Tamoxifen and side effects

Going through breast cancer treatment Hormone therapy
1

Hello all,

well, I feel I have now posted under every category!!

Im after some advice and support regarding tamoxifen. 
ive noticed that I am putting on weight , dispute eating air and dust. I have cut out dairy and I can only eat certain things anyway following issues from a previous cancer and having my gall bladder removed :frowning_face: . I can cope with loosing my boobs and even still being bald as the tamoxifen has slowed down my hair coming back- but I really can’t bare to put weight on……think it’s because you see every increase and lump and bump when your looking down on yourself from above……boobs covered the overall landscape ! 

I try to exercise - but the fatigue limits what I can do. I also get low blood sugar and low blood pressure, so tend to grab a biscuit when that happens to stop the shakes.p, which I know is not ideal but need a quick fix.

Most days I have diarrhoea……on occasion it then goes to constipation, so I literally don’t know where I am. That’s not ideal either for weight gain as I think I’m retaining water?

It’s been a rough few months as developed neutropenia sepsis during chemo, so they had to put a stop on further chemo as it was deemed to dangerous to my life. Then I need up in hospital again after being on the tamoxifen for a couple of weeks due to side effects. In my head - tamoxifen is my only life line now chemo has stopped. I will be on it for a while yet and then a different type after that, so just need some advice on how to cope with some of the side effects please if anyone is kind enough to share :purple_heart:

2

Hi, poor you, that’s a lot.

I’ve been on tamoxifen for 4.5 years now, and all I can say is, you learn to live with the side effects…

They’ll continue, but not all at the same time, not all with the same seriousness. I’ve had periods where muscle pain is harsh, others when I’m almost back to normal; periods with really bad night sweats, others where I go weeks without one; periods with mood all over the place, others when I almost feel normal…

Everyone suffers differently (you describe many effects I never had), and I remember thinking when I first started taking it, that I just couldn’t cope with the side effects for the full 5 years: guess what, you cope, you manage, a day at a time.

One suggestion, though: try changing the tamoxifen brand, it does make a difference (but it takes a while to notice, a couple of weeks). If you read one of the other threads, many of us talk about that, how the different “other ingredients” from different brands interact differently with our bodies.