**Tamoxifen** the 30th thread !

[MaryAnnSingleton]

Am wheeling the trolley over....

Bugger on the itching, Ned. Antihisthamines are the way to go. Hope they go soon. Last thing you need though. Weekend sounds fab. nice things and more treats are what you need. [smile

lopsided smile there for Ned. so here's another

Thanks smee - sending one right back to you How's things with you? Work bit less manic?

Big manic day today, as deadline looming and that will kick on through November alongside another project too. Have just turned down another project though, so December will be less mad. Am looking forward to that.

poor ned with the horrid itching but what a fab weekend you had - sounds amazing !!
gig loads of good thoughts to you for scan- am sure it'll be pesky rads damage.
smee don't work to hard- am going to ease myself into some work later as have various tasks to do - slept really well in own bed and feeling perkier.

Wow ned weekend sound lovely but ouch re; itching and rash. Have you tried Dermol 500 lotion. It can be used as a soap substitute and light moisturiser. I used to get it when my eczema was bad and it soothed the skin. I am still itching like mad. I was back at the nurses this morning and they have given me Flamazine (sp) and more ointment. I now have lovely pus filled lumps nice.

smee don't be working too hard.

mas glad you had a lovely time at MIL and that you are feeling a bit better this morning.

gigs thinking of you this afternoon. When will you get your results?

topsy wow that was a quick referral. Hope your appointment goes well and they give you lots of skin soothing remedies.

Waves hi to everyone. Pretty miserable here.

Ooh, Flamzine's good Gracie. Hope they gave you good dressings too. Seem to remember that's the combination which sorted mine. Really annoys me that they didn't give it to people sooner.

Grim weather here too. Wet and cold.

Yes smee I'm home with bags of dressings as they want me to use the Diprobase Ointment which is really greasy all over my breast and then the Flamazine on the broken, oozy bits.

Hope you get some answers today topsy . Also that ned and gracie get some itch relief (I seem to remember my rash got more sore and oozy post rads before it got better).

Am waiting for scan - results next week when see onc. Thanks for all good wishes - my suspicion (as is oncologist and specialist nurse) that it is rads or post op damage but need Scan to see and obviously can never rule out completely its a recurrence.

But being here has made me laugh- they are hosting a special evening where they switch on the hospital Xmas tree lights and then you can meet staff and see surgical areas. I can think of few less festive things .

Little gig had her first baby gym lesson this Mornjng g which she loved although I fear a medal at rio Olympics may be a stretch (unless they bring in chewing the equipment as an event).

Hello again - i joined your thread a month or so ago as i was still waiting to see an oncologist for my treatment plan. I have now seen him and aparently i do not need chemotherapy but was advised to take Tamoxifen in a few months from now - after my reconstructive surgery. When he ran through all the stats on Tamoxifen though I was unsure re whether I should take it especally bearing in mind potential side effects. Has anyone decided to pursue alternative therapies ? Many thanks in advance for any advice you can give me

at babyGig and her chewing prowess. Hope scan's not too long or noisy, Gig. Sod that you have to wait a week for results.

Hi cazza, nice to see you back again and great to hear you don't have to have chemo, I'd bet that's a relief. Only thing I think's worth saying is imagine yourself ahead. Now you could well be clear, but if the worst happens and you get a recurrence, would you be kicking yourself for not taking Tamoxifen? I think that's what swung it for me. In the end I decided I'd do everything they recommended to give me best odds, as that way if it did come back it wasn't my fault iyswim. Tough decision though I know. Feel v. free to ask whatever you want about Tamoxifen on here. There's a lot of us who take it, so we'll all have a view am sure.

Thanks smee ! I just didnʻt see much of a difference in the stats anf the list of side effects scared me. Iʻm also feeling sad as I did want another baby which has been ruled out by what has happened these last six months. Is it really like an immediate menopause when you start taking the tablets ? The thought of mood swings and sleepless nights just sound awful. Have you had any of the side effects ?

cazza40 I don't think it is at all sure that you will be thrown into menopause by Tamoxifen. I think it depends on your age, how close you are to the age you would have gone into menopause naturally etc. etc. I have two friend who weren't (we were all 35-40 at dx) and none of us experienced any side effects although any fat I gained seemed to gravitate to my waist but that may have been menopause. In fact my periods stopped with my third cycle of chemo, but I still had periods during my five years on Tamoxifen but every 18 months or so, none since I went off it. I have never had the hot flushes etc of menopause but then two thirds of women going through menopause don't. Apparently that is often indicated by your mother's experience, as is the age you would have gone into menopause? If anything I felt better whilst taking it than I did when I went off it but then that may be age, other after effects of chemo catching up. Personally whilst I thought long and hard about the benefits versus the side effects of chemo Tamoxifen was a no brainer. It is long proven to be effective. My tumour was strongly Estrogen positive, I had for a long time had the symptoms associated with high Estrogen levels and I felt that Hormone therapy was what would make the difference for me. One good difference I noticed almost straight away was that my remaining boob stopped being a bag of marbles. Some people get freaked out by treatment stopping .

