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Did you gain weight on Tamoxifen? What helps?

Breast Cancer | Last Active: Jan 10 6:23pm | Replies (50)

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@auntieoakley

Hi @creeder, yes I gained weight on tamoxifen. The trade off of no estrogen feeding my cancer, was instant menopause in my 30’s. That meant weight gain, my horses looked at me as if to say “really?”, I managed to keep it reasonable by eating smarter and increasing my exercise but I did gain anyway.
I lost a ton on chemo so I had a bit I could gain back before it was a net gain. Then I lost most of that after I started anastrazole. Then when I quit smoking 7 years ago, the battle of the bulge began again. That’s when I gave up and put drawstrings in all of my skirts.
To answer your question, I do feel it was worth it, to keep the cancer at bay. Like you, my weight was important to me, but at a point I had to learn to go easy on myself. Being fit is important, but if I let the cancer grow then what will the weight matter. I am glad I finally quit smoking too, but it sure added to the struggle.
How long have you been on tamoxifen?

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Replies to "Hi @creeder, yes I gained weight on tamoxifen. The trade off of no estrogen feeding my..."

I appreciate your feedback and will discuss my concerns with the doctor. I have been on Tamoxifen since about August. I am 71 years of age, no lymphnodes were affected with my surgery and they considered me a stage 0. I did have 5 radiation treatments consecutively and was very hesitant about putting the added chemical of Tamoxifen in my system. I am continuing with screening at Mayo every 6 months....so that is my concern. I am truly trying with healthy eating and exercise to have no effect. That is where my frustration lies. I have already gained approximately 8 pounds and I do not want to be vain about how I look but I am really feeling down about this. Maybe changing to anastrozole would help.