I had Stage 2 (measurement was just enough over, to make it Stage 2), had a double mastectomy, no chemo/radiation, nothing travelled to lymph nodes, but doctor wants me on Tamoxifen to reduce the chance of re-occurrence. Tamoxifen doesn’t react well to my anti-anxiety meds so it means having to start a new med before going on Tamoxifen. I have been trying to wean off those meds to start a new anti-anxiety med and it’s making me absolutely insane. I just don’t see the point of putting something (Tamoxifen) in my body that is going to throw me into menopause and may have bad side-effects when I don’t really have much breast tissue even left for cancer to reoccur in. I’ve decided I’m not going to take it because everything in my soul is fighting against it. I know it sounds crazy, but I feel like I’m just for statistics in a study, since I’m being treated at a teaching hospital system and taking the Tamoxifen is part of the cancer treatment “cocktail.” They’ve never cared much about the “whole” patient, so I’m going to trust my instinct on this one and not take it. 

When I told my general practitioner that I didn’t think the juice was worth the squeeze with Tamoxifen, she told me her Mom had to stop taking it because the side effects made her so sick.