Tamoxifen for 10 years??

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I reached 5 years post dx last Sept. Tumour was 1.2cm, grade 2 and highly hormone positive - not in lymph nodes. Had lumpectomy and radiotherapy in 2008 and have been on (horrible!) tamoxifen ever since. My consultant told me that had the tumour been more aggressive and larger, his advice would be to stay on tamoxifen - if smaller and less aggressive, advice would be to come off. No idea if I have been through menopause but at 54 I probably have - test was inconclusive. Interested to know what advice is being given to other women at 5 year stage - please!
Many thanks - Gillian

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Hi Gillian

 

I am also at the 5 year stage and have been advised to stay on Tamoxifen for 10 years. My turmour was 3cm and was cleanly removed along with lymph nodes and like yours was highly hormone positive. Also had 4 weeks of radio therepy. Over the past few months I have been suffering really bad hot sweats I have always had them since being on Tamoxifen but they have got considerably worse. I have been prescribed Dixriat to combat these as apparently I am now going through the menopause at 50, however not sure I can cope with the depression that is a common side effect with these tablets I have good days and bad days a good job my family are supportive and understanding.

 

Dawn

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Hi Gillian

I’ve been taking tamoxifen for just over 5 years now and was also advised this year to continue taking for another 5 years. I’m a little younger at 47 and haven’t gone through menopause. My tumour was also grade 2 but larger and had spread to lymph nodes so even though they recently said I’d not had an extremely high hormone positive response, I still feel ok taking it for longer. They talked about doing a test after a year to see if I’d started the menopause and if that was the case they’d suggest I switched to an alternative.

Worth noting, that in the US, I’ve been told that 10yrs on tamoxifen is the norm.

Another thing worth mentioning - have you tried different manufacturers of tamoxifen as I’ve found some have less side effects that others. Suspect you have if you’ve taken for 5 yrs but thought it worth a mention.

Hope that helps
Sarah