
lulu x
Hi
Thank you all so much for your experiences and reassurances.I will remember that I may not get any or all of the tamoxifen side effects and that radiotherapy may not be too bad. It sounds as if it is all copable with.
I have also been thinking the sooner I start the sooner I finish - but I will definitely wait till to start tamox after our holiday anyway - just in case!
I have just started going to the gym again after my WLE in June (and coincidentally a foot injury which needed rest) and feel more positive that I can get back to exercise and keeping fit. Weight gain is a constant issue for me (like many of us) so i’ll have to make even more effort to keep it at bay. I’ve found since my op I’ve felt far less like having alcohol though I’m usually partial to a nice beer or red wine. Has this happened to you guys?
Anyway, thanks again - I do feel reassured that it’s not all bad and I’ll be able to get through this to keep the bc at bay.
All the best to you all in your treatments,
Susie.
xx
Hi Susie,
I had the same dilemna as you and was going to wait till the end of my radio before starting the tamoxifen…but in the end as was feeling fine during the radiotherapy started a few days before it finished. Like you I thought the sooner I start it…I was dreading taking the tamoxifen after reading about so many side effects but so far has not been too bad at all. Was having hot flushes anyway since chemo and they haven’t got any worse so far, been on it about 5 weeks now.
Good luck
xx
hi,
i ( hopefully) have my last chemo next thursday, and have been told i will start tamoxifen 4 weeks after, and my rads will be about 4 weeks after too. I was told chemo and tamoxifen can react together as can chemo and rads, which is why they arent together, but that no reaction between rads and tamox so fine to start both as soon as got over the last chemo. Was a bit shocked actually as the way treatment had been discussed i had assumed it would all be consecutive, ie operation, chemo, rads then tamoxifen. Was looking forward to a month or so without drugs in my bloodstream,. but hey ho!