FEMARA
Comments
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Haha! I move around quite a bit due to pain at night but I think the stiff fingers are definitely a side effect of the drug.
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Hi All,
Forestdwell: I too have woods near me, but feel silly walking on my own without a dog now. but I feel I need to venture out again. Sitting around is very isolating, but I live in a small ccommunity and don't want to stop and talk or have people staring at my lack of hair/breast.
I wonder if I can pose a question that I have been thinking about: I understand that 'some' people can develop a resistence to this drug and that means it no longer works. Is that correct? and if this is correct how do we know?
Is there some way of working out it's efficacy? a blood test?
Thanks,
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Wintersocks I'm not sure what stage you are but for lower stages, (1-3), Femara is used as a preventative like they use Tamoxifen. For stage IV it is used as a treatment for control of the cancer that has already spread beyond the breast and lymph nodes. We know it has failed us when new mets are discovered.
Hope that helps.
Love n hugs. Chrissy0 -
Wintersocks: I don't know if there's a blood test to see if you're metabolizing the medicine well. One thing you can do is report any new aches and pains to your doctor. Leave nothing out. Don't try to explain backaches away by thinking that you've overdone it and pulled a muscle, etc. If pain persists over two weeks then my doctor will do a scan.
How about wearing a raincoat with a hood when you go for a walk? You said it's raining. That way your nosy neighbors might not even know who you are when you rush by them.
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Wintersocks: I don't know if there's a blood test to see if you're metabolizing the medicine well. One thing you can do is report any new aches and pains to your doctor. Leave nothing out. Don't try to explain backaches away by thinking that you've overdone it and pulled a muscle, etc. If pain persists over two weeks then my doctor will do a scan.
How about wearing a raincoat with a hood when you go for a walk? You said it's raining. That way your nosy neighbors might not even know who you are when you rush by them.
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Hi all,
chrissyb, I dare not look at my pathology report, because the 'staging' has bothered me much more than anything else. But I think I must be at least stage 3 as I had a very large lump. I do know I have ductal invasive and am classed as 'grade 2'. I have had an MX and am seeing a RADS consultant tomorrow.
Forestdwell: Yes, it is raining (England!!). I do much more enjoy walking in cooler autumnal weather. There is fab walking country around here, very near Bronte country. I recall you said you enjoy 'misty' walks too?
I take on board what you say about aches and pains and I will be heeding your advice. I think those days of passing such things off has long gone...
I am really surprised to hear there is no sort of blood test to see how we are doing on these drugs. I mean, it's shocking if the only way we know if they are working is if we don't get mets.
I will ask my lovely onc when I see her in early Dec.
Thank- you for answering my questions
p.s over 2 weeks now and still now s/e.
Love to all
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Can't you have tumor markers drawn to see if they are going up and if they determine that femara is not working even if scan still shows neg, onc would prescribe another drug based on rising markers? I don't know just wondering. Is femara known to just stop working. I've only been on it for a few months.
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Can't you have tumor markers drawn to see if they are going up and if they determine that femara is not working even if scan still shows neg, onc would prescribe another drug based on rising markers? I don't know just wondering. Is femara known to just stop working. I've only been on it for a few months.
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lightandwind: Tumor markers don't work for everyone. Mine have always been normal and I'm stage 4.
Sure, femara can just stop working. Just like any other cancer drug. For me tamoxifen stopped working after less than a year, then faslodex after a few months.
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Thanks Forest Dweller. You make an excellent and unfortunately true point. Guess I was thinking that most ER+ respond to femara for a long time, years even. Really sad to hear that about tumor markers too. I'm hyperventaliting again. I'd like to hear from anyone whose femara stoppped working. How long did it take?
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Lightandwind I'm still doing Femara and its still holding me stable and it's been two years which I think is pretty good for stage IV. Please don't let yourself get into the pattern of thinking that these meds are only going to give you a short time before they fail.......yes it's possible but it's just as possible that they will be fine for quite awhile.
Love n hugs. Chrissy0 -
That's right, Chrissy, but on the other hand there are those people who have a false sense of security. They think they are on meds and now nothing bad can happen to them. Before you know it they ignore pain symptoms. That was me on tamoxifen after stage 1 cancer and everyone told me I would be OK long-term. Not so. I went from stage 1 to stage 4 in a very, very short time. Because I ignored pain in my back I had to have surgery.
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Oh my goodness, please don't think that I'm saying that you should ignore pain that you feel that is unusual......... definitely just the opposite. I think we should all be very vigilant with that but we should not spend our days worried that the meds are going to fail us.......to me that is a complete waist of the precious time that we have. Yes they do fail us eventually but that is not today.
Love n hugs. Chrissy0 -
This tumor marker subject is very interesting to say the least. My Onco is big into tumor markers...to him the test is very important.
However I ran into a friend the other day whose tumor markers never changed while the cancer went to her bones. They stayed in the 'normal' range just like before. Strange.
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I just read an article on the internet about all these test and scans that are supposed to detect for us ladies early signs of mets.......and they have a high rate of missing mets in the early stages. So, false security, and lots of $$$ and stress waiting to do the test, having the test done and waiting for the results.
As chrissyb said our best defense is to be aware of our own bodies and to report to our Dr if we have unrelenting pain somewhere for more than 2 weeks.
