The KInd Life Community Forum

As a breast cancer survivor I take a daily dose of tamoxifin (and will for the next 5 years). The only side effect I seem to have currently is weight gain. I'm just curious if there are any other vegans out there that may have the same problem, and if they were able to do anything about it through their diet.
Blessings!

i dont have any personal experience with this but it was nice to see this post. my mom was dx with breast cancer when i was 7. she did tamoxifen for a while (it was in more of an experimental phase then) back in the early 90's. it did make her gain weight. sadly she passed in 1996 after a 7 year struggle. with all the advances we have made in the past few years with BC treatment there is so much more hope now.
i went for the BRCA test last october and was thankfully negative, though because no one in my family who has had BC and died from it (mom, both GM's and several aunts) has ever been tested, it is unclear whether i had been speared the gene mutation or if there is another gene mutation going on in my family all together. therefore they put my risk at a 1 in 3 chance. i will be on survellience measures. i have also heard of people in a hish risk group being given tamoxifen- so this interests me in particular.

how are you feeling on it, besides the weight gain?

Hi there,

Sad to admit still, I am just coming through breast cancer treatment, with a nother surgery on the horizon next week. I am brca2 positive also... I started Tamoxifen on January 1st, and had to abruptly stop it cuz it tremendously crippled my left leg. We are hoping I just need to be further out from chemo. I was three months
out when we tried to start it- so now looking toward June. I have wretched side effects in the menopausal arena from chemo-still. In particular the weight gain seems irreversible at present, hot flashes, loss of libido etc... They all went through the roof the mere two weeks I was on Tamoxifen so not looking forward to giving it another try (but not ready to lose my ovaries yet either-regardless of dx recommendations). I don't know how old y'all are. I'm in my thirties now and have been told these side effects are often rougher when you aren't as close to the menopausal onset age... But who knows - learning so much is truly individual as well. I've been vegetarian since I was fifteen. Hopeful to find some more guidance here. But concerned as I've eaten an extremely low fat diet for over half my life now. So even when I contemplate eating more macrobiotic or entirely vegan, I get confused and concerned that I'll blow up even more than I have this past year from the chemo, drugs, steroids, etc... I'm up twenty pounds total :(

Anyways, I'm sorry you guys have had to go through this - it's much harder than I initially thought it would have been. That's for shizzle ;)

Much peace,

~b

be elle - so sorry you are having such a difficult time with your treatment. Chemo is rough, radiation is rough and surgeries are really rough. I understand!!

I am 38, diagnosed at 37. I too have been a vegetarian since I was a teenager (14 years old). I started Tamoxifen on 1/11/10 and went totally vegan on 1/19/10. Feel free to contact me if you need anything!! Cancer is tough especially as a young woman.

Hugs,
Kim

Oh, thanks so much Kim - and right back at you... :) That's really sweet. We sound near identical from vegetarianism to breast cancer diagnosis to hormonal therapy... My cancer was estrogen positive so really confused with the whole eating soy debate these days. Anyways - hope you are doing okay. Feel free to contact me too - even if just to vent, I totally get it :)

~b