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One of the side effects of taking Tamoxifen is, apparently, an increased risk of developing Uterine Cancer. DOH! Please note that I am, along with millions of other women, being prescribed Tamoxifen as a preventative measure against a further outbreak of breast cancer due to stroppy and over-sensitive oestrogen receptors. Mmmm.
Now as it happens, I have a scientific background, and so I really do understand about balance of probabilities and all that stuff. However, that is on an intellectual level, and it feels very different when it’s your body.
I was given a treatment plan almost as soon as I was diagnosed, so why did I decide on the very day I was due to swallow my first tamoxifen pill that I needed to dig a bit deeper into the side effects? I can’t say it’s because I wasn’t told about them sooner. Hospitals today are peeing their scrubs with the fear that you’re going to sue them, and so they tell you about potential side effects every 15 minutes or so. And then they get you to sign lots of bits of paper to confirm that, a) they have told you the side effects, and b) you have previously signed other bits of paper to confirm you have been told about the side effects. I was told alright. I just decided not to listen.
When I first discovered that I wasn’t going to die from breast cancer, all due to my gold star treatment (as the hospital described it), I was so thrilled that I accepted everything that came my way in the form of surgery, therapy and drugs. If you have been in a similar situation then you possibly understand how it felt, if not, then this is the best way that I can describe it…Have you ever been really hungry? I don’t mean that you missed your afternoon bicky, but so hungry that you eat the first thing you can get your chops around. A tin of cold soup. Scrambled egg on porridge. Whatever. The point is that your basic instinct for survival takes over, and you eat what you need to keep going. You don’t think about calories, taste or additives. You’re too hungry to bother about making an informed decision. Well, that’s how I felt when I was given the survival rates if I took Tamoxifen. Just bring it on…Get the pill popper reader, I’m coming in to land.
So here I am one day after my radiotherapy has finished and what is left of my left boob resembles a poached, red policeman’s helmet (the old fashioned sort) with my cashed prescription of Tamoxifen in front of me on the kitchen table. As I understand it, to get 100% effectiveness (at blocking the effects of oestrogen, not growing a uterine cancer) then I have to take the Tamoxifen bombette today.
What to do?
To our health, best regards
Sian Murphy
Follow this series of blog posts for in-depth, scientific information alongside and my thoughts about breast cancer treatment options and support.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I have decided so far to NOT take Tamoxifen. One reason is that when I wanted to discuss the advantages versus the disadvantages I was hurried out of my then oncologist’s office. I constantly reassess my personal explanation for her behavior and today I assume it was because she surely was disgusted by those women who would even dare to consider not taking Tamoxifen, as though it would invite a definite return of cancer. I am confused and have yet to find an answer. In the meantime, I am progressing month-by-month in age and am thinking well, my estrogen receptors will eventually not have too much to worry about–perimenopause just may be upon me! The question has become “which way to gamble?” And, am I gambling? Nobody knows for sure. While I am often hungry and sometimes eat just about anything, I also like to think that I am mostly selective about what I decide to put into my body, but that may be an illusion as well.
HI Dorothy and thanks for sharing your thoughts. One thing I noticed is how disempowering all of this can be which sometimes makes it easier for the professionals to brush our concerns aside. Why don’t you make an appointment to visit either your consultant or an advice centre associated with your medical centre. How about your GP? Best wishes, Sian