Tamoxifen and Weight Gain

Christmasgirl

I've been on Tamoxifen for three years now. I've gained 30 pounds. I'm not sure if it's the Tamoxifen, but have heard other women state the same fact. Anyway, I've been working out religously and eating well and still can't lose a pound. Has anyone had success with losing weight on Tamoxifen?

mssue

Hi,

I remember right before I was diagnosed I had started losing weight-good thing right? Then when they found the cancer and going through everything we have to go through-all the treatments and everything-boom !! I gained what i lost plus some.Lord only knows what I would look like if I would have been put on Tamoxifen-Probably the Goodyear Blimp-'LOL'
I've talked to several people who are on the Tamoxifen,they too have put on weight.In reading Your concerns it prompt me to do a little research,I found this website ,I don't know if it will be of any help but You never know unless You try, go to---www.breastcancer.org/cmty_trans_2005_01_pf.html
Hopefully You will gain some insight in this matter.Congratulations,You are already successful in alot of areas in Your life-taking the time to take care of Yourself and realizing that it's not just one thing but a variety of things that help You to be healthy and sound.You are a survivor,an accomplishment in itself-keep up the good work,unless the weight becomes a health issue, as long as You are happy and healthy the world is Yours.Take care and continue to be good to Yourself.
God Bless You!
Sue

Kathy1108

mssue said:

Hi,

I remember right before I was diagnosed I had started losing weight-good thing right? Then when they found the cancer and going through everything we have to go through-all the treatments and everything-boom !! I gained what i lost plus some.Lord only knows what I would look like if I would have been put on Tamoxifen-Probably the Goodyear Blimp-'LOL'
I've talked to several people who are on the Tamoxifen,they too have put on weight.In reading Your concerns it prompt me to do a little research,I found this website ,I don't know if it will be of any help but You never know unless You try, go to---www.breastcancer.org/cmty_trans_2005_01_pf.html
Hopefully You will gain some insight in this matter.Congratulations,You are already successful in alot of areas in Your life-taking the time to take care of Yourself and realizing that it's not just one thing but a variety of things that help You to be healthy and sound.You are a survivor,an accomplishment in itself-keep up the good work,unless the weight becomes a health issue, as long as You are happy and healthy the world is Yours.Take care and continue to be good to Yourself.
God Bless You!
Sue

Before I had breast cancer I lost 30 pounds(I wanted to lose weight) but now I have gained that and more. I am not on Tamoxifen, I am on Femara and it is very hard to lose weight. I asked my onocologist if I would be able to lose the weight and he said it will be hard but keep trying. I used to exercise 5 days a week before bc and now I try to do it 3 days a week but I do not always do it. I don't like how heavy I got but I also don't have the desire to exercise like I used to.

marysun

I took Tamoxifen for 6 mos in '03 and couldn't stand it. I stopped it myself because I also gained about 30 lbs. I also stopped smoking and the chemo put me into menopause, but it was the tamoxifen that packed it on. I was always slim and now I am NOT. Been this way for almost 2 years and have tried without success to drop the weight. I have taken Arimidex for a year with a (very!) brief try with femara. I believe the arimidex also adds to the weight problem, but I am not gaining any more and have stayed at my present weight for about 1 1/2 years. I am approaching my 3 year anniversary and am cancer-free. The drugs or fate? A question I ask daily. . . .

Blessings!

troyryans

Like a number of you, I have also gained unwanted weight while on Tamoxifen. After only 6 months I had gained 24 pounds! My eating habits and exercise patterns never changed, but the weight still came. Very frustrating. Recently I was taken off Tamoxifen for 30 days while I was undergoing problems with my menstrual cycle and needed a little surgery. During the 30 days of being off Tamoxifen, I lost 7 pounds! Now I am back on it, and my weight has once again climbed. The fact that my eating/exercise habits never changed during any of this only makes me believe that the Tamoxifen is the cause. It can really get me down. I have heard the same from a very active cousin who is a BC survivor and who gained 60 pounds in one year while on Tamoxifen (she eventually went off the Tamox after she felt her quality of life had declined so greatly), and from a male BC survivor who said that he fights his weight every day when taking the same meds.

I believe for the next 4 1/2 years I will fight the weight issue, which saddens and depresses me greatly.

Kathy

Tigger35

I am a 2 time breast cancer survivor who has been on Tamoxifen and Lupron shots. Like some other people I quit Tamoxifen because of quality of life issues, specifically weight gain and severe pain problems. I gained weight on the Lupron shots, but it was the best alternative after stopping the Tamoxifen early. I have lost and gained weight so much that I often get depressed. I lost 14 lbs., gained 25, lost 26 lbs, gained 35, lost 40, gained 30. I am presently 60lbs heavier then before I ever got sick. I had 32 lbs. prior to getting sick. Both my cancers were hormone related and all treatments have been to disrupt the hormones, I wonder if that has anything to do with my weight. I share in your frustration of weight problems.

