FEMARA
Comments
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Nanna, I just read that it takes a few months for it to kick in, but I only read that the other day.. have I started to take them? no, I'm scared spitless! I'm off estrogen after 19yrs, and the main reason I stayed on it (doc said.. oh no worries, stay on it... won't hurt.. hmmph! although I am only 'weakly positive' 1/3). I'm finding I'm so overly emotional, crying a lot, although my journey from June 14th has been a nightmare, which continues to take over my life (grr) and it's NOT the cancer, it's all the mistakes and idiot medical professionals that I trusted with my life, that messed it all up. anyways, Onc said I WILL have significant pain, because I have FM & RA & OA/bursitis/tendenitis. (oh how I wanna just say i give up)!... if the Femara gives me MORE menopausal symptoms AND pain.. well, I'm just nervous as hell. I don't know what I'm holding off on, as I"m going to have to start it sooner or later. Chemo - too late, due to my wounds/infections, radiation, surgeon said I couldn't have it, Onc said I could have, but too late now.. so Femara only thing I can use I guess. I get pretty depressed with stupid thoughts of giving up on life, and just so over the top! so guess I have reason to be nervous.
am waiting to get appt with a NEW Onc (MO? i dunno) but one in Fraser Valley Cancer Clinic, my hometown sure let me & others down!! I was happy to hear that some others havent' had SE's.. but seems those are few compared to those that do. But it's our defense.
is there anyone who held off starting it? what about the emotional SE's with the Menopausal SE's? my g'/f has now ordered me to go to the BC support group, & wonderfully she'll go with me.
hope your all doing well or better or will do better
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Cher ((((((hugs))))))). Taking the Femara doesn't mean that you are going to get all the nasty SE's...... I know, as I'm one who doesn't. I am allergic to just about everything but I must admit that the Femara has been unusually kind to me. Yes there are times I ache, there are times I'm extremely tired, yes my hair has just about as thin as I don't know what (and it used to be thick and lusterous), I am unable to do everything I used to but hey aging will do that too......all of it. I still take the little pill and thank God each day that it is there and is keeping me stable and as a stage IV girl that's very important.
Good luck with taking your little life saver.......I know you will do well.
Love n hugs. Chrissy0 -
the only se I'm having (and I don't even know if it's from the Femera or just life) is awful mood swings. I go into rages at people for small things, mainly my family. They think I'm losing my mind and sometimes I think I am. When I'm not angry I'm crying hysterically. Now this isn't every minute, but too often, daily. I have only been on Femara about 6 or 7 weeks so I don't know. Is this a normal side effect and is there anything to be done about it? I know I can ask the doctor to switch my drug but really, i have no guarantee that another one will be better. I don't even know if my mood swings are a result of the med.... Does anyone have any insight please?
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Bev what you are feeling can be because of the Femara but if you are feeling really off ask your doc about an anti depressant. This will help you over this hump and allow your body to adjust. What is causing these emotions is the fact that the Femara has turned off all estrogen and your body needs time to adjust.
Love n hugs. Chrissy0 -
thanks chrissy, VERY MUCH.... I would NEVER commit suicide but what's going on is insane and I can't say it hasn't entered my mind. Having said that, I know I would never do such a thing but I am just misreable and off the wall. I AM THE most passive personal general and yet I want to kill my dh, my sister, my son and my daughter.... The only ones I'm not fighting with right now are my grandkids ........... who are 10 months old hahaha..... Well, at least I can tell a funny and still laugh a little.... I have never been so mad for such slight reasons and never cried so hard and so much.... It's so stupid but thanks for the explanation and tomorrow I am making an appointment with the psychiatrist who perscribes my klonopin when I need it. I'm sure he'd have no problem helping me get over this depression. I MISS MY ESTOGEN.....!!!! but I don't miss my bc so I guess it's a tradeoff, right?
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Bev hoping you feel better soon. Awe for your grand baby......they bring such joy.
Love n hugs. Chrissy0 -
grandbabIES, chrissy..... they are twins
and yes, they do bring joy but right now, they are about it.... I have older grandkids too, 17 and 20... The other day I was even furious with the 20 year old. I wish you knew me and you'd know that is so not me. I am 1960's peace and love, good vibrations kind of gal. I am such a shrew now it's almost funny. My DH is reeling. He fights back and yells back then I go into mad hysterical crying.... He is so at a loss. If I was outside looking in, I might laugh....0 -
bev, I have had the same se from Femara..on day 75 now and they are waning & have been for the last couple of weeks. In the beginning I was just like you, upset, highly emotional, sensitive, you name it...in tears constantly over everything & nothing. Much better now & so far just minimal "warm flushes" and not even many of them.
One thing I did when this started was explain to my DH that I knew it was me, not him & said " I just can't help myself and I am so sorry". Of course he already knew the emotions were not his fault but it did help him when I talked about it & we are getting through this together.
No hair thinning so far & maybe I will be lucky...my hair is already baby fine. My onc. told me our bodies need time to adjust & I believe he was right.
cher, so far I have had no bone aches, no pain at all from the Femara. in fact the back pain that I have always suffered from (for years) is not even bothering me. ...none of us know for sure how we will react.
and remember this is still all better than the alternative. It is worth giving those little devil pills a chance.
