Femara and bipolar-anyone?
I have not mentioned this on this board before because there seems to be such a stigma attached to being bipolar these days but I really need answers. I am bipolar and have managed not to need medication with the exception of having serious problems with depression a couple of times. I have been taking Femara for about 6 weeks now and have been noticing that I am veering towards being manic. This is not good. On a hunch I did a search on Femara and bipolar disorder today and found the following paper. It suggests that aromatase inhibitors can trigger mania in bipolar patients.
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi...8.2006.00367.x
I am going to have to discuss this with my oncologist Monday. The other information I found suggests that tamoxifen helps stabilize bipolar patients. In addition to the information above I read that there are higher survival rates for patients who take aromatase inhibitors than who take tamoxifen.
My oncologist has already suggested that I read too much. I really dread bringing this up but I cannot avoid it. Has anyone else had this dilemma? If I have to choose between quality of life and length of life I will have to choose quality. I cannot and will not tolerate the side effects of mood stabilizing drugs and they all cause weight gain as well, which again raises the risk of recurrence of the breast cancer. I have been able to find so little information on the combination of being bipolar and having cancer. Have any of you chosen to take tamoxifen instead of an aromatase inhibitor? What are the statistics of one versus the other?
Leslie
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In the world of destiny, there are no statistics.
Jan. 26- mammogram and ultrasound- suspicious lump
Mid-February- lumpectomy, infiltrating ductal carcinoma ~4.5 cm and a 1 cm DCIS, did not get clear margins, did not check lymph nodes
ER+/PR+, her2 +++, nuclear grade 3 of 3
February 20-PET scan showed something on liver. No biopsy.
March- Started carboplatin, herceptin, taxol on a four week cycle
May 3- Pet scan, with intent to do a biopsy, found nothing, liver or breast- no biopsy because there is nothing to biopsy
June 21- new onc, very concerned that there had been no biopsy,
June 18th-CAT scan, bone scan-negative
August 7th - Brain MRI-negative
August 9th- mastectomy, all pathology negative
January 2008 still NED! New oncologist -herceptin for full year after chemo- until July, and tamoxifen---negative scans since May '07
July 2008-Finished Herceptin!
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