FEMARA
Comments
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The next time I go to to the store, I'm buying prunes...I'll try just about anything even if I have to hold my nose to eat them.
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Prune don't give me diarrhea, I'm so constipated with all the meds they don't have any effect on that part for me unfortunatly.
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Welga I eat more than that and I eat just the dried prunes from either Sams club (cheaper ) or the grocery.. I probably eat over half a cup and just snack on them when I want something sweet. Hope they work for you.. Hugs
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sorry gk2bco you are in a bit of a mess there, with Femara it is constipation so the prunes are a plus!
Jane M I am glad I don't have to hold my nose for prunes, actually I like them, they are sweet and now when I want a snack I have an excuse. Honestly it is the first snacking I have done that didn't make me gain weight..
I was so excited about them working for me that I am glad others are giving them a try. By the way I also take about 2,000 (units?) of D3 but that alone did nothing, but don't know if it is needed with the prunes..
Hugs
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The doctor handed me the script, i filled it, but the bottle of Femara is still sitting there. My GYN did a lab test on hormone levels and it indicates the verification of menopause, i am 66 years old, and my levels of estrogen were normal for my age. So do i really need this stuff? I am afraid to start it. But then i wonder if all of you are younger than i am and are experiencing a forced menopause of sorts with this therapy? I have already gone thru menopause in 1999. Many of the SE's you report, i have already experienced with my natural menopause. I am overweight and that is supposed to be the source of my breast cancer estrogen driven deal. But i hate to have the pain you are experiencing, i need to move to lose weight. I don't want to have any more arthritis than i already do. Then an idea popped into my head. Have they ever tried giving this stuff out just once a week? Why every day? I am supposed to get other lab results in 40 days with another test, i want to pop one weekly dose and see if it brought my levels down without any SE. Of course, i would not tell the doctor. He'll think i am crazy, and i am, because when he told me i would be taking this stuff, i didn't question him on it. Why does a menopausal woman have to dry out further? I am already a dried up old bitty, do i really need to go the distance? Did anybody out there ever cut back on this stuff and get good results?
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DH is bringing me home some prunes today...I'll try anything..who knows, maybe I'll like them. I haven't tried them since I was pregnant with my first 25 years ago and then in was in juice form.
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Hi Lemon Jello,
I am 72 years old and didn't think I had much (if any) estrogen left. However, my cancer was ER positive. I had a lumpectomy in my left breast in 2007;ER negative so just had radiation. In March this year I felt a lump in my right breast (so much for not doing self breast exams); had a lumpectomy and radiation. This one was ER positive. I didn't want to take the femara but wanted to do whatever I could to prevent any more cancer. I was full of anxiety which led to depression, sleeplessness, etc. But I've been taking the femara for a little over 2 months and am doing better mentally. I do stretching in the morning and walk just about every day. I asked about taking a whole pill since I am thin and why did everyone get the same dosage. My Onc said no studies have been done on that so I just swallow the pill every day and tell it to do its work! Each of us has to make our own decision. What helped me a lot was reading the experiences of the brave women on this site.
Love, Carole
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RHP
I'll up on the quantities to see if it works better. Like you I like prunes (in fact I like pretty much everthing sweet...) so there is no problem luckily for me taking them. I also buy the cheap ones from the grocerie store but they are not that cheap anyway. I might buy 10$ a week supply, of course it's cheap if it saves my bones and helps with the ache. Thanks a million
Welga
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DH brought home some prunes. I ate about 8 of them and saved 8 for tomorrow. Is this enough? I don't like them, but if they'll get rid of my SEs, I'll eat them all day long.
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hi Lemonjello There is a great web site by the Femara company that tells how it works and why. My understanding is we have estrogen in our body that is not from our ovaries.. that is why they give us femara after menepause and not tamoxofen that has worse side effects.. Femara also is out of your body in 24 hours so it has to be every day, they have studied the dose and it is no more effective with more and less effective with less. So if you are going to take it, you should take it as prescribed. Also if you start the prune regimine the day you start along with a 2000 iu of D3 each day, hopefully you won't have side effects
The explanation I recieved from my onc. (from Fred Hutchinson) was that it reduced my chance of another occurance to 10% I liked a 90% chance of not getting BC back better than a 60 or 70 %
Jane I eat 2 or 3 at a time 4 or 5 times a day. I too like anything sweet so it is now something I don't feel guilty about eating for a snack. If you have a Sam's club or Costco you can get a bigger bag and it cuts the cost in half..
I don't know if how long you have been on Femara makes a differance but I had been on it about 6 weeks when I started the prunes (3 months on the vit d3) Honestly I was really considering not taking it anymore as I felt worse than I did after the surgery or radiation. But the prunes have made a differance that I have gone back to the gym and am walking again etc. instead of "coping" with side effects for 5 years and am getting on with my life..
Love you all and please give the prunes a chance and let me know if they start working for you!
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Saw my rad onc on Tues. for my 6-wk check up; checked out great from rads. I mentioned the severe sciatica pain & knee pain I was having, which started & wouldn't let up. She suggested calling the med onc, which I did. He took me off Femara for 2 weeks to see if the break helps with the pain I was having. He said it might take up to a week to notice any difference. Vicodin wasn't even helping with the pain anymore. I went for a check up on Wed. at the orthopedist from the trigger finger release he had done on 10/19 (all fingers & thumb on left hand). They are doing very well, but I asked him if there was anything he could suggest in helping me deal with the severe sciatica & knee pain I was having. He prescribed short-term Lorcet, which has finally helped in allowing me to at least get some sleep. Just today I finally feel like the pain is beginning to ease off. Am keeping my fingers crossed that this will continue. After the 2 weeks break from Femara, I will call the med onc back & find what he wants me to do from there.
