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@triciaot
I am having lots of irritability, brain fog and also some depression. I also get Charlie horse type pain in my toes, feet and calves. And I started having blurry vision with very dry eyes. I did not have blurry vision before starting Tamoxifen.
Went to the eye doc and she says use drops and Readers. The drops don’t seem to be helping much but the Readers help some. The vision issues are just really frustrating when I’m trying to work on my laptop.
And the emotional feelings are hard too. I will ask about lowering my dose and see if it helps at all.
Thank you!!
Replies to "@triciaot I am having lots of irritability, brain fog and also some depression. I also get..."
I doubt that cataracts are forming in a few short weeks, and I agree with giving it a few more weeks then talking to your doctor. There are many ways to adjust dose or even try a different therapy.
I took tamoxifen for 5 years like very many women do. Some things like the emotional feelings and the irritability did get better when my body adjusted, as did the cramps. I did use magnesium frequently at the beginning to help with that.
My doctor recommended systane gel drops several times a day for the dry eyes which seemed to alleviate the dry eyes while working on the computer.
I eventually added sertraline (antidepressant) lowest dose to get through the 15 years endocrine therapy.
Adjusting your dose or even trying a different medicine is an acceptable way to keep your eye on the prize, which in its simplest form is not having a relapse, treatment for or dying from breast cancer.
It was not always easy and the hot flashes and dry eyes remain 20 years later, but I love to say “ I have had 20 years to complain about it😂”
Are you comfortable having these conversations with your doctor to find an acceptable path through this?
Can you think of all the reasons you are going through this mostly annoying treatment to begin with, like family, friends, or love?
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I’d ask whether they thought the Charley horse cramps were from a change in your calcium and potassium levels - and balance of the two.
I’d suggest that you might need a different reader for the laptop and regular reading. The laptop is usually farther from your face than when you read a paper or book. The farther distance would mean a different, maybe stronger reader.
Also you might see if you can brighten your laptop screen. Cataracts ARE a side effect of tamoxifen, and early signs are the need for more light to see and read. I also enlarge the text on my laptop and email - I can read the smaller text but it is easier to quickly scan through text that is a little larger.