Hve been advised by Oncologist at the Beatson that I should stop Tamoxifen 3 weeks prior to surgery and start again three weeks after. You can guess that I am now fearful as my security blanket is going to be taken away for 6 weeks and hope that this doesn’t raise the risks of recurrence by too much.
Tina
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Hi Tina,
It is good to have got some clarification and I am sure that the oncolgist wouldn’t tell you stop for six weeks if he/she thought it would put you at undue risk. It is one of those judgement calls - is the risk of a DVT which could be really dangerous, greater or less than the increase in risk of recurrence of stopping Tamoxifen for six weeks. I’m sure I read somewhere that Tamoxifen remains effetcive for a few weeks after you stop taking it, so hopefully the loss of benefit will be really tiny. There may well be factors I’m not aware of that they take into account in making that call.
I really hope all goes well with your procedure and you get a good result.
Hi RevCat,
I rang my BCN and she was able to tell me that the Tamoxifen takes two to three weeks to clear from the system. She also said that the risk of a recurrence due to stopping the drug for 6weeks was minimal.
Thank you for your kind words, I will let you know how I get on.
Tina
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Hello
I am awaiting a further recon op in February and have been advised by PS to come off tamoxifen 6 weeks pre op. This was also the case with my previous operation in July 2012 my PS again told me to stop tamoxifen 6 weeks pre op as the NICE guidelines had been revised, previous to that when I had my initial reconstruction op. I just came off tamoxifen for 2 weeks.
I usually go back on tamoxifen 2-3 weeks post operation.
Hope your operation all goes well.
Jude