I’m 51 and up until October 24 had been on HRT for 5 years - oestrogel, mirena coil and testosterone - I had not had a period in all that time. I had assumed I was in full blown early menopause (family history of this).
I started tamoxifen 8 days ago and this morning was surprised by a period. Is this normal? Should I be concerned?
Were you having periods before you went on hrt? Not impossible that you haven’t gone through menopause, you cannot know on hrt either way. I was still having periods at 52 and went on tamoxifen, had 2 periods while on it - though lighter and at altered times. Came off it after 3 months and had a couple of periods since, but have just missed one, and started hot flushing at night, so think Im menopausal or perimenopausal now at the grand age of 53.Not got other side-effects I had on tamoxifen though, that lead me to stopping it.
Could be normal for you, just keep an eye on it for now, see how you go. Tamoxifen can induce ovulation sometimes, its what it was originally developed for.
Hi,
I was having periods pre HRT but they were very heavy and irregular.
I’ll keep an eye like you say but I wasn’t expecting them to return after so long so was a bit of a shock.
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Hi kmck
Thanks for posting.
It can be difficult to know what’s normal and when to be concerned after starting tamoxifen.
As @entropy says it’s possible that you haven’t gone through the menopause yet. It’s normal not to have had a period while taking the hormones you were on until October 2024, but this doesn’t indicate you were menopausal as the drugs would have had the effect of stopping your periods.
Although tamoxifen doesn’t cause the menopause it can affect your periods. Some people may have regular periods while other may notice they are irregular or lighter. As @entropy also says in her post this may be normal, but do let your breast care nurse know as any unusual bleeding should be reported as tamoxifen can have an effect on the lining of the womb.
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