Thinking of you both & hugs. Isabelle
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Hello everyone....I just swallowed my first letrozole (same as Femara, is it not?) and since I'm seeing a 121 page discussion about this drug I'm now waiting for the SEs to hit me instantly. I hope to do without the dizziness and drowsiness the bottle label promises. Most of all I hope this stuff, along with Lupron, does a good job. Haven't had any luck with tamoxifen and faslodex.
Hope to meet some of you and complain together.
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Hi Forestdweller and welcome to the thread. Once your body adjusts to the Letrozole hopefully you won't have too many other SE's. Hoping with you that it does good things for you.
Love n hugs. Chrissy0 -
Forestdwell, I wish good things for you on L, I have been on it for six months now and it took three months for a couple of SE to kick in. But, now the mood swings and the crying
episodes have subsided. I did get the thinning hair but if that's all I get, I consider myself lucky. Chrissyb is right, in that I believe your body needs time to adjust to the fact
that you are being depleted of your estrogen. Not everybody gets SE and we all get different ones. If any, so be positive and hope you will be one of the lucky ones. Consider the alternative.0 -
I'm one of the lucky ones who is experiencing few ses from letrozole. I have some new aches but nothing debilitating. The hot flashes are the worst. Although I don't think the femara was the cause, after I finished treatment I went into a very uncharacteristic bout of depression. I was completely surprised by it because I was very happy to be through. I have since found out that this is not at all uncommon. Please talk to your doc if you haven't already done so. I did get past it and things are much better. I was willing to take whatever help I could get.
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Auntienance.....I did too but don't think it was L ...I finally got help from my GP ...anti-depressant and anti-anxiety meds....back working and feel so much better now.
I keep reiterating to everybody, don't be stubborn (I was for awhile) get help from your GP, you won't regret it, I didn't. Take care everybody.0 -
Thanks, ladies. First SE already hit me....very drowsy about 4 hours after taking the pill. Are you all taking it am or pm?
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I take mine after dinner..works for me.
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I take it with dinner but no drowsiness for me.
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I've been on letrozole 5 months, I take it an hour before bed, and have had few SEs as well. I'm very happy with it so far. The only SE that I know is from the letrozole is hot flashes. My onco suggested 1,000mgs of Vitamin E. I'm still having hot flashes, but I think it took the edge off. Chrissyb is my inspiration to stick with it. Thanks
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I take mine at night so when the drowsiness hits I can sleep. Doing it this way means that daytime I have no problems. Hope it works for you.
Love n hugs. Chrissy0 -
I take mine early a.m. & the first few days I had dizziness but not anymore. I am on day 75 & now mainly just warm "flushes" & not too many. On the other hand I have 2 days left of rads & my skin has started to itch & fry.
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Hi Isabelle: I think no matter how well you take care of the skin, most of us get some
"frying" I actually had to go to school for two weeks BRALESS...picture it. Talk to your rad nurse...she got me a prescription for cortisone cream and that really helped.0 -
Hello everyone,
I was on tamoxifen since last September but had a hysterectomy in May - been on Femara since May 25th. At first I felt nothing but then my hip and knee (right side) began to really hurt. My doctor put me on a medication "holiday" for 10 days and that did not help at all so he doesn't think it is the med. So now I am back on the med. My hot flashes are horrible - a few every hour and they last about 6 minutes (yes I clock them!) I take vitamins daily.
I did read about the 1000mg of vitamin E - what do you ladies think about vitamin D? I used to take 5000IU's but stopped.
Any info appreciated. Does anyone take advil or tylenol for the joint pain?
Sheri
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Sheri, I take prescription naproxen and tramadol for the pain. Not daily, but several times a week.
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SheriBell, I haven't heard that Vitamin D helps hot flashes, but my onco has me on 800IU of D-3 along with 1500mg of Calcium citrate for my bones. I occasionally take Advil for headaches but I really haven't had much bone or joint pain, mostly just stiffness.
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Sheri, I take otc naproxen for the joint pain. Works great.
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I have been on Femara for almost 4 years. I only have 14 more months to go and believe me I count each day.
Since on Femara I have had to deal with severe joint pain, fatigue, nausea, hair thinning, and anything else you can name. I stay on it because I promised my husband and my doctor but it doesn't mean I have enjoyed it at all.
I try to keep a positive attitude and most days I can but somedays it is really difficult.
I had right breast cancer with mets to 3 lymph nodes. I had a bilateral mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation.
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mhmama, I'm glad to hear that you have stuck with it with only 14 months to go. That's great.
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Has anyone had terrible insomnia on femara that went away after a while?
Susannah0 -
Insomnia...yes, gone away....no:(
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Eight month to go on Femara. I have the s/e's although not sever. There are a lot of s/e's that are visible, like knuckles that are getting big in the hands. Not necessarily very painful (morning stiffness) but it shows never the less. Insomnia, yes, but I've always been a lousy sleeper. It's all doable if there is an end to the tunnel. Boiling down in a nutshell....Cancer Sucks..big time.
But you know what? We are still here to talk about it and standing upright!
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Insomnia yep but I started taking it in the am and no more problems. I also take amitriptyline at bedtime for sleep issues, ie waking up and not being able to go back to sleep.
I do have joint pain from time to time after I have sat down for a bit, but when I get up and move around, it's okay. I do take an aleve from time to time but not on a regular basis.
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