Is tamoxifen safe and can i take it? i am a 67-year-old white female living alone. last year i had early catch stage-1 breast cancer. i next had a lumpectomy and only one treatment of chemotherapy. i was scheduled for four treatments. the side affects

If : If your breast cancer was estrogen receptor-negative then you will not benefit from hormonal adjuvant therapy like tamoxifen (actually women who are past their menopause should be on Arimidex (anastrozole) not tamoxifen) either way you will not benefit from those since your mass is estrogen receptor negative. At 67 you should probably still get radiation as you still have a long life ahead of you...Especially with stage 1 cancer. You have to discuss these options with a breast surgeon...

Yes it is: Tamoxifen is one of the safest medicines to take. It does a lot of good to keep breast cancer under control.

Pros outweigh cons: It sounds as if your cancer was hormonally sensitive which is a good thing since it has a more favorable prognosis long term, at least in part because of your ability to take some of these hormone manipulating drugs. It is unusual for an oncologist to reccomend tamoxifen though in someone who has likely gone through menopause. After menopause it is recommended to take an aromatase inhibitor.

Tam if premeno. ER+: If you are POSTmenopause, aromatase inhibitors are recommended. Tamoxifen is occasionally used, under case-specific circumstances in post-menopausal women. Regardless of age, if the tumor is ER -, no antihormone treatment is recommended.