New oncologist, new treatment, now I'm lost and frightened. Help!

Hi there,

I was diagnosed last year with <2 grade one DCIS and lobular cancer. I was first on Letrozole, but hot flushes every 15 mins got me moved to Aromasin. Hot flashes all but disappeared, just morning and evening and a couple light ones during the day.

My oncologist never replied to my questions, so I just took the decision to change. I saw the new one yeaterday and after a two month’s pause (yes!) he wants to put me on Tamoxifen.

My question is whether others have been prescirbed Tamoxifen AFTER an aromatase inhibitor. Also I have read the Tamoxifen is less effective than Aromasin by a significant margin, so now I’m worried.

I will of course talk with my oncologist when I start in two months, but would like some answers if anyone has had a similar experience. 

With early stage breast cancer, the improvement you get with hormonal therapy is only a few percentage points so “a significant margin” of that is only going to amount to a very small difference.

Are you pre or post menopausal?

Hi Evelyn
I’m 60 and stopped Anastrazole last week on the advice of my BCN due to side effects. Been on it 9 months and after a lot of discussion, I’m going onto Tamoxifen. From what I understand it gives almost as much protection as AI and many other ladies have done the same. Especially if like me - my main s/e has been tendon/joint pains. Will start in April and hoping things ease off soon.
It’s all a bit of a lottery and I feel this is the right decision for me … still have some protection from recurrence but want to enjoy life again without feeling crippled and ancient! Good Luck:heart: