@A MyBCTeam Member My oncologist said It was not metabolizing and toxic in my liver. I had 3 doctors look at me. I had blood work done too. I didn't question them. I knew I was not doing well on it. My quality of life was so bad - the constant very HOT flashes, waking up at night, not sleeping well, serious depression, joint pain so bad in my hands and knees that I couldn't lift the sheet off of me in the morning. I felt like I was 90 years old. The doctor's PA and nurses kept saying I would get used to those side effects. I was only on it for 25 days, I couldn't stand it. I stopped taking it before I even had the rash. When I called the doctor's office about it, they said it might be contact dermatitis, and didn't seem too concerned. It started to get even worse as the days went on - started like little red pin dots under my skin, then they kept growing bigger. By the time I went in for the chemo, that's when the doctors looked at me. They told me to stop taking it immediately. Little did they know I had been off of it for 10 days already. My oncologist didn't put me on anything else at the time. About 8 months later, she said she wanted to put me on an AI. I was afraid of the same side effects, so she prescribed Effexor for the hot flashes. After reading about that drug, I refused to get on it. I am trying to build up my immune system and keep it as strong as possible, and I pray a lot. My doctor never even called me back when I told her nurse I was not going to take it. I guess if you don't do it their way, it's hit the highway.

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A MyBCTea...

I asked about that cyp2D6 test and my onc said it is only for post-menopausal women for some reason not accurate in per-menopausal women

I had no hot flashes for the first two months, then maybe one/week, now they are nightly. (7 months in)

There is a blood test that can be done to see if you are able to metabolize Tamoxifen- cyp2D6 or something similar to that. It's an enzyme pathway that needs to function optimally to metabolize certain medications. Apparently it's a very expensive test.

I had the WORST hot flashes, and it turned out I was not metabolizing it. It was actually making my liver toxic, and I had to get off it. I started getting a rash all over my lower legs.