I agree that speaking out to a doctor causes you to run the risk of being blacklisted as "a complainer." I grew up totally trusting in the doctor's judgment, so learning that modern medicine requires one to speak up and become a forceful advocate is new to me. I am a writer, so I wrote everything down and I have given each of my current doctors the full story of my treatment(s). (I actually heard the Texas group discussing it out in the hall through the door, that was ajar, and they were appalled.) I will gladly tell any patient, privately, the name of the offending oncologist who apparently did not spend even a minute finding out about my participation in the MOST study for over 20 years and put me on drugs almost guaranteed to cause inflammation of previously injured joints. When I went to Iowa City and met with the man who is now my Midwestern oncologist, that was his comment: that A.I. pills (not Tamoxifen, but Anastrozole, Laetrozole and Exemestane) will cause inflammation of previously injured or arthritic joints. I am not a doctor and it is simply something that I agonized through, firsthand, for 7 months, with little concern showed by the oncologist's office about any of my side effects. I also was not given the truth when I inquired about side effects, and had to find out on my own from blogs like this #ne. I sincerely hope that you do not have the extreme off-the-chart bone and joint pain that I experienced, because I was 76 years old at the time, had given birth to two children (one a 9-lb. boy) and had 3 major surgeries and it was the worst pain I have ever experienced, bar none---and that includes the $12,000 of dental work I am currently undergoing with dental implants, crowns, root canals, etc. Good luck! Don't suffer in silence for months, like I did.

Tamoxifen will not "inflame" the joints as the A.I. drugs do. And I AM "old," as my doctor so tactfully pointed out, With any luck, we will both get even "older." My mother---a 4-shots-a-day diabetic---lived to be 96 with no dementia and played bridge until almost the day she died. (She once flew to Hawaii to play in a tournament that Omar Sharif was playing in). I always figured I'd get diabetes, so I began watching out for that a long time ago, but the b.c. cancer diagnosis came from out of left field and left me totally unprepared. Like my mother, I am a fighter, and I won't go down without a fight, for sure. I feel normal and fine right now and, since I stopped taking all pills to "protect" me my energy levels have returned and I have recently done the Chicago International Film Festival, Nashville, Sundance, and, just recently, SXSW. I filed 34 different reviews from Austin in 8 days, attending 3 movies a day and writing until (sometimes) 4 movies a day. (I enjoyed telling my friends that I might get to meet Ryan Gosling on March 10th if I got the Red Carpet for that one) Not being able to stand (or walk) is not something that I can live with, and the Anastrozole definitely put me in a world of hurt in so many ways. Just for the World Premiere of "Stormy" (the documentary now showing on Paramount Plus, I think, I had to stand from 3:15 until 5:30 p.m. waiting for her to show up. I post on my own blog (WeeklyWilson) and on TheMovieBlog and have been reviewing film non-stop since 1972. I have no intention of letting cancer stop that, but it sure put a crimp in my style last year when I could neither stand nor walk.