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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Breast Cancer / January 2006After Tamoxifen?
What should I expect from my body when I quit taking the Tamoxifen? I will not be going on anything else. Going cold turkey after five years of daily reassurance is kinda scary! ~laugh a little~ Mitzi Hi Mitzi, I started Tamoxifen yesterday......for the next five years. I'm kind of worried about the changes or side effects that I will encounter while on it. What can you tell me? By the way, what do you do if you forget to take it one day? Do you take two the next or just skip it? I guess its scary when you do take it and scary when you don't....... I'm sure we'll be ok, relax, Michele > What should I expect from my body when I quit taking the Tamoxifen? I > will not be going on anything else. Going cold turkey after five years > of daily reassurance is kinda scary! > > ~laugh a little~ > Mitzi > Hi Mitzi, > I started Tamoxifen yesterday......for the next five years. I'm kind of [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >> ~laugh a little~ >> Mitzi Michelle, one pill either way isn't going to make much difference at all, so don't worry. Ideally it is best to keep the average number of pills right over the longer term, so it is better to take two, better still to space them out over the next day. The best answer probably depends on any side-effects management regime you may have. The objective is to maintain a certain minimum level of the drug in your body to block the action of estrogen. The level rises fairly quickly, to peak five hours after you take a pill, and then slowly washes out of your system over a week or two. So at any given time you are being treated by the pills you have taken over the last week or so. There are no particular effects known of exceeding the recommended level for a short time. Mitzi, I don't know of any withdrawal effects from Tamoxifen, but whatever side effects you may have should cease over a few weeks. At the end of five years the reassurance is largely just placebo effect, the effectiveness of Tamoxifen against cancer fades over time, that is why it is withdrawn after five years. Of course the risk of recurrence from your bout with bc also fades over time, so you could view it that you are now back to "normal", but for the scar. Tim Jackson Thank you Tim for such a complete answer, I have a better understanding about how it works now. I hope I don't find out what the side effects are...... All my best wishes and hopes and prayers for a healthy New Year to all the people on this forum. Your presence, questions and answers answer many of my questions and fears before I even formulate them. Michele > Michelle, one pill either way isn't going to make much difference at > all, so don't worry. [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > Tim Jackson Michele - I'm just starting my 4th year of tamoxifen, and never experienced the side effects I'd read about regarding the drug. To be honest, I was scared to start it, and strongly considered not taking it. In the end I decided to try it, knowing I could/would stop if I experienced side effects that I didn't want to deal with. I did stop taking the drug (cold turkey) for a few months last year, and also experienced nothing at all as a result. I had gained a little weight and I stopped the drug to see if perhaps that was the cause (no such luck). I asked my oncologist what would happen at the end of my 5 years, and his answer was "nothing - you're done". Good luck to you - try not to worry! Sue Thanks Sue, I think that is what I'd like to believe will happen.....nothing. Its good to know that it does happen because like you , reading about the side effects almost made me refuse to take it, but like you I decided it would be silly not to go ahead and take it as it comes, being able to make the decision to stop it if I did not want to deal with it in the future. be well. Michele > Michele - I'm just starting my 4th year of tamoxifen, and never > experienced the side effects I'd read about regarding the drug. To be [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Good luck to you - try not to worry! > Sue Thru the years I have had a few side effects but they were not the worst that could happen. I found that if I was stressed out about something the hot flashes got worse and to begin with I was a little moodier than usual. (Or at least I thought so. My family may have said that I was always moody!) After about a year I started being really inconsistent with periods and after two years they stopped all together. I am only 44 but I took a FSH test not long ago and it said I was post menopausal. Now after one month of no Tamoxifen I have had a ten day period. I was really hoping for someone to tell me that was to be expected without me having to tell all my personal stuff but now whether you wanted to know or not you got it! ~laugh a little~ Mitzi > Thru the years I have had a few side effects but they were not the worst > that could happen. I found that if I was stressed out about something [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > ~laugh a little~ > Mitzi I don't think that is a common effect of stopping Tamoxifen, but it is a common occurrence in peri-menopausal women anyway. I dare say the ending of Tamoxifen had an effect on the timing, but I think we are mostly talking about coincidence here. Tim > Hi Mitzi, > I started Tamoxifen yesterday......for the next five years. Recently her onc switched my wife from Tamoxifen to Femara which he said has been shown to give better results so you might want to check up on that. >>Hi Mitzi, >>I started Tamoxifen yesterday......for the next five years. > > Recently her onc switched my wife from Tamoxifen to Femara which he > said has been shown to give better results so you might want to check > up on that. Don't know Michele's details, but as I understand it, Tamoxifen is still normally used in women who are pre-menopausal (because most estrogen is still being produced by the ovaries, which are not affected by aromatase inhibitors like Femara, Arimidex, etc.). The aromatase inhibitors are used in post-menopausal women. Most of our post-menopausal estrogen is produced outside the ovaries via aromatization, so the aromatase inhibitors are effective. Some doctors are now using an aromatase inhibitor after the 5 years of Tamoxifen. My oncologist says that I'll probably remain on Arimidex (an aromatase inhibitor) indefinitely. (I took Tamoxifen for about 2.5 years, quitting it early for reasons that had nothing to do with side effects or perceived effectivenss of the drugs.) Ann T. Remove 'dontsendspam' from address to reply by email > ....My oncologist says that I'll probably remain on Arimidex (an > aromatase inhibitor) indefinitely. --------------- Oh, dear God, is that what they're recommending now? I have made up my mind to endure this joint pain for five years and am looking forward to finishing with it! Eva >> ....My oncologist says that I'll probably remain on Arimidex (an >> aromatase inhibitor) indefinitely. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >Eva I've been taking Arimidex for three years with no problems at all until this week, when my family doctor's nurse called me to say my annual DEXA test is showing borderline osteoporosis. My mom has osteoporosis, but she got it much later in life so I'm guessing it is from the Arimidex. So I'm suddenly taking Fosamax, starting next Sunday morning, trying to go to the gym more regularly and using hand weights at home. I was assuming that the Arimidex would be for two more years. I won't be talking to my oncologist for six months, or my family doctor for a year. I did call the pharmacy and they agree with the Fosamax and didn't think there was any reason to stop taking Arimidex. Marilyn, procrastinating about getting to the gym > I've been taking Arimidex for three years with no problems at all > until this week, when my family doctor's nurse called me to say my [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Sunday morning, trying to go to the gym more regularly and using hand > weights at home. Hang in there -- this *can* work. One of the women on my breast cancer survivors' rowing team (who is now 72 y/o, but started rowing a year or two ago) had osteoporosis when she started rowing. Between the drugs (not sure whether she takes Fosamax or one of the others) and exercise, she's reversed the osteoporosis to the point where, at the majority of the measurement sites, it's now considered osteopenia. And who knows how much further progress she can make? Exercise can become a <good> addiction, if you can find something you really enjoy doing, and it has great payoffs. I tried taking a bunch of different fitness classes and finally found rowing as my main love. But my desire to get fitter for rowing has led to actual enthusiasm for other active pursuits -- something I never would've predicted, if you'd asked me about it pre-BC. One of my friends, after watching my team in one of our first races, said "Ann a jock - who would've thought it?" <grin> This (exercise, and especially rowing) has been THE factor in getting me feeling healthy & strong again after treatment. So far (though I haven't been tested again real recently) the Arimidex hasn't pushed me out of the normal range, as far as bone density. <fingers crossed> Ann T. Remove 'dontsendspam' from address to reply by email |
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