Six year ago I fractured my spine and was diagnosed with Osteoporosis for which the Consultant prescribed RALOXIFENE. Not long after I started taking the drug the surgery changed it and when I questioned why they said the new drug was exactly the same for my Ostoeporosis only under a different name. I accepted that explanation but unknown to me it was not the same drug at all. Important cancer trial results were published in the 1990’s including the STAR TRIAL which proved that RALOXIFENE was as good as Tamoxifen for helping to prevent and treat Breast Cancer and with fewere side effedts - THE BIG DIFFERENCE BEING THAT TAMOXIFEN IS CHEAP AND RALOXIFENE IS MORE EXPENSIVE.
For the past six years I have been denied the drug RALOXIFENE which I was supposed to be having and was told to have by the Consultant who diagnosed Osteoprosis. I believe that by changing that drug to another the GPs have directly influenced the development of my breast cancer. As RALOXIFENE was known to combat the growth of cancer cells as well as strengthening my bones why was it withdrawn in my case ? I am post menopausal and in the group of women most likely to get breast cancer. The cost of my breast cancer to the NHS must be far in excess of the cost of the original preventative drug not to mention the personal cost in anxiety, lost work, lost life style and all the pain and inconvenience of the tests, side effects, surgery and long term treatment and monitoring.
How many women have also been taken off Raloxifene for Osteoprosis and denied the likely preventative qualities of that drug with regard to breast cancer and possibly other cancers ?
I was not bitter or more upset by getting breast cancer than other women but now I feel betrayed by the doctors who were supposed to be looking after my health. I was not told the truth about having Raloxifene withdrawn nor was I told that the drug given to me as a replacement did not have the ability to fight or possibly kill off offending cancer cells. The doctors must have been aware of the STAR and other trials which clearly proved that Raloxifene is effective against breast cancer. Had I continued to have Raloxifene I might not have developed cancer.
J.Clare