If you think you’ve heard everything you need to hear about tamoxifen, think again because there’s a new wave of information on this amazing drug medication that’ll boggle you mind. There’s so much being added daily it’s a battle to keep up with the influx of news and additional information about a plethora of uses the medication is put to, self-care tips, precautions, how it works and many more. Stay tuned for more great content.

Novel uses for tamoxifen

Did you know there’s a whole range of uses that tamoxifen can be put to? If not here are just of few examples:

  • Tamoxifen may be prescribed for the treatment of ovarian cancer
  • Tamoxifen may also be prescribed for women who are at a greater risk of developing breast cancer so as to minimize the likelihood of women developing breast cancer. As a matter of fact there’s been a whole shift to risks and benefits of tamoxifen when the main topic is about minimizing the development of breast cancer.
  • Tamoxifen can also be prescribed for women suffering from ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) who have undergone surgery followed by radiation therapy.
  • Tamoxifen is known to have the propensity of reducing the risk of invasive breast cancer. Similarly the risks and benefits of tamoxifen should also be discussed in connection with this setting.
  • Men and women diagnosed with having metastatic breast cancer, which is cancer that has spread, can be prescribed in those suffering from this type of cancer of the breast.
  • Drug medication tamoxifen can be given as adjuvant therapy. This is a specific treatment given following a successful surgery in women as well and men suffering from lymph node negative or lymph node positive breast cancer.

It’s worth noting that if a drug (such as tamoxifen) has been approved for a specific use, physicians may still choose to use the same drug for other treatments if they believe the benefits outweigh the risks.

The method used in giving tamoxifen

Here are the safe and sure guidelines for taking tamoxifen:

  • Since tamoxifen comes in the form of a pill, it should be taken in the mouth and should be swallowed whole.
  • For the sake of consistency and effectiveness, tamoxifen should be taken at more or less the same time every day with the aid of a full glass of water.
  • If a dose is inadvertently missed your dose, you should never take an extra dose the next day to make up for the mishap.
  • The amount of tamoxifen that will be given will directly depend of certain factors that will included:
    • your general health condition
    • other health issues
    • the type of cancer under treatment
  • Your doctor will determine your dose, the details of your treatment course and the duration of your treatment.

Tamoxifen side effects

Some pertinent points you should remember about tamoxifen side effects are that:

  • there’s no direct connection between the severity of side effects and the efficacy of tamoxifen.
  • many options are available to help minimize or prevent the occurrence of side effects.
  • In most cases side effects are nearly always reversible and in all cases will eventually dissipate after the end of the treatment course.
  • the predictability of side effects in terms of their beginning and duration are often very easy to detect and surmise.
  • It’s not unusual for most people taking tamoxifen not to experience all of the listed side effects of this drug medication.

Common side effects of tamoxifen

The following side effects may be categorized as common because they are found in more than 30% of the patients who take tamoxifen:

  • loss of libido (especially in men)
  • hot flashes
  • vaginal discharge
  • swelling (caused by retention of fluid in hands, feet and ankles)

Less common side effects of tamoxifen

These side effects are less common and they include:

  • nausea
  • mood changes (anxiety and depression)
  • vaginal bleeding
  • weight loss
  • menstrual disorders

Rare but serious side effects of tamoxifen

There are also rare and serious side effects of tamoxifen that include:

  • Blood clots – these include deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolus. If your notice that one of your legs is swollen, appears red, painful and/or warm to the touch and the other is normal, notify your doctor promptly.
  • Uterine cancer – this is another rare but serious side effect of tamoxifen and women who’ve not received a hysterectomy therapy should have regular pap smears and gyn examinations. Any abnormal vaginal bleeding that occurs should be reported immediately to your healthcare provider.
  • Fertility – a man’s ability to be a father and a woman’s role to become pregnant can be impacted by the taking of tamoxifen. Please discuss this matter with your healthcare provider.
  • Sudden chest pain – if you experience this type of pain you should immediately alert your healthcare provider
  • Shortness of breath – similar to the action you should do for chest pain above. In both cases, you should promptly notify your healthcare provider

It should be noted that the list of side effects mentioned above is not exhaustive. Even some of the rare side effects are not listed.

Nevertheless it’s your duty and obligations for your own health and safety that you quickly inform your healthcare provider should you happen to experience any strange and unusual symptoms while taking tamoxifen.

Symptomatic incidents that warrant action

These are very important symptoms which you may unexpectedly experience and when you do, you should promptly notify your healthcare provider because it’s an emergency situation:

  • a sudden shortness of breadth

The following side effects also require medical attention but are not an emergency. When you get these symptoms, you should alert your healthcare provider within 24 hours of noticing them:

  • changes in vision
  • swelling, redness and/or pain in only one of your legs
  • appearance of new lumps in your breast
  • depression that interferes with your ability to carry on your normal activities
  • nausea that interferes with your eating ability and it doesn’t get better even with prescription medication
  • excessive discharge from the vagina or bleeding, menstrual period disorders and pain

Again, you are advised to immediately inform your healthcare provider if you experienced any strange symptoms that appear.

Conclusion

You are now familiar with the main information surrounding drug medication tamoxifen and especially the major role that it plays in treating and curing not only a new case of breast cancer, but also breast cancer that’s in progress. More interesting and important is the ability of this drug medication’s propensity to stop the recurrence of breast cancer one it has been healed. Knowing the side effects of tamoxifen simply adds the remaining touch.