Had a terrible allergic reaction to Wockhardt when first starting Tamoxifen. That was the brand I was given and my face and eyes and throat puffed up with extreme itching. When I told my consultant he didn’t want to believe it was the Tamoxifen and said it was extremely rare to have a proper allergy to Tamoxifen and was very dismissive. The following month, I got a different brand of Tamoxifen and the problems went away. I just assumed my body had adjusted to the Tamoxifen (I didn’t realise there would be any difference in the brands) Then, just before Christmas I was given the Wockhardt brand again and my face eyes and neck puffed up on the same day and didn’t go down even on antihistamines. It then dawned on me that it was the Wockhardt Tamoxifen. I have tried everywhere to get my usual brand(Teva) but it is out of stock. I am really angry that my consultant dismissed my claims and didn’t suggest trying another brand.
My first three packs of Tamoxifen were Wockhart - provided by the hospital. My local chemist has given me everything but that one. I actually WANTED Wockhart as I was worried other brands might cause me probelms that I’d not had on W. It just goes to show we are all different, which is what makes it so hard to pin down what’s actually happening.
It is true that menopause does bring lots of conditions that appear to be SEs of Tamoxifen - (which is why so many women take HRT after all!) Our problem is that we are launched into these sypmtoms chemically rather than naturally, so it’s harder to accept. My onc was lovely she said “It’s what we’ve done to you” when I moaned about my aches & pains, brittle nails and dry hair.
If you have a serious concern about any brand of tamoxifen you could yellow card it - a scheme I read about on here, where you can report SEs of drugs. If enough people report the same SEs, maybe something will be done to change the way the drug is manufactured?! Here is the link:
I am just about to report to RelonChem about side effects using their Tamoxifen. This came about because I called TEVA as I wanted to take their brand which seems from some of your comments to be better with regards side effects. TEVA asked if I minded that I report to RelonChem so I said do it. I called TEVA again to enquire about availability but they said that they weren’t making them again until August 2014 so my prescription was Relon again. I got an email from Relon asking me to let them know about my side effects. Funny though that they don’t know about how women are really affected by taking their drugs. I wonder if they’ve ever done any research in the ‘real world’. Will let you know how I get on…
Well there’s a definite shortage of Teva tamoxifen. My local pharmacy can’t locate any so I’ve called around 15 pharmacies and no one has Teva in stock. I finally managed to find a lovely pharmacist who located me 38 Teva tablets and is going to see if he can locate anymore. It is crazy that we have to worry about brands and their side effects.