Tamoxifen and menstruation

Hi Kaye,

 

Good question, and I'm sorry you're getting the run-around from your doctors on this. I did find some information. See:

 

Menstruating After Breast Cancer Treatment

http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/menstruation0206

 

Tamoxifen and Menstruation

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/doctor.qa/breast.cancer/tamoxifen/content.html

 

Monitoring the Endometrium of Women on Tamoxifen

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/412541

 

I'm not sure how helpful these articles will be, but I wanted to share what I found with you. Keep us posted on what comes of this and how you're doing in general.

 

Best,

Maria

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Hi Kaye - I hope Maria's articles have helped. I know many women who continued to have periods while taking tamoxifen. Tamoxifen doesn't stop estrogen production; it just stops estrogen from binding to cancer cells (they need estrogen to grow). And, I also know women who've had chemo, and stopped menstruating, and then after awhile their periods came back. Kaye, sounds like you're having a fairly normal reaction, so don't worry, OK? In the meantime, try to keep advocating for yourself; it's tiresome, but it's a good thing to learn how to do. Because YOU, ultimately, are the one who has to ensure that you get the best possible treatment. good luck- PJH
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Kaye,

 

It's our pleasure to be here for you -- anytime. I'm glad the information I found for you was helpful. Write again soon, we love hearing from you!

 

Take care,

Maria

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Kaye,

I thought it was worth also mentioning that in addition to "allowing" you to have periods if you are pre-menopausal, tamoxifen apparently may make you even more fertile than usual...it is actually used as an infertility treatment sometimes!  Perhaps this is obvious, but since your docs didn't give you the info you were looking for about menstruation, I wanted to make sure someone mentioned that you should be SURE to use some form of barrier contraceptives if you are sexually active (and most things I have read say you should use spermicide, too).

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I am 34, postmenopausal (surgically removed) diagnosed with breast cancer at same time as hysterectomy - had a double mastectomy since then, been through chemo and take Femara which is supposed to stop all estrogen/progesterone (which I don't understand WHERE I would get any), not quite been 3 years - well during breast reconstruction in Feb. 08 my surgeon found scar tissue & removed it only to find out it was cancerous.  This time it didn't test + for progesterone, but it still tested + for estrogen.  I'm still trying to find an oncologist and start treatment, whatever that may be - but still who am I getting estrogen with no ovaries and a drug that blocks it?

 

oh then to top it off I found an article online that someplace is using Femara to help with infertility and getting pregnant.  WHAT!?!

 

good luck on your quest for answers!

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Hi,

 

I just started taking Tamoxifen and came across your inquiry. I'm not knowledgeable on the effects of chemo on menstration, but I have done a lot of research on Tamoxifen.

 

It is my understanding that Tamoxifen does not "shut down" the ovaries. what it does is prevent the estrogen your body naturally produces from connecting the the estrogen receptors on the cancer cells.

 

I'm assuming your cancer is estrogen-receptive. There are little "arms" on the cancer cells that look for estrogen. It uses estrogen as its food. Tamoxifen stops this connection and essentially starves the cancerous cells.

 

You may be having periods because your body is readjusting after all of your treatments and you haven't passed through menopause. Which takes several years to move through. It becomes a bit tricky for those of us who are in menopausal years to separate what is our body's natural response to what is our body's response to the cancer and the cancer's treatments.

 

Make sure you make regular visits to your gyno since there is a record of increase in uterine cancer from tamoxifen. And I guess, buy some tampons and find your gratitude that your body is doing its thing.

 

 

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I am in the same situation as you are. I had surgery for estrogen + tumor in November, finished my chemo 4/6, my radiation 7/7 and have been on Tamoxifen since the end of chemo. I am 43 years old.

 

The things I have read (despite my muddled-head chemo brain) seem to indicate that any menstruation is a problem, "call your doctor immediately if you have bloody or brown vaginal discharge" because it can be an indication of endometrial cancer or some thickening of the endometrium. Have you been to your OBGyn? I am having my second period in three months, completely irregular, the first was labled as an anomaly. Now with the second my doctors are paying more attention. All the tests came back negative the first time, so we shall see.

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