Peri/menopause and Tamoxifen - how do you cope with the side effects of both?

Hi Gogsie and welcome to the forum. It’s a club that none of us wanted to join but a great place for support and shared experiences. I’m older and was already well post menopausal when I got cancer but there will be plenty of folk here in a similar situation to you. There have been many previous threads where people describe the ‘double whammy’ of coming off HRT and then taking hormone therapy. Re supplements, the advice is usually to check with your oncologist before taking any as some may interact with the tamoxifen or possibly make it less effective. 
Two places I’d recommend for advice/ peer support/ sessions are Future Dreams House in Kings Cross and the Penny Brohn Centre in Bristol. Both do in person sessions as well as online. I’ve been to Future Dreams as I’m about an hour away, and have done a couple of online sessions with Penny Brohn. I’ll try to post links. 
Good luck with it all, it’s a bit of a rollercoaster, getting a cancer diagnosis, but hopefully you’ll find plenty of support here. I’m still rattling around the site, over 5 years since diagnosis! Love and hugs, HFxx

https://futuredreams.org.uk/

https://pennybrohn.org.uk/

Hi Gogsie, 

I’m in a similar situation and was considering HRT the I received the news that i had breast cancer. I have found that moving to a high fibre, vegan diet has really helped me to keep my menopause symptoms at bay.  It’s also given me a focus whilst going through all this.

Re the tamoxifen, I am on this but am taking a treatment break whilst I have chemo.  In the 4 weeks that I did take iI found that I tolerated this well with no side effects. My advice would be to try not to worry about what might happen as  it isn’t a given that you will get side effects.

Best wishes xx

Hi Ronnie7,

Glad to hear that you are a following plant based vegan diet.  Have been eating vegan since 2015 and it is a delicious and yummy way to eat.  I have heard that because of the low fat content of the diet and the intake of soy it really can lower hot flashes.  
I wish you the best with chemo and tamoxifen.  Take care. 

In the same and have been on tamoxifen for 2 months now and finished radiotherapy 4 weeks ago. When I spoke to oncology they said a drug had been approved down south and they were hoping it would bepproved soon and that helps with the night sweating. I’ve got appointment in 2 weeks and will be chasing up. It’s the exhaustion I’m struggling with

Hi, I was diagnosed with Stage 1 Breast Cancer in January and had my lumpectomy 2 weeks ago and have also started taking Tamoxifen and my night sweats are starting to come back.  I went back to my office job very quickly and basically at the weekend hit a wall and stayed in bed for 2 days as I know I have been doing too much.  My radiotherapy is only for 5 days at the end of March - should I take time off, will i be really tired and for how long? Thanks in advance xxx

Hi Skins72, sorry to hear of your diagnosis and that you didn't have a very good weekend due to doing too much. It is very easy to do too much, I find even now I still do too much and then crash for a day and I have finished my treatment, surgery, chemo, radiotherapy, targeted treatment and hormone treatment. I had 15 days of radiotherapy with added boosts everyday. I found I was fine and didn't really get particularly tired. I would have my treatment and then go straight into work for the rest of the day, I used to drive myself to the hospital and then drive to work. In the evenings I would come home and rest and let the family sort out suppers and washing up etc. Everyone is different and some find it more tiring than others. I did drink plenty of water and keep mobile which I think helped.

Wishing you all the best

Hugs from cuffcake x x x x x

Thank you so much for taking the time to email me and for all your advice.

That's good advice Ronnie7 - I will do my best not to worry!