I was lulled into a sense that all was ok after the lumpectomy, chemo and rads, that with taking Femara I only had a 2% chance of a reoccurance. Then, being vain, I opted for an elective surgery to reduce the size of my other breast to match in size the bc one, and all the tissue the PS removed came back from pathology BC Stage 0, which means I had up to a 40% chance it would morph into BC....and this tissue had a history - if it was it one breast it more often than not would be in the other. Well, there went my 2% security blanket so I immediately opted for a DM, and the path report came back that the breast that had had bc had no BC stage 0 tissue but the other breast was 90% full of it.
Point being, we need to monitor and take care of ourselves. When I went back to the BS after knowing about the BC Stage 0 tissue, she said no need for a DM, it was drastic. I could just have a MRI and mammogram every 6 months and then if I got another BC, 'we' could decide then what to do. No reassurance for me as I had had a mammo on 22 November and first week in March felt the peach pit size tumor. What if next time my lymph nodes were positive.
I feel more positive doing what I can and monitoring myself than relying on a test to say everything is ok. And as Chrissy, who is a fountain of wisdom and guidance for me, we have to make peace with this as that is the only way I can grow stronger again, physically and mentally.
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Hello ladies,
I started taking Femara last week and noticed that I had small bumps in my head that are itchy, it doesnt really bother me but was wondering if any of you had same reaction as mine? I called my Oncologist today and I was told could be a minor side effect, he was busy today so he will give me a call tomorrow.
Overeall can't complain as I feel good on Femara, since I started taking it I had no pain at all, except that I am brain dead lol.....not sure but kind of gives me a calm feeling.....
Sweetangel
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Hello ladies,
I started taking Femara last week and noticed that I had small bumps in my head that are itchy, it doesnt really bother me but was wondering if any of you had same reaction as mine? I called my Oncologist today and I was told could be a minor side effect, he was busy today so he will give me a call tomorrow.
Overeall can't complain as I feel good on Femara, since I started taking it I had no pain at all, except that I am brain dead lol.....not sure but kind of gives me a calm feeling.....
Sweetangel
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Sweetangel: I've only been on this drug for 3 weeks and haven't experienced or read about itchy bumps. I often itch all over my body suddenly now. It's as if I had fallen into an ant hill. This happens when I get too hot and the worst area is my scalp, but no bumps.
So far my side effects are: increased appetite, increased hot flashes, ant hill sensations, less sleep.
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Hi Sweetangel andForestdweller I have both the overheated scalp and the little bumps that itch like crazy. I have been to a dermatologist and her opinion of those little red bumps is that they are quite common and if they get too annoying they can be removed by having them burnt which is no big deal. She did tell me the name but with my drug abused brain I can't for the life of me remember what it is right now.
I have found that keeping my hair and scalp scrupulously clean helps with the itching side of things.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
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I've gotten little bumps on my hand/wrist that itch like crazy. hahahaha never even thought to attribute it to the letrozole...
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Just remembered the name of those little red things, it Sebhoreic Keratosis. Apparently they can not only grow on the scalp they can appear anywhere on the body.
Love n hugs. Chrissy0 -
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Day have you had it checked out by your doc?
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its crazy that we can all have diff. reactions....i noticed i am getting the bumps all over my head....if i started scratching one they all get itchy...chain reaction lolz.........funny because one time I asked my doctor if bones can get itchy too.....and he laughed at me...itchy bones :-)....
also another se, i noticed I have been so lazyyyy since I started Femara.....like I didnt do anything the whole week......i just want to eat and sleep.....but seems impossible coz i have a 2 yr old daugther and still work full time.....i feel so slow and brain dead :-\
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I'm new to Femara and have a question. I took it about 2 weeks then I had reconstruction surgery. After the surgery they turned off the ventilator but I didn't start breathing on my own for about 5 hours so they kept forcing the breathing. I came home from the hospital with a minor cough. The cough kept getting worse. After a week I went to the dr who thought pneumonia and ordered an xray. Results came back no pneumonia but fluid in the lung with a partial collapse (CT scan tomorrow). So I'm assuming it's from the surgery, right? Saw my onc for my 3 month post chemo check this week and he said that it could be from Femara??? That Femara can give you fluid on the lungs and a cough? I'd never heard of that. Has anyone else? He took me off Femara for a month to see what happens. I haven't read this SE anywhere.
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Rosie, I would be very interested in the answer to this question as well.
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Rosie, I would be very interested in the answer to this question as well.
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I haven't either but I will see if I can find out anything.
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Rosie, the nurse in me has to chime in. Your Dr. obviously did not give you enough reversal drugs for what they used to sedate you to put you on the ventilator after surgery. Usually, even if they do use the right amount of drugs, and some docs do over sedate patients too, the reason your body didn't want to breathe on it's own could of been that your lungs were already compromised or your heart function wasn't 100%. The cough was most likely due to irritation from having the breathing tube down for so long, and if too big of a tube is used that can cause more irritation also. Fluid in the lungs is usually caused by the heart not doing it's job 100%, so a diuretic will get the fluid off the lungs. As to why you had a partial collapse in one of the lobes of your lungs (there are 5 lobes), I have no idea. Lung collapse is usually due to trauma, like from a car accident. Hope you are feeling better.
Isn't this Femara an un-fun ride?
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