KValentine

Hello, so glad to find you all discussing this. I have felt alone in dealing with this. Yes, I too over the past year have gained nearly 30 pounds. The first year I did'nt notice a change, but the next year...wham!! I too had no change in level of activity or diet. I'm not an overeater and I'm not a "couch potatoe". My oncologist said most only gain 10-15lbs. Anyway, I find myself going into my third year on it and I am now wondering if I should go off, will discuss with my oncologist, I know there are other more "life-altering" side effects from it that could be addressed as well. Anyway, thanks for your writing about this subject, I will continue to read and write about on this site. God Bless, KValentine

epgnyc

I know the topic is Tamoxifen and how many women gain weight while on it, but I wanted to add my two cents. Being ER- I haven't been able to take any of the hormone drugs and yet I too gained 15-20 lbs. following my chemo and radiation. I spoke to my oncologist about this and he said he and his colleagues at Memorial Sloan-Kettering frequently see breast cancer patients who have never been on Tamoxifen, Arimindex, Femara, et al, gain substantial amounts of weight following treatment. My eating or exercising habits have remained pretty much unchanged (if anything I eat healthier than I did prior to diagnosis) and yet I find it almost impossible to lose this weight. Perhaps it's not just the Tamoxifen that is the culprit here but the chemo itself that contributes to this problem. I sympathize with all of you.

marshaTHRIVER

I am also very glad to see this discussion... I lost 30 lbs during my surgeries the first half of '04 ... and then gained 50 the last half of last year during chemo and rad .... I started Arimidex in january this year... and have gained 10 more... i finally started working last month after a year and a half off and figured the activity would get me going, but nuthin' so far... i also thought maybe i gained the weight becuz i hated my body so much with the "bald head and frankenstein ****" [i had immediate reconstruction with the mastectomy] .... so i would make my body something i hated that wasn't because of the cancer ... now that i'm having the reconstruction and my breasts are finally starting to look more normal, i want to make my whole body better ... btw, i'm single ... my oncologist thinks the antidepressants i take for the menopause may contribute ... so we change that... i've tried quite a few, but am back on Prozac... i feel great otherwise... but have arthritis and high blood pressure and borderline diabetes and high cholesterol ~ all of which would be better with weight loss...

lynette50

I was so thin all my life andnow have gone from a a size 6 to a 12. I have had no succrss dieting; and have decided not to worry about it; I'm alive, 5-9" and if I wiegh 126 or 160, I'm still me. I was anorexic in my 20's ( early sixties} and so very thin after my children were born. Now I just try to eat healthy, I've started swimming every day. . .the weight stays the same but, I'm just glad to be here. The norm that the media presents us with is the anorexic, sexless woman. . .we need to get beyond that. Yes, tamoxifen makes you gain weight, but I am so grateful for it': in the long run the pounds don'd mattter. My closet has clothes from, 6 tp 14. if I ever get back to a six I know Im out of remission. I think we ned to love who we are. . .I have lots of other inro if you want to write back

troyryans

lynette50 said:

I was so thin all my life andnow have gone from a a size 6 to a 12. I have had no succrss dieting; and have decided not to worry about it; I'm alive, 5-9" and if I wiegh 126 or 160, I'm still me. I was anorexic in my 20's ( early sixties} and so very thin after my children were born. Now I just try to eat healthy, I've started swimming every day. . .the weight stays the same but, I'm just glad to be here. The norm that the media presents us with is the anorexic, sexless woman. . .we need to get beyond that. Yes, tamoxifen makes you gain weight, but I am so grateful for it': in the long run the pounds don'd mattter. My closet has clothes from, 6 tp 14. if I ever get back to a six I know Im out of remission. I think we ned to love who we are. . .I have lots of other inro if you want to write back

I wish I was a size 12! Before tamoxifen I was a size 16, now I am a 20. I have always had a good self image...that is until the change to a 20. For me the pounds do matter because the extra weight is also putting stress on my heart and other organs. It is not enough at this point to get off the tamoxifen, but it can certainly make a person's self-esteem take a nose dive. I have a wedding this weekend to go to, and could not find ONE thing that fit or made me feel good. Exercising and watching what I eat isn't working. I would much rather be alive and overweight, but my quality of life has been sacrificed.

chris1010

Weight gain seems to be the consensus with most of these posts and mine is not different. I gained weight too, but the doctors had told me that most breast cancer survivors will, so I was prepared, but what gets me is that they say it is best to keep weight down and I wonder, how is that so if the very pill that we take is packing it on??????? I do work out more now and have lost a few pounds and inches, but I am not taking Tamoxifen anymore either, I chose to get off about 10 months before my 5 year plan in order to get pregnant and I did and lost the baby and gained a few more pounds, so right now, I am just going to get rid of 50 pounds and maintain my health with or without the baby-it's in Gods hands now I am just happy and blessed to be alive.