In mid-2000, I was diagnosed with an estrogen-positive breast cancer. I had a lumpectomy for a very small tumor, chemotherapy (my oncologist recommended because I was "young"—only 45 and he thought it would be in my best interest) and in 2001, started Tamoxifen and 6.5 weeks of radiation. About 10 weeks into taking Tamoxifen, I started having minute-to-minute, intense sensations of freezing, then burning up—the Tamoxifen was doing its job and binding to the estrogen in my system and putting me into a chemically induced menopause. I was put on 25mg, regular-release Effexor (venlafaxine) to control these "hot flashes."

In late March 2004, I woke up on a Sunday thinking I had a "charlie horse" in my right calf. Nothing eased it and by Wednesday noon, I was at my regular doctor's for muscle relaxers. He knew I was on Tamoxifen and even though my leg was NOT red, NOT hot, NOT swollen, he sent me to the local hospital for a sonagram. Within minutes of the test, I was whisked to the ER and was given several shots of Lovenox (a blood-thinner) and admitted. I spent 8.5 days in the hospital, getting Lovenox shots twice a day as well as oral warfarin (another blood thinner). ). I was on warfarin for a year and had blood taken weekly to monitor and adjust the dose.

While there, they discovered that I had anemia—I had been having HEAVY periods for several months with little, or no pause between. I had a vaginal exam and some uterine biopsies taken. I had developed uterine cancer and needed a hysterectomy. Fortunately, all cancer was contained within the uterus.

Both the leg blood clot and uterine cancer were attributed to my Tamoxifen use. As soon as I was admitted to the hospital for the DVT, my oncologist took me off Tamoxifen.

Sometime after the hysterectomy, I was put on Aromasin (after all, I was now post-menopausal). I stayed on that for another 5 years until my oncologist said no further benefit would come from taking it any longer. The only real problem I had on Aromasin was that from the VERY FIRST dose, I would "urp, urp, urp" all night long after going to bed—no acid reflux, or burning in the throat, just "urp." Careful reading of the teeny print on the multi-page drug info sheet that came with the Aromasin did show “dyspepsia” as a possible side effect. That side effect went away about three months after discontinuing Aromasin.