TS i sat on mine for 3wks! was so worried about feeling ill but to be fair I have had very little SE’s and certainly nothing that has made my life difficult.
Give yourself a break if thats what you want but try not to be too scared of it as you maybe just fine.
S
thank you, I just feel so full of the last chemo, may just concentre on geting back on form this week, then I will go for it
take care , keep warmxx
I think thats a good idea. i wanted to feel well before i took them so i knew was SE’s they caused. i also wanted to feel a little but more like me before i started being medicated again!
good luck
S
hi - truffleshuffle - my tamoxifen is Wockhardt and they have been fine - no SEs at all
I’m also on venlafaxine (just been on it for a month so far - prescribed for anxiety/Ocd)- first pack was Alventa XL but this new pack is Vie Pax - my dose is now upped to 2x75mg from the original 75 mg a day…so far so good.
Just over 2 years ago I started on Tamoxifen and was the brand stocked by Boots at that time was CPS. Then I switched to Nolvadex after 12 months (no remarkable improvements in side effects, I have to say).
Then onc switched me to Arimidex last April. I stuck it out for 3 months, but the aches and other side effects were just too bad to tolerate, so I went back on Tamoxifen.
The brand stocked by Boots was Wockhardt, and I have to say that all side effects - bar a little early morning stiffness when walking - have vanished.
Whether this is to do with the formulation of the drug itself or the fact my body has adjusted to Tamoxifen after 2+ years I do not know.
Hi Started my tamox on Tuesday; also scared re side effects but nothing noticeable MAYBE a bit sweatier at night so go for it! My btand is CP pharmacies …
Of more interest is fact onc didn’t state dose when he wrote to doc and doc decided 10 mg. Thank heavens for this site or i wouldnt have thought twice and would probably have carried on with 10 ad infinitum telling docs when they asked that “i am ok on tamox”
Luckily i asked pharmacist who said usual dose was 20 but sometimes 10 was prescribed… so i checked with onc. Find it rather worrying that when a dose isnt specified a doc invents one; and that he doesnt even invent the usual one.
Anyway good luck to us all on this. Actually i have strated to worry that i am not getting side effects “is it working etc?” Cant be happy can we?
Love C
many thanks for all your comments, feel a lot easier now on taking them, but isnt is strange ,we go through the ops chemo and rads then get the collie wobbles at the last hurdle, .over a pill, even though it is a vital part of treatment,
off to do the ironing now if i can get the courage to go into the cold garage for the ironing board,what a wimp
keep warm xx
hi truffle - just said hello on the stormriders thread so good to see you! My onc told me to start the tam with my rads - think they all say something different! But don’t worry - you soon get into it - I had very bad flushes for a while but they settled but then that could have been s/e of the chemo as I had them then too…what chemo did you have? I was diagnosed just over a yr ago on jan 7th, wle on 28th jan, chemo started on mar 3rd ish - 3 fec 3 tax then rads finishing it all mid august…you’re on the last leg of the treatment run now so well done!! mary x
ps feel free to add me as a contact/friend if you want a bit of support - where are you? I’m shropshire/mid wales way…
Hi kitten cat.
thanks for your warm welcome. I had mast with immediate reconn on 28 may one lymph node involved. lobular grade 2, had e cmf finished on 28 december. not to bad except for developing a chemo baby belly, nothing to do with all the xmas cake devoured.
It must be end of chemo nerves, im 54 but they put me on tamox for 12 months as I had one period on chemo , not had any for 2 years. Just goes to show one little egg hanging on in there just in case. the epi soon got rid of that.
Im in manchester, all snowed in and bored, but bank balance ok, in need of infusion of shopping , that will put be back on the ball !!!
Thanks for support it rearly is invaluble isnt it, remeber when i was crying down the phone to GP: to give me some pills for my nerves, he just said look to family and friends they will give you more support than the pills…managed one months supply out of him, but he proved right in the end.
tek care , keep warm xx
this site is the best tonic - I too went for the pills, well I was on them to start with for pmt but they took the edge off the panic & anxiety…stay with us though - some of the stormriders have just finished chemo too…we have family in manchester - brother in Salford and mum in law in Didsbury although from Whitefield for years before. My hubby’s aunt was diagnosed last year too, she’s in Bury direction, she got off with surgery & rads but struggled with wound problems etc…mary x
Hi All
Thats it… last night was the last straw i hardly slept again, feel so awful this morning… im phoning my GP and getting something to help with flushes, I cant remember the last time i had a half decent sleep and this tiredness is making me weepy and grouchy.
Hope everyone else is ok
love one tired and fed-up Sally x
sorry to hear you had awfull nights sleep , to me is the greatest of healers.
