Deciding to take tamoxifen is a tough decision, considering it is also considered a carcinogen! On top of it, you are committing to 10 years of taking this drug!!!
They are finding in research that certain cancers, such as ILC (Infiltrating Lobular Carcinoma), is not very effective with tamoxifen. This is the type of cancer that I had developed.
Hopefully, a test will be available in the near future to test the efficacy of tamoxifen for ILC patients. Tamoxifen didn’t’ get the name Jekyll and Hyde for no reason. It works amazing on some and the opposite for others. I will save this topic for another blog post. In the meantime, lets talk about how to improve your QoL – quality of life while on tamoxifen.
Nolvadex is the brand name of Tamoxifen. I started off on a generic brand that made my ears swell: literally. Most pharmacies in Canada don’t carry the brand name in house, so I went with generic. The cost per month is relatively the same and quite inexpensive at about $55 CAD per 3 months.
After having this crazy experience with the generic brand, my oncology team suggested I try the brand name. Sure enough, I had absolutely no issue on the brand name drug, as compared to the generic brand. I could only tolerate 5 mg on generic without having my ears swelling up. With Nolvadex at 20 mg, a full dose, I was fine.
What to do when you have side-effects:
That being said, I had sleep disturbances, spinal pain and hot flashes during the start of my treatment and also again after going off of it for surgery. I take Tamoxifen with Selenium, Vitamin E, I3C and Melatonin to increase the efficacy of the drug, and if I have to take it, I want to make sure it does the best job it can!
I also noticed that with 15-30 minutes of cardio each day the side-effects were non-existent.
On top of that, I make sure that my body is in detox mode! I do not want it accumulating in my body and damaging my liver or causing secondary malignancies. To help my body detox I take NAC, ALA, and Calcium D-Glucarate, which also helps detoxify estrogen.
Another aspect is making sure to have at least 2 good bowel movements a day, include wheatgrass and a high fibre diet.
Weekly I make sure I give my bowel a good cleanse with food and enema. I switched from doing coffee enemas as they seems to give my adrenals pain in my lower back. So I use chamomile tea or chlorella now.
To reduce side-effects from tamoxifen (recap):
- Include selenium from food sources, I3C, vitamin E and melatonin
- 15-30 minutes cardio exercise per day
- Detoxifying foods & supplements – high fibre and cruciferous vegetables