Hello ladies, I’m 32 years old was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 29, got a lumpectomy and radiation in 2015 and have been on 20 mg tamoxifen for 3 years. I’m really contemplating on quitting the drug. I’ve beber felt worse. I’m 5’0 ft tall and used to weigh 109. I’ve gained about 15 pounds and these emotional breakdowns don’t seem to end. I’d like to know if you ladies know the good and the bad of coming off the tamoxifen. If the mood swings are worth it? Or what drugs I can take for the weigh gain or the mental disfunction I seem to have ever week. Please help!
After having a lumpectomy and 20 radiation treatments in 2013, I then started 20mg of tamoxifen Jan 2014 so on Dec 21 2018 I took my last pill and the side effects I am having is unreal. I expected so much but wasn’t ready for this. I went through some side effects when I first started but they went away fairly soon except for the hot flushes they stayed with me both day and night with too many to count through out the day and experienced the vaginial itching my last 10 months but over the counter cream helped with that. Now that I’m finished after 5 years I wasn’t expecting these side effects to be worse that when I started. My emotions are through the roof I can cry at the drop of a dime, I can get irritated on the least little things, and I thought the hot flushes were bad before…Not compared to what I am having now. I pray this won’t last too long as I am not wanting to take any more medication if I can do it on my own and with God on my side I know I will. If you have any suggestions for me please advise as I am open to listening to them.
My radiation oncologist nurse suggests that I take an anti depressant with tamoxifen and what a blessing it was. It decreased the side effects and i was able to stay on tamoxifen for 7 years. I really didn’t have any issues except having vaginal dryness after 6 years of being on the medicine. Less than a year ago I was taken off tamoxifen and all is back to normal except now my chin is breaking out with acne. I’ve had a complete hysterectomy so I’m not sure what’s going on. You might as for an anti depressant to see if that helps. Good luck!