taken off Femara

[sally]

I have been taken off Femara and put on Tamoxifin. My Tumor markers went up enough for my onc to be convinced that I have active cancer. He wanted to start with this to see if my numbers will go down. I just had a PET scan and a liver MRI which both came out great. I am having a brain MRI on Tuesday because I have been a little off balance. Has anyone else been taken off Femara and put on Tamox. and it worked? I would love to hear from anyone about this. Thanks, Sally

[Becky]

Another thought is to stay on Femara but get Faslodex shots. Sometimes the Femara does its job quite well by reducing the amount of estrogen in the body but somehow the cancer changes and is able to progress on even the smallest of amounts of estrogen. Faslodex are shots that are given monthly (once a month) that degrade the estrogen receptor on the surface of the bc cell. The combo is supposed to be better than just the Faslodex alone. At first, you have to get several Faslodex shots (kind of like loading doses). I think the regime is the first 2 or 3 are every 2 weeks. You should ask your onc about this - you can always reserve this if the Tamoxifen doesn't work.


Just thinking out loud here.

[heblaj01]

Sally,

As a precaution you may want to check if you have not become HER-2 positive so as not to delay a possible change in treatment.
The easiest,least intrusive, (besides biopsy) is the serum HER-2/neu test.
Also, if you find out that Tamoxifen is not working for you it should not be taken for a long time as some research has shown that keeping on Tamoxifen for about 3 months after resistance sets in can initiate HER-2 positive cancer.