3 vs 5 Years of Tamoxifen for DCIS?

Posted by blueroan10 @blueroan10, Jan 12 8:52am

Hi! I was diagnosed with DCIS grades 1-2 in 2022 at age 44. After my lumpectomy and radiation, I started on 20mg of tamoxifen for five years. Based on updated research, my oncologist switched me to 10mg, maybe a year in.

At my most recent appointment, my doctor told me based on additional research, I could stop tamoxifen at three years. So basically I’m done.

This feels surreal particularly as I’ve not really had any side effects from the tamoxifen so I have never asked to change doses or stop early. I was completely not expecting this.

I’m curious for newer DCIS diagnoses, particularly premenopausal, are your doctors prescribing three or five years of tamoxifen? At what dose?

Thanks!

PS I completely trust my oncologist, just trying to wrap my head around it.

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Arvind Natarajan | @malebreastcancer47 | Jan 12 10:25am

Hello….what is your onco-type dx score?
Mine is 34, I had a mastectomy, 4 rounds of chemo and now Tamoxifen. Started with 20 mg, after 1 yr, could not handle side effects, now on 10 mg.
Mine is still min of 5 yrs.

Chris, Volunteer Mentor | @auntieoakley | Jan 12 2:05pm

@blueroan10 welcome to connect, I am happy to hear you didn’t have a lot of side effect from Tamoxifen. It is an interesting sensation to have your doctor essentially say that you are done with treatment. It was exhilarating and terrifying in equal measure.
How are you feeling with the idea of monitoring only?