Connect
← Return to Anyone had nausea as a side effect of tamoxifen? What helps?
Discussion
Anyone had nausea as a side effect of tamoxifen? What helps?
Breast Cancer | Last Active: Jan 16 6:28pm | Replies (74)Comment receiving replies
Hi everyone! I’m new to this forum. I was dx with both lobular and ductal atypical hyperplasia in one of my breasts, had a lumpectomy, and was put on Tamoxifen for 5 years. In January I start my 2nd year of the prevention treatment. I’ve had many of the same side effects, tiredness, weight gain, vaginal dryness, hot flashes, night sweats (the most horrible ones), and induced menopause. So fat, I’ve been able to manage those. However, I’ve had a not so common side effect that is affecting my life in a significant way - severe mental fog, minimum attention span, memory loss, and basically mild cognitive impairment. I was just wondering if anyone has gone through this and how they managed. Thank you!
Replies to "Hi everyone! I’m new to this forum. I was dx with both lobular and ductal atypical..."
Welcome Heidi, I agree with @katehanni that tamoxifen had less side effects than the AI I took later. The nausea was manageable, I drank a tea with cayenne, cinnamon and ginger, that a friend made for me. Brain fog is one of the many gifts I received from endocrine therapy. Like you I have found ways to cope with the myriad of annoying side effects. Mostly just annoying and not truly life altering. I have decided that I am going to treat brain fog the same. When my words are stolen, I just say that word has temporarily disappeared, it will be back in a while, I try to make a joke of it and not take it too seriously. You have to be prepared to cut yourself some slack. Your body is going through some pretty big adjustments right now. Have you tried any brain exercises? Maybe you can share how you cope, it doesn’t matter if it was successful or not?
Connect
After nearly a year of trialing the aromatase inhibitors to no avail, I'm now on Tamoxifen. Yes I'm experiencing the foggy brain on the Tamoxifen but in my case te Aromatase inhibitors were much worse in the brain fog arena so for my experience with Tamoxifen yes I'm having some memory and brain fog issues, but so much less that the other meds it's like the lesser of two evils.
There is one thing that I've added to my regiment that is both an immune booster and natural supplement (a mushroom) called Lions Mane which helps with neural functioning and memory and for me it's really working. I am seeing a naturopath as part of my care plan and it's been instrumental in finding ways to limit the side effects of Tamoxifen.
For me, I'm just happy I can tolerate and have the protections of Tamoxifen!