I saw the Dr B the medical oncologist that morning that my radiation was later canceled. Bright and early at 9 am. I didn’t have to wait long at all. My hormone levels that they drew at my last visit indicates that I am still premenopausal. Good lord. I’m ready for the 37 years of bleeding to be done. (I didn’t start until I was 16 and am now 53 (just had a birthday) So the only drug I can be prescribed is Tamoxifen1
Tamoxifen is used for several different reasons but mine is because of my type of cancer which is DCIS ER+ / PR+ and HER-. It is used after surgery to reduce the risk of invasive breast cancer in women diagnosed with hormone receptor-positive DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) In my case I won’t start it until after I finish my radiation treatment a week from Friday. (March 22)
Side effects that I read about Tamoxifen are as follows:
- hot flashes
- vaginal discharge
- nausea
- mood swings
- fatigue
- depression
- hair thinning
- constipation
- loss of libido
- dry skin
More Serious adverse effects include:
- Endometrial Cancer (my doctor has never seen this in women on tamoxifen)
- Blood clots
- Stroke
- Cataracts
- liver issues
I may update this post with more information later.
a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) used to treat all stages of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in women and men. ↩︎
