Tamoxifen!

[noble123]

Hello All!

I am relatively new to this site and am so very glad to have found all of you wonderful ladies! Some of you may have seen my posting to Dr. Goodman about a posting from me on behalf of my friend. If you have not seen it briefly one of my friends got diagnosed with Stage 3c two years ago and her cancer has just recurred. She went through a second cyto-reductive surgery about a month ago. She is getting several different opinions. One of her doctors wants her to start Tamoxifen "a wait and see " approach. Some others want her to start chemo. We are confused. Can someone please tell me how long it takes to see the effect of Tamoxifen assuming she is responsive. Also, have any of you taken intravenous vitamin C?

Thanks so much!

Noble123

[noble123]

Hello Judy, Susie, Gail and Momofsandj,

Thanks so much for the information you have given me. It surely helps for planning. I will get her to see if her tumor is estrogen positive.

Really appreciate the support here!

Noble123

[momofsandj]

Tomaxifen staved off chemo for me for an extra 6 months --- it was worth the hot flashes and nausea to have an extra 6 months without chemo.  It did stop working though, disappointingly enough --
Good luck to your friend

[gah_70]

Like Susie, I am also on Aromasin.  I am on my first recurrence and had been on IV chemo for a solid year.  I needed a break.  My cancer is estrogen receptor positive, too, and also low grade.  That means it is slow growing, so typical IV chemo isn't going to work for me (it's designed to kill cells that are splitting quickly...mine don't).  Aromasin is the same kind of Aromatase Inhibitor that Tamoxifen is, however, there is a greater risk of blood clots with Tamoxifen.  I already have a problem with those, so that is one of the reasons we tried Aromasin.  One of my doctors told me it would take a good three months to see if it was working. Perhaps your friend could find out the answers Susie suggested about whether her cancer is estrogen receptor positive, and also if it is high grade or low grade.  

Whatever she decides to do, I wish her the best of luck!  I bet she is thankful to have a friend like you!

Gail

[survivor_susie]

I'm on a newer member of the aromatase inhibitor family:  Aromasin.  It suppresses the release of estrogen.  Aromasin is in clinical trials for ovarian cancer at the moment, but I'm not waiting for the trials to be over.  It took only a few months to lower my estradiol, which is at a negative 20 right now.  My cancer(s) were all estrogen dependent. Oddly enough, though, not all female cancers are estrogen dependent, so have your friend check to see if hers was.  

It makes me feel proactive to be on it, so I take it.  Even though it makes me hurt, makes my fingers hurt, give me hot flashes...but I hope to complain about these side effects for the rest of my very long, very healthy life!  

Good luck to your friend.

[JC145]

I have been on tamoxifen.  I was dx in 6/06 .. finished chemo 11/06 .. CA125 began rising in January 07 and crept up 8 to 10 pts a month until July 07 when my MD put me on tamoxifen.  My counts returned to acceptable level by 12/31/07, but have been rising again.  Up to now, there has not been any disease seen on any scan so the tamoxifen was a good med to try and it worked for me for a good 6 months.  I'm once again in limbo and seeing my MD in a couple weeks to see where we go from here since my # is rising and there is a suspicious lymph node near my liver .. first actual sign of anything.  Tamoxifen works in 10% of ovarian cancer patients (I was lucky) and it usually takes a couple  of months to show up in the CA-125.  I am told it could have lasted a couple of years .. 3 at best.  I'm happy that I have been able to stay off heavy chemo for the lalst 18 months.  Hopes this helps .. tough decision ..

Judy C