Breast cancer patients optimistic about treatment suffer fewer drug side-effects
Women who do not expect an adverse reaction to tamoxifen are half as likely to experience it
BREAST cancer patients suffer fewer drug side-effects if they expect the best out of their treatment, a study shows.
Women who do not expect any adverse effects from the drug tamoxifen are half as likely to actually experience them.
But those who fear the worst usually end up feeling it, researchers found.
The study, in the Annals of Oncology, is important because the drug is one of the main weapons against breast tumours.
Yet many women quit taking it early due to nasty effects - such as sore joints, weight gain and hot flushes.
Tens of thousands of women in the UK down the years have been put on tamoxifen after a cancer scare.
Doctors usually advise staying on it for five years after diagnosis.
But studies show that after just three years around a third have already quit the drug.
Experts at Hamburg University in Germany tracked 111 women with breast cancer for two years.
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Before they started treatment they were quizzed on whether or not they expected to feel bad taking tamoxifen.
Nine said they expected no side-effects, 70 mild side-effects and 32 patients were prepared for moderate to severe harm.
The results showed those expecting the worst were twice as likely to suffer and more likely to quit taking the drug.
Researchers called for counselling for patients worried about taking potentially life-saving medicines.
Professor Yvonne Nestoriuc, who led the study, said: "Negative expectations about the treatment play a significant role in the side-effects breast cancer patients' experience.
"They seem to have a pronounced influence on long-term tolerability."