FEMARA
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Artsee, that is what I keep telling people too, "I am still walking and talking, so it is all good." I figure I had been lucky until the cancer hit. I had 47 years of good health, never sick, never hospitalized or operated (except for the birth of my kid), so I got to make up for it in the last year.
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Dear Momine: I'm just having my first coffee, lying in bed and reading your post. Yesterday I e-mailed someone I have become close to on here. I was actually feeling a bit sorry for myself, or should I say feeling sorry for all of us. Then, I read your post and
It brought me up short, thank you . I am 65.....SO much older than you and have experienced good health all my life except having my gallbladder out so I will remember this everytime I start to feel sorry for myself. Again, thank you for bringing me up short😍0 -
I've only had three days of letrozole...no insomnia. In fact the first day I took it in the morning and got very sleepy. Now I take it at night and that works out better.
Insomnia was one of my big worries with this drug. This drug is very doable even when there is no end to the tunnel, artsee.
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I will be starting Femara soon after 5 years on Tamoxifen. I haven't had a chance to read through all 122 pages of this thread but I might try. I have hot flashes/night sweats and a bit of insomnia on Tamox so I am hoping that improves. Hoping for no joint pain!
Thanks for keeping this thread up so those of us that follow can learn from experience!
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Regarding joint pain: I read that those who get it, for them the med is effective. So a little pain might be a good thing?
On the other hand my doc told me that hot flashes from tamoxifen is an indicator it's working well. I was a walking hot flash, but the drug failed me.
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ConnieHar - how long are they putting you on femara/letrozole after five years on tamoxifen?
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Good question, Day. I'm guessing he didn't answer you. LOL Scary that I'm beginning to sound like a doctor and downplay symptoms.
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for me, I have been on Femara 2 years now.
Still have aching joints, even my elbows, have swollen finger joints and they are so stiff to the point of pain. My migraines have picked up in intensity and frequency. I have hot flashes so bad that sometimes it's dripping from my forehead ................
I get frustrated easily, and it's usually aimed at my poor dear husband, and as he says my frustration swiftly turns to anger but the angel he is, he knows its the medication. I know it too but I can't seem to keep my mouth shut.
So this darn medication, that we all love to take, and need to take, and want to take, if having a lot of side effects means its working well,
then for me it must be working brilliantly!
....I have to joke and laugh at/with myself or I will start crying and and stopping isn't easy.
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gardengumby - I was told that I would be on the Femara for another 5 years. So, a total of 10 years on these meds. I am 45 so I assume that is part of the reasoning.
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For anyone who had insomnia on femara, did ambien help?
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oh my - 10 years sounds like forever, but at your age, it does make sense. I'm 62 now (60 at DX). I'll have completed my first year of letrozole in another month. I took tamoxifen for 6 mos, and it just about did me in. At my last onc visit she told me that she may want me to be on letrozole for 10 years instead of the 5 she said at first. I told her that I'd do the 5 but would not be willing to extend it to 10. So, we'll see what we see as the finish line comes closer. (Originally she told me that the 6 mos on tamoxifen would count for part of the 5 years, and that I could take a yearly "vacation" from letrozole, but she has decided that she no longer wants me to do either of those things.) It feels like somewhat of a moving target.
I've got SE's with letrozole, but they are SO much more manageable than was the tamoxifen SE's.
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Susannah, I upped my exercise, and made sure to leave about 2 hours betweenthe pill and bedtime. I am too scared to take sleep meds.
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Momine, how are you sleeping now?
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Susannah, as long as I get enough exercise, I sleep quite well most of the time. There are glitches, of course, but the norm is decent sleep.
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Originally 4 years ago my Onco said there would probably be an additional 5 years after the first 5. I'm thinking OMG!
He's since changed the theory and told me that there are no trials that have shown the advantage of 10 years on any of these drugs. So for me that's good...why take anything for no good reasons right?
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Day, Do you have some research you could share on that? I would really be interested in reading it. Thanks
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I would too.
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me also.
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Auntie and Grandma - took the aleve and whoooo haaaaa pain is virtually gone in the ole knee - this is so good because I was having difficulty exercising because of it. Ok no more excuses - time to get on the tread mill!
HOT FLASHES GALORE! Am on 225 mg of effexor but still sweat like crazy - anyone trying anything that is working??
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Sheribell, glad it worked for you!
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i'm only on femara for about 2 months now, maybe even a little less and I see my moods going off the chart. I get angry about something, usually something simple. I yell. My husband is not the angel justagirl's husband is, so he yells back and I end up screaming like a banshee. I hear myself and wonder who I'm listening to. Surely, it's not the "me" I've always been. My husband says something like "Boy, you are one nasty person" and I start crying hysterically, and I mean hysterically. I am 63 and I can't believe I'm acting this way. It's kind of like I'm nuts. Aside from that, I am startng to get pain in my fingers but more than that, pain in my hand, in the palm actually, which is something I've never heard of in my life, palm pain??. I can only anticipate that things will get worse before they get better since I have 4 years and 10 months left. I don't like it and yet, the thought of one little sneaky bastard of a cancer cell circulating is something I like much less so here's hoping every bad thing we go through means it's working better and better for all of us ..
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thanks.
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bevg49: yes, you described my husband to a T. He is an angel when it comes to my mood swings and frustration, which he pointed out to me, yes, I start out frustrated and so fast I am angry. And I am, at him, at me, at the world. I rant, I rave, tears stream down my face and my ever loving dog Jaki rushes to my side to lick my tears away. Too often I am on the floor, with my arms around her (she's 55 pounds) and my face buried in her fur.
Trust me, it is the Femara and I think the frustration at how this little tiny pill can give me so many side effects, which day in and day out, I just run out of patience to put up with.
Like you, I hate this pill, but I love it for the fact it will possibly give me a better chance at never having a bc met. I'll keep swallowing it every day and I dearly wish somehow you could give your husband just one article to read of how Femara can affect moods and maybe he will realize that him reacting to you in the way he does only makes it worse for you, which in turn makes it bad for him. We are married, for the good and the bad, the thick and the thin, and this is bad and thick but I am determined to wade through the muck.
Age has no barrier with this drug, I'm almost 60, and it is making me nutz! A dear friend thinks maybe I spend too much time alone here on our property working in my gardens, but I need this alone time, it helps to soothe me, and the anger fades away for a while.
YOU are not alone............
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I am very interested in those links as well, Day.
Thanks
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BevG and JustaGirl, I've been on letrozole/femara about 11 months now. At first my mood swings were a lot like yours - really erratic and I'd get PO'd at the drop of a hat. That's all evened out now. I still will get angry - but it's more normal angry. When my husband see that I'm not acting/reacting normally he'll say something like "the medicine must be getting to you". With those words I can usually step back and realize that I'm off track and bring myself back in line a bit.
Day - I'd like to read those studies, as my MO during last visit (July) said that there were some studies in process in regards to length of time on letrozole. She said at that time that once the studies were out we'd revisit how long I was supposed to take the drug - that was when I told her that I'd do five years but not a moment more. She said something kinda generic in response.
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