Are you in the States? An oncologist is the one to follow you, not a nurse or a GP, or family doctor, this "attachement"first time I hear, usually Tamoxifen in some because it stops your ovaries to produce hormones, one can get hot flashes,mood changes, etc.
For any medication during cancer treatment an oncologist is the one.
Do not wait a month,see your onco,also call your breast surgeon and let him know about the pain.
Some we had /have pain in the breast that was amputated just like with a limb, it is called phantom pain, I used to ache and itch during the year I waited for reconstruction and even later.Hugs back.

I've been on tamoxifen for 21/2 years and it is my understanding that it is for premenopausal women. There is another drug called something like amiredex for post menopausal. I am assuming that at 62 you would be in the latter category. I have never had problems with tamoxifen, but I know many people do. I would ask the oncologist about this other drug. Good luck to you.

I have a lot of bone and muscle pain with tamoxifen as well. I also get dry heaves, constipation, phantom pain in my breast and underarm, knees, shins, and big toe. It can be hard to deal with tamoxifen..I keep telling my oncologist my symptoms and he just says "Yup that's the tamoxifen"...That's nice doc, but what do I do about it?! If it is really bothering you, and you can not handle it, put your foot down.

I went into chemo induced menoupause, I was a young woman still ovulating and was given tamoxifen and later evista,but it was hard for me, an my oncologist told me that my chances of survival would go from 70% to 73%, so after a few months of each, I stopped all together.
But I had chemo and mastectomy,also we are all diferent.I make echo to tell your oncologist again.

I too had DCIS, mastecomy and five years of tamoxifen. I had hot flashes for a week or two, but no other side effects. I'm certainly not a Dr., but it does take a long time to really recover from such a major surgury, so don't give up on tamoxifen yet. I am now almost 10 years out since dx and am glad I stuck it out with tamoxifen. (hugs)

Also, tamoxifen does NOT stop your ovaries from producing hormones. The link to this information is at the end.


Tamoxifen is a Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator. SERMs attach to estrogen receptors, which are located on cells throughout the body and either block or stimulate them. In breast tissue, tamoxifen attaches to the estrogen receptor and is inactive. It prevents circulating estrogen, which would stimulate the breast tissue to grow, from binding to the receptor. Tamoxifen is used after initial treatment of breast cancer. It prevents it from recurring in the same breast and from occurring in the healthy breast.
By binding to the estrogen receptor, tamoxifen keeps the receptor occupied and estrogen cannot attach to it and signal cell growth. Tamoxifen is inactive in breast tissue. Think of it as a baseball glove that already has a ball in it; the glove cannot catch another ball.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/84830-tamoxifen-work-treating-breast-cancer/#ixzz1kRSCPb43