gigs good luck with your MRI. It is always worrying if only because it brings back the memories of earlier scans. I love Physios, they usually have the answer after you have been worrying yourself silly about some pain or other! Aww to little gigs, DD1 and friends son got thrown out of Gym Club , at Our Lady Queen of Peace over in Sheen, for being disruptive. Never mind the end of our Olympic ambitions, we thought that was it, we had two hoodlums on our hands.

MAS glad you are home and rested after your trek. Doing it twice in three days is bad enough at the best of times, I try to avoid it.

Ned What a lovely weekend. I have had Urticaria since I was a child, it was triggered by diving into a nettle patch, and it flared up when I was excited / stressed. The result used to be big red blobs on my cheeks when I went to parties! Mortifying for a teen It was all tied up with allergies as well and anti histamine dealt with it all. All cleared up when I got pregnant, the ultimate defeat for my overactive immune system, but I don't suppose....

Waves to everyone else.

Feeling very below par today, I made the mistake of reading the personal testimonies of women on The Long March of the PLA in China, nodded off to sleep reading about them getting over the snow covered mountains, no food, shoes, means of coping with their periods etc with the inevitable result that I went on the Long March after I fell asleep, also with a big lump in my boob (how Freudian is that). Woke up and couldn't get properly back to sleep because it all felt still real and disturbing, then DH was up, and then DD, both now home with fluey bug. Won't get to my writing target today and against all my principles I may have to go for nap because it was far too much excitement for one night. I also need to download something on to my kindle that is more conducive to pleasant dreams!

Sorry Cazza I'm not a tamoxifen lady , so I can't help you there .

Copthall I had the most vivid dream the other day involving buying many portions if squid , but panicking incase I didn't have enough money in my bank account to pay for it !
Dreams got so much more bizarre after diagnosis

Back from the hospital .
Skin too bad to start light therapy yet .
Got to do 8 weeks of head to toe steroid creams , then they will think about it .
Also had a blood test to check for psoaratic arthritis .
Deep joy .
Going to be covered in the medical equivalent of lard for the next 8 weeks .
Shall be leaving trails behind me and sliding off the sofa !

Waving to the slug lady Topsy. Sorry, that was mean.. What's light therapy? Is that the thing which is supposed to cure it? I know a friend of mine who has psoriasis swears by going to somewhere sunny. Maybe you should sweet talk your DH?

Copthall, that's a dream and a half. I have to be careful what I read before bed too, but that's a bit epic..

Cazza, well I was 44 when I started taking it, but my periods stopped with chemo (so a few months earlier) and have never returned. I've had lots of hot flushes, but the way I've tried to look at it is that menopause would have happened to me at some point anyway so it's just early and at least it's not cancer. Weirdly I'm quite glad it's happened as I was very hormone positive, so no periods is a good sign the Tamoxifen's working for me. I didn't have the factor of wanting another child though, so can see that's tricky. Have you talked to them about fertility at all??

Cheers Smee
Light therapy is medical sunbeds !
They just use mid range UV (if I have remembered correctly)
I did suggest a prescription for a month in the Bahamas , but they were having none of it ...

medical sun beds !! sounds good though if it'll sort you out topsy
cazza this whole thread originated with my anxiety about taking tamoxifen - I was advised to,though my percentage of benefit was around 5 percent. I was worried about it changing me and how I felt/saw myself - I do have lots of anxiety issues about being in control and felt that I couldn't cope with changes in my emotions/in my body. However, I did take it in the end,after deferring until the end of radiotherapy. I took it for 3 years,without any huge side effects (periods a bit messed up with it, but am around menopause age so fertility wasn;t a problem- I would definitely discuss this with your consultant and BCN.
I think if it's recommended for you to take it I would. IO have stopped now as it obviously stopped working for me (i have lung metastases) but it is a tip top recommended treatment for ER+ people.

