When you have hormone positive breast cancer, how to manage menopause?

Posted by sue417 @sue417, Apr 10 8:49am

Hi
I just finished breast cancer surgery and radiation I was taken off my HRT last October. I am 65 I have major menopause symptoms and wondered what women do that have had a breast cancer and are not allowed to take estrogen to get through this phase of life. I cannot sleep because of the hot flashes all night and now I have to start tamoxifen 5 mg which I'm hoping does not increase my night sweats I miss my estrogen/Progesterone and I'm at a loss. Is there anything you can take to help I just feel ill all the time. Anyone else have this kind of experience. I was on bioidentical hormones my cancer is estrogen progesterone positive HRT negative. My oncologist did put me on vagifem thank god for my bladder issues

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@bjohnson511

I believe that everyone’s body is different than everyone receives medication differently. It’s worth a try for six months and see how it goes from there. Your doctor will give you several options. Stay open minded I did not have to go on them at all, but I would take a chance and get it six months. I will probably go back a different version another few weeks, best wishes us posted . Hugs

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Hi
As I did not have an invasive cancer I am not taking any medications. I couldn't tolerate tamoxifen for 6 days so there's no way on the planet I'm taking an AI my body my choice

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@queenofjacks

I too had IDC & hormone positive & had to give up my HRT which I loved. If you are looking for something for hot flashes/sweat, VEOZAH is the bomb. It works & no side effects. The only problem is it’s $600 a month. You can get a card that will cut the cost from your oncologist or go online & sign up or see if your insurance will pay for it, Medicare won’t. Wishing you & all of us on this journey strength & love.

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Hi
Thanks for the info but seriously are you kidding why can they not cover a medication for women when you are going through such a horrific experience in life cancer that's insane I will take the road of my naturopath. Again big pharma controlling.

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@sue417

Hi
As I did not have an invasive cancer I am not taking any medications. I couldn't tolerate tamoxifen for 6 days so there's no way on the planet I'm taking an AI my body my choice

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Hi! What were your tamoxifen side effects? Also how old are you? I am 46. Will be starting this med very soon after my radiation treatments are over.

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@christylv

Hi! What were your tamoxifen side effects? Also how old are you? I am 46. Will be starting this med very soon after my radiation treatments are over.

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Hi
I am 65. Day two of tamoxifen headache which increased daily. Nothing I took got rid of it, my brain felt very weird, nausea, ringing of the ears, hot flashes all night they were just constant, muscle spasms in my calves, fatigue x 100. This was only 6 days for me at 5 mg. I'm very hypersensitive to medication I was hopeful with this but no thank you

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@sue417

HiWhen your hormone positive for breast cancer and you cannot take HRT what can you take fir menopause symptoms. Since I have been off my HRT last October I feel nauseated and feel very unwell everyday. I had very bad menopause and when I went on HRT I felt great.

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Oh goodness, that sounds like a lot of side effects. To many to continue the medication. That’s what happened to me when I was using yuvafem. I had migraines. Problem was I did not think it was from the medicine. I thought it was just my seasonal allergies giving me the migraines. I stopped it. But I was on it to long for my own good. I am hoping tamoxifen is different and does not give me those headaches back. I never had hot flashes before either. So not looking forward to that. I do have zofran in case I get nauseous. Did you have high grade or low DCIS?

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@christylv

Oh goodness, that sounds like a lot of side effects. To many to continue the medication. That’s what happened to me when I was using yuvafem. I had migraines. Problem was I did not think it was from the medicine. I thought it was just my seasonal allergies giving me the migraines. I stopped it. But I was on it to long for my own good. I am hoping tamoxifen is different and does not give me those headaches back. I never had hot flashes before either. So not looking forward to that. I do have zofran in case I get nauseous. Did you have high grade or low DCIS?

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Hi
Originally it was dcis er/pr+ her2 neg stage 0. But when they removed it and did the pathology there was a microscopic break in one of the milk ducts so that put me to Stage 2 but the doctor said it was nothing to be worried about and my lymph nodes were negative

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@sue417

Hi
Originally it was dcis er/pr+ her2 neg stage 0. But when they removed it and did the pathology there was a microscopic break in one of the milk ducts so that put me to Stage 2 but the doctor said it was nothing to be worried about and my lymph nodes were negative

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Oh ok I see. That makes sense. Did you have to get a lumpectomy and radiation? Any chemo? Was this your first time having breast cancer?

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@christylv

Oh ok I see. That makes sense. Did you have to get a lumpectomy and radiation? Any chemo? Was this your first time having breast cancer?

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Hi
They found it during my 2-year checkup mammogram I had to go in 2 days later for four needle biopsies and then the next week so my doctor and he told me I had breast cancer. So I had a lumpectomy in December and my surgeon was awesome because my breast still looks normal and then in February I saw the radiologist in London Ontario and he found the microscopic break in my pathology of my milk duct so I had to have another surgery February 20th Sentinel node and that was clear and then I had 20 treatments of radiation in 10 days felt great during it but now 6 weeks out I have Wicked fatigue in the afternoon it's very frustrating I have to just lay down I hope this doesn't last for the whole summer. How about you

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@sue417

HiWhen your hormone positive for breast cancer and you cannot take HRT what can you take fir menopause symptoms. Since I have been off my HRT last October I feel nauseated and feel very unwell everyday. I had very bad menopause and when I went on HRT I felt great.

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Sounds very similar to me. I am happy everything went well for you though. Except the fatigue of course. Mine was detected on a routine mammogram. They found some calcifications. A week later they biopsied the two spots they found. I got a call back the day after the biopsies, they told me it was atypical hyperplasia. Even with atypical symptoms they still
Set up a consultation with a breast surgeon because they told me they remove anything atypical these days. My surgery was set for February of this year. Had the lumpectomy. When that pathology came back, they found a very small area with DCIS. I did have clear margins so no need for additional surgery. Then I met with an oncologist who told me to wait to start my tamoxifen after my radiation. I am still doing radiation now. I am set to have 21 treatments total. Last 5 are targeted boots they told me. I am in my second week now. Like you, you could never even tell I had a lumpectomy done. The scar is almost invisible now.

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@christylv

Sounds very similar to me. I am happy everything went well for you though. Except the fatigue of course. Mine was detected on a routine mammogram. They found some calcifications. A week later they biopsied the two spots they found. I got a call back the day after the biopsies, they told me it was atypical hyperplasia. Even with atypical symptoms they still
Set up a consultation with a breast surgeon because they told me they remove anything atypical these days. My surgery was set for February of this year. Had the lumpectomy. When that pathology came back, they found a very small area with DCIS. I did have clear margins so no need for additional surgery. Then I met with an oncologist who told me to wait to start my tamoxifen after my radiation. I am still doing radiation now. I am set to have 21 treatments total. Last 5 are targeted boots they told me. I am in my second week now. Like you, you could never even tell I had a lumpectomy done. The scar is almost invisible now.

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Hi
Well that all sounds good. So are you doing g 5wks of treatment. My radiologist gave me the option of doing 20 treatments in 10 days or 4 wks I chose 10 days since I had to go out of town for my radiation

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