tamoxifen and vaginal bleeding

I have a pelvic and trans-vaginal ultrasound scheduled this afternoon. I have been experiencing 8 weeks of vaginal bleeding (I am a 5 year survivor, chemo, mastectomy, rads, reconstruction and have been taking tamoxifen now for almost 5 years). I also have a hysteroscopy scheduled for 8th November.

I am really getting scared now.. I ended up in casualty just over a week ago as the bleed had gotten so heavy and I was in excrutiating pain. I have been on norithisterone (progesterone) for over a week now and that has eased the bleeding some, but it hasn't stopped...

I am becoming more and more convinced that this is not good news.. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Would welcome any input here.

Love
Angie

Hi Angie,

Congrats on being a 5 year breast cancer survivor!

I'm sorry you are going thru this! The bleeding could be due to several causes, so I"m not going to guess on that. But I am real glad you are getting this taken care of...I hope that everything goes well for you and that the problem can be easily remedied!

hugs,

K9

Hi Angie,

Sorry you are having this problem. I also had bc in 1999 and took tamoxifen for almost 5 years. In April of this year, I started to bleed after not having a period for 8 mos. It didn't stop after 3 weeks, so I went to my gyn. She did an endometrial biopsy first, which came back negative, then a transvaginal ultrasound. I had some endometrial thickening but also found a large complex cyst I didn't know was there!

I also had a CAT scan to check the cyst (it appeared to be benign). Since I had to have an abdominal incision to remove the cyst, I opted to have a hyster as well.

The result was all benign, but I had a bunch of stuff growing that was driven by the excess and unopposed estrogen in tamoxifen---endo, cyst, and large polyp in my uterus. I never had any gyn problems or surgeries before and am convinced it is because of tamoxifen. Several other sisters on this board have written about similar problems.

You might want to consider quitting the tamoxifen, since you've taken it almost 5 years anyway. Perhaps you can avoid a hyster.
I'm praying that your test results are all negative---I think they will be. Keep us posted.

Cheers,
Gale

I was dx with breast cancer in 1993. After lumpectomy, chemo and radiation I took tamoxefin for five years. Three months after finishing I had some very slight bleeding. That was the fall of 99. I saw a gyn/onc who did a biopsy. and ultra sound. All was negative. This went on for four years. Slight bleeding. biopsy, etc. Each time was negative. In June of 03 the biopsy was positive for uterine cancer. The type caused by unopposed estorgen. ie tamoxefin.
I only wish I had know then what I knos now and had insisted on the surgery at the onset.
Never another with the breast cancer and it has been 11 years.
Jean

.... appear to be normal (awaiting confirmation, but the sonographer said everything looked normal, and there was no thickening to the endometrium).

Cervical smear normal too. Have to have a hysteroscopy 8th November which will look at everything in much closer detail.

Really don't understand what is going on now... the progesterone has eased the bleeed some, but not completely and am still getting pelvic/tummy cramping.

Has anyone else experienced this or have any ideas what might be going on here?

Thanks for your input

Love
Angie

Tamoxifen use increases the risk of endometrial cancer, so you definitely need to pursue further testing to determine the cause for your abnormal vaginal bleeding to make certain you rule out this cancer.

I am glad to hear your cervical smear (pap) was normal. However, a pap is a screening test for cervical cancer, not endometrial cancer. Both a D&C and a uterine biopsy are tests that sample tissue from the uterine lining to determine whether endometrial cancer is present. An endometrial biopsy was what diagnosed my endometrial cancer in 1999. I first had an ultrasound which did not find a thickened uterine lining or anything suspicious, and which concluded I had a "probable fibroid." It turned out that I did not have a fibroid at all, but rather the area in question was the major site of my endometrial cancer.

Good luck with your further testing, and please let us know how things turn out.

MoeKay