Cazza, I'm older than you (and everyone else on the thread I think!) at 57. Because I was post -menopausal when diagnosed nearly 3 years ago and treated for cancer I was prescribed Anastrozole instead of Tamoxifen. So I can't comment directly on Tam. but I would like to say that I terrified myself reading about the side-effects of Anastrozole (which tend to be more severe than for Tamox) but the response to side effects is very individual and actually I've suffered very few, if any. So I'm just saying, don't assume the worst. I know of some women who've had difficult SEs and others who pretty well sail through. And hot flushes can be very varied too - could be worse for someone without being on any drugs at all! (Thinking indeed of one such friend)

In your shoes I'd certainly want a long chat with the BCN about having another baby though - and whether you could try for a baby then go onto Tamox afterwards (assuming you conceive fairly quickly, which is a big assumption)
Good luck

Hope all your lard creams help with the sore skin topsy. Not much chance of any sun therapy here more chance of rust therapy.

cazza I agree with smee I decided I would take everything recommended as if I had a recurrence I would always worry that it was my fault. I have had chemo, radiotherapy and now on Herceptin and started Tamoxifen the beginning of October. To be honest the only side effect so far are hot flushes but I already had these whilst on chemo. I take my Tamoxifen at night and have a few hot flushes a night but don't seem to have any during the day which suits me better than the other way around. My bc was extremely ER/PR+.

copthall hope you have a better night tonight.

Topsy to no break in the sun on the NHS, they could do an exchange programme, you could swap with someone who is in the sun who needs to be in the dark and rain (tries unsuccessfully to think of any condition, including being human, that benefits.....) Have you always had Psoriasis or did it flare up as a result of treatment?

smee actually I read the rest of it before I couldn't stop myself nodding off this afternoon, it got much much worse so I was relieved to wake without experiencing that....... I think it may be about relating to something though, I suppose it is all helping me with my hypothesis...

gigondas think I may watch I'm a celeb tonight, though I am a bit uncomfortable with the pillorying of the Nads woman, can't stand her but not sure I'm into throwing people into the stocks, especially older women. BUT we have eaten Bush Tucker in the bush, witchetty grubs are actually quite nice with something akin to garlic.......didn't go near any animals gonads obviously but it is a bit nostalgic.

I used to have psoarisis before diagnosis , but no where near the scale it is now .
Chemo cleared it up the first time round , but it came back as soon as I stopped that
Then after the second round of chemo it came back like never before .
Reading up on it , it can happen after rads , and because I have no lymph nodes now I have to be extra careful as I can get cellulitis , lymphodema , etc .
Did suggest to the consultant today that they provide me with a wheelie bin and I could just emerse myself fully in lard 3 times a day

at Copthall's nostalgic cuisine. You have to tell us more...?

Topsy, yes take good care. Cellulitis would be grim. Can see the NHS is far more likely to provide a wheelie bin, but am guessing a holiday would be preferable.

Still working. Deadline tomorrow lunchtime. Minor panic setting in...

topsy It runs in my family where it seems to be stress related. It has always stayed in my scalp and eyebrows, Lard cream never a good look in your hair and eyebrows!! but nothing since dx and chemo, in spite of plenty of stress, though come to think of it nothing since pregnancy and living in a sunny country . I didn't have rads though (nothing left to burn). Good luck though, and I hope the wheely bins of cream (is it still Betnovate? childhood / teen memory is of the family bathroom cabinets being always full of half used tubes) and prescription sunbeds sort it out. Didn't I read somewhere that because Psoriasis is basically the opposite of Cancer, healthy cells reproducing themselves too fast, it makes you less likely to get skin cancer? Therefore perhaps it is more of an ADHD friend than a total s*t, though I may be talking s*t.....

Off to bed with David Mitchell. I don't normally touch celebrity books but he always makes me laugh....

smee still working?

Sadly it is back in the mists of time and post chemo memory deficiency so I can't give a full rundown of menu. The green ants they eat though are absolutely delicious, like lemon sherbet, I found myself helping myself whilst we were walking through the bush. Load of moaning minnies if you ask me. Good breast related joke on 8 out of 10 cats (see what I have to watch now with my teens!!) about mad nads (for which I will selflessly set aside my reservations about her being pilloried) Watching her rubbing suncream on them on the beach it was clear that her breasts were acting like the coalition, trying to be part of her and yet trying to keep their distance.....

hope smee is snuggled in bed...
A friend has posted photos on fb of mad people swimming in the pool on Hampstead Heath right now...that'd make a person wake up.
Am meeting friend for hot choc this morning,then work..am taking a break from book to do ned's commission ! Have drawn it and going to paint it.
Hope itching ones aren't so sore and troubled today...