I took the plunge last night and took first tamoxifen, slept like a log. Woke up this motrning and the snow is melting!!!, wow they are good arnt they. joking apart I know its early days but thanks to this site took the first one
keep warm , take care xx
Sally - I’m in your camp I’m afraid. Can’t remember the last time I had a decent nights sleep and its making me feel really pooy! I’m not good with no sleep. Took a tramadol last night, went off for 1.5 hours then wide awake! Nightmare. Seen GP, she prescribed Clonidine, although says no guarantee that they will work and effects can wear off over time. Loathed to take them just yet as hoping mine are chemo induced and they will settle. Also another drug to put into my alreay overloaded system. I hope they settle but may be worth talking to GP. Evening Primrose Oil??? x
do feel for you, nothin worse than lying awake in the night, and the not being able to function next day. im on Zopiclone, which I find ok ,although I think my body has now got used to them.
wishing you both restfull sleep
take care xx
Hi Jayney
Im dead on my feet today as i imagin you are too… well i managed to see my GP today and he’s given me some antidepressants to try they are called Venlafaxine, 1 a day for a week and i can up them to 2 a day after if i need too. Im now at the stage where I’l take anything that might help.Ive got some sleeping pills too so im having one of those tonight as well, I dont like taking them but needs must…
Im not even thinking of coming of the tamoxifen as i would rather live and put up with the hot flushes than not have the pills and all that that might bring.
Ive had trouble sleeping since my youngest was born and i have found something that helps (none medical) its Audio-books, its like someone reading you a bed time story and does work and so when im awake in middle of the night i pop that on and even manage to doze as well.I get mine from my local libary at a small charge for 3 weeks.
Ive been taking evening primrose oil since i started tamox in october, a high dose but dont seem to be helping much but im loathed to stop taking them just in case.ha ha
I start Herceptin on thursday too… hope i dont get any side effects from that as im all side-effected-out now.
hope your doing ok and keeping the exercises up
Love Sally xx
Well, I’ve done it! Managed to get the first pill in to me at last!
Now a fully fledged member of the tamoxifin club. No nasty reaction as yet, fingers crossed nothing happens in next 3 days… Thanks to all of your comments on this thread will no what’s normal SEs.
Been taking Tamoxifen for 6 months now, had the night sweats, night cramps and have put on a fair bit of weight. Now just as I’ve gone back to work the nausea and reflux have started. Typical!
I suppose the only plus, is that I’m not eating much, almost everything gives me guts ache. So the weight gain is looking a bit less of a problem. I seem to be existing on bananas, eggs and mashed potatoes.
I’ve even been seen to drink herbal tea! Not my usual strong(tea bag left in) cuppa. If anyone is interested Ginger and Lime tea works well for me.
Feel better now that I’ve had a whinge!
Julia
Hello all so many post to read on tamoxifin like me the joys of hot flushes we all have ahh and thinking how am i going cope in the summer.I started them nov 09 but still having priods and worrie i have to stay on them longer than 2 years then theres bigger danager of long time use get more side effects.Other than hot flushes all been ok for me and i always forgetting to take them same time of day lol.Im 46 and had breast cancer feb09 op march 09 had left breast removed and 2/20 nodes show cancer thankfully.ive Had chemo yuk yuk and radio and now pills but theres life after bc at least we save money on c/h bill. jane x
Hi all
How brill is this site??? I have skipped in and out of this site so many times in the past 12 months I wish I had a pound for every time I have done it!! Along the way I have posted firstly in the ‘have I got breast cancer’ then in ‘Newly diagnosed’, then in ‘undergoing treatment hormone therapy’ (arimidex) and now in ‘undergoing treatment’ (Tamoxifen).
I did Arimidex for 7 months. For me it was incredibly painful. Also had depression, mood swings etc. and worst of all… no sex (ok so what if I am 54 - I am still alive!!!) Now on Tamoxifen. Prescribed by BCN following a discussion where i had stated that after stopping the Arimidex for a couple of weeks I felt muchly better. Now 7 days into Tamox and feeling ok. Fingers crossed… My main worry is that I have had back ache now for about 4 months and along with the Arimidex pain, since diagnosis I don’t seem to have been without some pain or another…is this normal please? XXXX Denise
Hi Denise - just wanted to say hello - think we had our ops around the same time - mine was jan 28th 09…its early re the tamoxifen yet and the pain could be from the arimidex as it seems to give a lot of people bone/joint pains, as does tam but not as much (??) I think this is a really hard time for us when the active treatment had stopped…((((hugs)))) mary x