Tamoxifen & Radiation Together

[smilzpm]

Most of the posts I have read showed women followed their radiation treatments with Tamoxifen.  I have already started my Tamoxifen 10 days ago and am just getting ready to start radiation.  Did anyone else take Tamoxifen while they were undergoing their radiation?  I have heard there were inconclusive studies regarding whether the Tamoxifen might make the radiation less effective.  Any input would be appreciated.

[Ldised]

I just finished my radiation treatment at the Dana Farber here in Boston. I had stage 1 grade 1 so no chemo. With chemo you wait until after radiation and your body is fully recovered to start Tamoxifen. My radiation oncologist is a research fellow in radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School. According to her, the most current research indicates that Tamoxifen not only prevents a a new tumor from developing and nukes any little meanies that may have snuck through your supposedly clean nodes, it also increases the effectiveness of radiation and prevents a recurrence at the original site. She considers it a miracle drug. So I started taking it before I began radiation. Even with stage 1 grade,  there is a 30% chance of recurrence. The combo of Tampxifen and radiation pushes that down to about 2%. Be very wary of all th junk you read on the Internet. The big picture looks way different than these random horror stories people post on here.

[lhughes]

I started Tamoxifen mid-point in my radiation.  I probably would have started on it sooner, but the appointments with the docs didn't line up that way.  My oncologist said that I should have started Tamoxifen after the last chemo.  My radiation oncologist didn't have an opinion either way, so it must not have made much of a difference.

Good luck to you!

[zouzi]

Hi,
I had your exact same problem deciding what to do about taking Arimidex (Same anti estrogen medication like Tamoxifen))while undergoing radiation.My Oncologist told me that it was okay to take the medication during radiation and many will advise the same,but my Breast Surgeon Specialist was very adamant about it and said "NO".So I had to make a choice and I decided to follow my Breast Surgeon advice.Immediately after finishing my radiation,( 20 sessions) I started to take my medication.This was a choice I had to make and it was easy, because I really trusted my Surgeon very much.
Best wishes and good luck on your radiation therapy.