First episode was in January. Very light bleeding that went on for three weeks. Since this length is not normal, and I am taking Tamoxifen this raises all sort of fears. The radiology report after an ultrasound talks about how thick the uterine lining is for a post menopausal women. Hmm? Postmenopausal? I am clearly not (despite being 54 years old). Does tamoxifen extend the menstrual years?
Actually, after an acupuncture treatment the bleeding stopped within a day. Very cool!
Second episode was in April. Lots of bleeding. After two days of going through lots of pads I called the doctor and was told to go the ER. Another ultrasound. This time the uterine lining was a whopping 6 mm less than before, although still thicker than the average postmenopausal women. Perhaps this classifies as a D&C with out the D or the C. I like that!
The time period from January-April was also accompanied with back pain episodes that seem to come out of nowhere.
I feel better on 10mg Tamoxifen compared to 20mg which is the typical prescription. Is 10 mg just a good at preventing recurrence with fewer side effects?
Excerpts from the medical literature:
Tamoxifen blocks estrogen for the breast, but does all sorts of things in other tissues ("exerts estrogenic actions"). The dosage does not seem to matter, just the longer duration and accumulative dosage.
Reference: Hu et al. Molecular mechanisms of tamoxifen-associated endometrial cancer (Review). Oncology Letters 9: 1495-1501, 2015
Extending Tamoxifen use to 10 years (ATLAS trial) may not be as good as taking Tamoxifen for 5 years and then 5 years of AIs (NSABP B14 study). I hope I can stop taking anything after 5 years!
Reference: Huiart et al. Tamoxifen therapy for patients with breast cancer. Correspondence. The Lancet. 381 June 15, 2013
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