Strange feeling 'down below'

Public Archive
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girls, bit embarrasing but thought someone might have similar thing.

Started tamoxifen April this year. All ok - periods returned after nearly a year next month. day to day- have to wear pantyliner as quite uncomfortable at times but nothing to worry about. have weird sharp needle type feeling down below when I wipe myself and feels like I have a needle stuck there - no probs when passing urine though. not itching. just tender - anything to do with tablets I wonder ?

us girls eh??!!

Vez

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Hi Vez. it may be due to thinning of the tissues down below. The tissues thin in that area. i have noticed that when I go for a wee it is sometimes very slow and tender feeling. Have been on Tamoxifen for two years mostly and have noticed a lot of change down there. i think it is very likely that it is the Tamoxifen and lack of oestrogen. Lack of oestrogen changes everything. I hope it all settles down. Think it will. good luck.

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That sounds spot on Grace. I also feel tender and dry and pelvic floor muscle have gone to pot. Have to clench everything when I sneeze and cough which is quite embarrassing as it doesn’t always work. The download on this site about the menopause is excellent and I can’t for the life of me work out why we aren’t given it along with the Tamoxifen leaflet. Certainly would have answered a lot of my questions in the early days. 13 months on now.

Debbie
xx

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Hi all

Here’s the link to the Breast Cancer Care menopause information Debbie has mentioned:

breastcancercare.org.uk/docs/menopausal_symptoms_jun_2006_0.pdf

Best wishes
Lucy

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Thanks Lucy
I have just mentioned it to Babyboo and put the link in but don’t know if I have done it right. Any idea why they don’t give this out at the hospital with the Tamoxifen leaflet? It answers so many questions…even suggests changing the brand of Tamoxifen if you have problems. I have phoned my bc nurse a few times in the last year with questions which this leaflet has since answered.

Debbie
xx

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Hi Debbie

The Breast Cancer Care publications are available for any department/hospital to order and provide and some do publish their own advice and information leaflets. We do try hard to publicise our publications but it is up the individual departments whether they use them. Thanks for the feedback, I’ll pass your comments on to the relevant team.

Best wishes
Lucy

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I want to suggest to my bc nurse that she orders the ones on menopausal symptoms and diet as I didn’t know about link with plant oestrogens until I innocently asked if it was ok to continue drinking soya milk. Also I feel very strongly that, had I had the Menopausal one, I would have coped much better with the Tamoxifen treatment than I have done as it explains all the problems I have had. I try not to ring the bc nurse much as I know they are busy but twice I have rung her in a state because I haven’t been able to stop crying. Had I known it was normal menopausal symptoms, I would have been more reassured. I don’t know how to approach my bc nurse with this subject without offending her but I really feel that the advice and information I was given, a sheet on Tamoxifen and one on Lymphoedema when I was having rads, was really inadequate.

Debbie