Monday, May 12, 2008

What happens if you stop taking Tamoxifen (Breast cancer drug) for a week

What happens if you stop taking Tamoxifen (Breast cancer drug) for a week?
Hi all, I am asking this question on behalf of my mother, she had breast cancer, then she had an operation and then radiation so the cancer is all gone (Not sure if that's worded properly), anyhow, she must take tamoxifen to prevent the recurrence of the cancer. We live in San Francisco but we are currently in rural Sabah, Malaysia, you can only get a months worth of the drug (30 days) but we have been here for 25 days and will be here for another 9 days. She currently has 5 pills, and you are supposed to take one each day. Is she in danger if she takes them all for the next 5 days and has a 4 day break? Also, how should she take them? One every other day? Every day until runs out? Etc.. (Also, the original plan to deal with this was that my father would come and meet us and bring with him another month's worth, but he couldn't make it) So please help!!! Thanks a lot, Chris
Cancer - 2 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Nothing bad will happen. Tamoxifen adds estrogen to the body (which is where the link to uterine cancer comes from - that is one of those rare side effects) as it blocks estrogen in the breast. So the standard of care is to take tamoxifen for 5 years to protect the breast from cancer. Some women opt not to take the drug at all. It also is not a drug like birth control pills where you have to adhere to a cycle or your hormones will get all out of whack.
2 :
Tamoxifen is prescribed if your cancer is hormone receptive. It stops your hormones from reacting with any remaining cancer cells to encourage them to grow! Over the 5 years it is normally prescribed, it lowers your risk of recurrance by about 10% over the 5 year period. Eg, if she has been given a risk of recurrance of say 30%, with out the Tamoxifen this would increase to 40% if she didn't take it at all for the 5 years! By missing a week, the change is about 0.04%, so enjoy the break and stop worrying

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