A friend of mine was on it for nearly 5 years after having one side removed, she was still having periods and was told this was ok, when she went for a check she was told they found cancer on the other side, she was told that tamoxifen hadn’t worked and needed to have the otherside removed, she is now ok 7 years on and no medication?
Hi Totally Confused,
I have spotted your replies on several Tamoxifen threads, and guess you are feeling very bewildered about this drug and whether or not it’s right for you, if offered.
I have no medical qualifications to permit me to respond to your description of your friend’s experience, but it did make me wonder a few things, which I’ll share. You probably know by now that breast cancer is an ‘umbrella term’ for a whole variety of forms of cancer, and that it is actually very unpredictable and badly behaved. There are many possible reasons why a cancer might not (seem to) be stopped by Tamoxifen. If it is ER+ and/or PR+ then Tamoxifen is often prescribed. But cancer is cunning and can ‘flip’ from positive to negative - it’s not that the drug does not work, but the cancer cheats. Despite that, it sounds as if your friend had a new primary rather than a recurrence, and that her new primary was probably what is called ‘triple negative’ - so would not be treated with Tamoxifen, Aromoatase Inhibitors or Herceptin. In other words, it’s not that the Tamoxifen failed or that the cancer ‘cheated’, just that the new one was a different kind. If this is the case, the Tamoxifen could not have worked, because there was nothing for it to work on.
Tamoxifen is an ‘old’ drug but a very effective and dependable one which is taken by thousands of women very successfully. Alas with cancer there no guarantees. Most of us who take it see it as a ‘no-brainer’ but there a very few for whom it makes life intolerable, and they stop. I think you best bet is to talk this over with your oncologist, explaining why you are confused/reticent to take the drug, and see how that goes.