Tamoxifen

Tamoxifen is a medicine that blocks estrogen in some tissues and acts like estrogen in others. Breast cancer care is its main use. It also reaches the ovary and the lining of the uterus.

Fertility research tested it decades ago. In a 1982 series of 17 women with suspected luteal phase deficiency, the luteal phase grew longer and 6 of the 17 conceived.¹ Another series gave it to women whose cycles lacked ovulation, and ovulation followed in 33 of 46 cycles.²

A woman may also meet this drug as a reason her bleeding changed. In that same 1982 series, the lining lagged behind the hormone levels in most mid-luteal samples.¹ Restorative care asks why a luteal phase is short before any medicine enters the picture.