Tamoxifen - A Blessing or Curse?

Tamoxifen was the one drug therapy they offered to my mom after her surgery. After weighing the option of taking the it by itself or taking it along with chemotherapy, mom made the decision to forego the chemotherapy. The statistics that the doctors gave her showed that the chance of stopping further cancer would increase only by 10% if the chemotherapy were added to the mix. My mom was a firm believer in quality of life over quantity.

Side Effects According to the Doctor

During the first year of treatment, my mom and I continued to visit regularly and we occasionally would discuss the cancer when we were on our walks. She was a bit frustrated by the side effects that she was experiencing. She was having menopausal symptoms...hot flashes, night sweats, lack of sex drive, vaginal dryness, and occasional breathing difficulties.

The doctor was dismissing the symptoms as something she would simply have to learn to live with if she wanted to continue to live. Not once did he mention the fact that her being on this medication was increasing her risk for uterine cancer, blood clots and stroke. Nor had he mentioned that women with a history of cataracts are not good candidates for tamoxifen therapy (my mom was blind in one eye due to cataracts as a child). And at the time, the two of us didn't know where to go to find the information we should have been getting from her physician.

What is Tamoxifen?

From Imaginis - Basic information on Tamoxifen, its side effects, studies and additional resources

From BreastCancer.org - Information regarding hormone receptors and taking tamoxifen along with other therapies

From All Natural - the Cons - Discusses the negative side of Tamoxifen along with possible flaws in studies.

From Cancerbackup - Basic information, side effects and common questions

From the U.K. � Information on Tamoxifen, side effects, and alternatives