Hi Annalou,
I’ve been troubled by spots but not in parallel with Tamoxifen. Have you heard of the alkaline diet? It sounds like you are already partially following it. You might want to increase your green veg and reduce acidic fruits - especially if you are drinking a lot of concentrated fruit juice. I read that only one portion of juice is considered one of the ‘five a day’ because too much acid is not healthy. Some fruits are more acidic than others - bananas, figs and melons are less acidic than red fruits for example. And raw pineapple contains lots of fibre and bromelain which are both good for digestion, which can have an effect on quality of skin.
Garlic and ginger are both considered to have natural anti-inflammatory, anti-biotic effects. Raw is best, but you could try taking an ‘allicin’ supplement instead of raw garlic. I take one called Allimax which I found at Holland and Barratt. It’s not expensive.
Manuka honey is another natural idea. You can eat it, or you can look for ‘Skintensive’ cream which is made by a company called Comvita. I found it in a herbalist shop and have seen it in some health shops that have a cosmetic department. I use this on spots and find it really helps. It might just be acting as a barrier to stop the spread of bacteria, or it might be doing more than that, I don’t know. It costs about £8 for a tube that will last quite a while.
It could be that you have developed ‘adult acne’ or ‘rosacea’ which is coinciding with the Tamoxifen but not necessarily caused by it. You could do a google search for a company called Bass and Boney and check out their theories and treatment for adult acne.
Whatever you do, I would recommend NOT trying ‘lymecyclene’ which is a synthetic hormone replacement for ‘tetracyclene’ which GPs often prescribe for women with adult acne. But in the small print it says there’s a slightly increased risk of bc with it. I truely wish I had taken the fine print seriously, as I believe lymecyclene may be a factor in my own diagnosis…
Are you taking any vitamin supplements? If you’ve been going through surgery, chemo and radiation then your body has taken a hammering and it could be your skin is showing that you need more nutrients despite your healthy diet. Selenium in particular is meant to be good for skin, also vitamin E, and B vitamins. I believe none of these conflict with Tamoxifen. Selenium you can also get from eating a few brazil nuts every day, if you are ok eating nuts.
It’s great to drink lots of water, but are you getting it straight from the kitchen tap? If so, you might want to invest in a water filtering jug, which claim to remove heavy metals and chlorine. Cheaper than continually buying bottled water. Still water is meant to be less acidic than carbonated water.
If you eat a lot of spicy foods like Indian or Mexican, you might want to try cutting them out for a while and see if that helps. Hot foods tend to be highly acidic.
There’s a theory on adult acne which says it’s caused by a lack of stomach acid (the only kind of acid you want in your body if you follow the alkaline diet advice). You could consider looking into a supplement called Betaine HCI which increases your digestive acids and enzymes.
Also think about trying the ‘Nelson’s Candida’ homeopathic treatment to improve your intestinal bacteria balance. It’s not expensive and I found it to be very effective to keep candida under control during chemo and afterwards. I found it amongst the women’s/menopause supplements in a large Boots, and have also seen it in some health shops.
Finally, I swear by a supplement called Salvestrol Gold which I’ve been taking since diagnosis. Like all natural things, there’s no double-blind trials offering scientific ‘proof’ but the theory behind it makes sense to me so I’m going to keep taking it as long as I live, as it is meant to be highly ‘anti-cancer’ and as a bonus it seems to do wonders for my skin. After diagnosis, I stopped taking lymecyclene and thought I would just have to put up with nasty spots. But I soon started taking Salvestrols and the improvement in my skin was astonishing and fast. They are not cheap though, at about £1 per day. I’m lucky that I can afford it - I buy supplements and good food rather than spend my money on meals out, etc.
That’s a lot of suggestions, sorry if it’s overload. Good luck with whatever you decide to try.