Tamoxifen side effects

Hiya Klyon71,

I was just the same as you - really nervous about Tamoxifen. I felt very vulnerable especially during chemo and the thought of having weird side effects long term just freaked me out completely.

Thankfully I did start to settle down a bit after radiotherapy and I've now been on Tamoxifen for about 2 months. It has been completely manageable. I do have side effects but they are just mild sweats - nothing like what I experienced during chemo. It doesn't seemed to have affected my mood or my sleep so far, which were my worst fears.

I'm so, so relieved so far and wish I could go back in time and tell myself 6 months ago that it would be okay.

Please do give Tamoxifen a go. It can give side effects BUT there are ways to manage these and you can always come off it, if it's too much. Just give yourself a chance and then you can't go wrong.

Thanks Radge for replying.  It’s good to know you haven’t been affected too badly. I’m going on holiday for a few days so have decided to put off taking it until I get back but I will give it a go.  Do you take it at night or in the morning? 

I take it in the morning and it's been fine. Routine-wise I prefer the mornings but I've told myself I can switch to evenings if I ever need to.

That's something that helped me too, beforehand: having a course of action for each of my worst fears. E.g. if I feel sick I can take it after a meal; if I can't sleep I'll take it at a different time of day; if my mood crashes I'll talk to my onc or GP again etc.

That's a great idea to give yourself a break before starting it. Have a wonderful holiday!