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BTW, think I'll get some prunes & try them, too. Sure won't hurt!
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I bought more prunes today. I can't say if they are working or not yet because I just had my R mast on Monday and I have been taking Vicodin at night for that, but I'm going to keep eating the prunes, too, so I can build them up in my body.
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Jane I hope you are healing and feeling better.. Nas 14 hope to hear they work for you..
Hope to hear that they are helping
Hugs
Robin0 -
I don't feel like reading past posts, but why are you all taking the prunes????
I've been on Femara a year now and I don't have any s/e's. I try to walk every day , have no pain, even though I've had Osteoporosis for years. Taking calcium with D3 and Omega 3.I know Femara is sucking all the good stuff out of the bones but I'm trying to make the best of it. My tumor was ER+ and at 58 after being in menopause for 11 years I didn't think I had any estrogen left. But the Pituitary gland and the Adrenal glands continue to make estrogen...God knows how long. Surprise!
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Artsee They have done research that shows eating prunes actually promotes bone regrowth.. So give them a try even though you don't have the pain.
Hugs
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Thanks a lot. I will give them a try.
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I completed five years of Femara two months ago. The only change I am seeing so far is that my hair is getting thicker.
Lately, I have bad pain in my legs at night when I am in bed. It keeps waking me up. It is like having a headache in my legs! Could it be a reaction to the Estrogen coming back into my body? Has anyone else had this?
Thanks! This is my first entry to this forum.
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Gee pain in you leg, maybe the bones are groing back, I had a little of that when I upped my calcium. I could be completly wrong, just saying this out of the blue.
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When you say "prunes" and get them at COSTA, are they really dried plums? The ones at our COSTCO are red and the dried prunes at Trader Joe's are black and pitted? Which ones do you use? I've been on the Femara for about 3 months and the leg pain (right leg, right hip) is increasing and woke me up around 5 a.m. Thanks
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The pain in my legs will pretty much disappear when I start walking around. I don't know what to think. I do take 2000mg of Vitamin D and about 1000mg of Calcium Citrate
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wow! I may be switching to an AI next week.... I see my onc. on Dec. 11th, and we'll discuss it then. After reading these posts, I am now kinda nervous about the switch from Tamoxifen...
I was going to ask about Femara.... now I am wondering if I should switch at all...
I had some problems with Tamoxien, ...I had to have a D & C because it caused my uterine lining to thicken, and I had some kind of uterine polyps growing in there, too... UGH! These drugs are SO SCARY!!!
Harley
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i love prunes.. but i have to eat them strategically. they are kind of gassy for me.
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Caroleb The prunes are any usa dried prunes.. I first purchased them at Safeway but they are about 1/3 the cost as Costco or Sams.. I am sure TraderJoes prices are good too.
Harley44 from what I have read the side effects of the AI 's honestly are better than Tamoxifen.. one bad one withT is uterine cancer and cancer of the other breast.. honestly I am not sure why they would keep giving us a drug with even a 2 or 3 % chance of giving us another cancer when the reason we are taking it is to keep from getting cancer.. expecially when they have alternatives..
anyone trying prunes please let me know if your side effects are better. I am trying to get Fred Hutch to do research for SI to Femara with prunes.. The gal keeping data on my VIt D study was iffy about a study because it was a "natural" thing rather than a pill. If I can show her several people that it has helped maybe she will present it and we can help others.
Hugs and stay well
Robin0 -
My BS has suggested that I take Femara( I am 45 post menopause since 40 y/o) but I am a little scared due to the SE,I can not afford to be "forgetful " bc I am RN.Sometimes I feel like forgetting all this Bull and not taking anything for in the long ride I am going to die anyway if not by the BC of something else.Sorry for that but I am so frustrated with all this that I needed to vent that.Wish I could cry but I can't,see it as being weak.On another note FYI ,if anyone is struggling with their insurance co-pay for the medication Femara has a program called The Femara Care Program Prescription Discount Card that you can print out and take to your pharmacy and only pay 10.00 with your insurance card(co-pay) mine was going to be 50.00 until I read about this program.It is valid in Florida where I live but you would have to read the fine print about your state,just though I would spread the word any save anyone some money while I was at it.
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Hi Harley & Lucitarn,
Sorry that you fell scared, but don't actually a lot of people are ok with AI, and there are tricks to help with the side effetcs, and there are 3 of them so you can switch if one does not suit you.
Irony is, lately my onc. was talking about switching me to Tamoxifen (due to some bone loss)and I was scared like hell, hearing about thickening uterus, blod clots and metabolizing and so on. Finally he told me today I would stay on Femara I went OUF!!
We are all scared of the unknown, but once you try it, maybe you'll be fine on it or get use to the little inconveniences.........lolll Good luck
Welga
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it's really not bad.
(i don't know if the prunes help, but i sure do like them.. they definitely have some fibre.
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Harley, I'm getting ready to go on starting week 4 on Femara, and fortunately nothing bad that I can point too that's been long-lasting or annoying, Praise the Lord!
Joni
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eating the prunes... bumped up to vitamin d3 today--2000ius... my joint stiffness has been more pronounced over the past few days--but then again, I did not swim on either of these days- just used the elliptical trainer--- swimming is really like a miracle drug for me with these side effects..... still trying to figure out the vaginal dryness--- stocking up on replens---both pharmacies in my neighborhood had RUN OUT of it--which tells me I am not the only one in town with this challenge...
I also noticed when I got my Lupron scrip last time that there were several other luprons there--- again, not the only one--- a little reassuring.
saw a woman with a wig on yesterday-just wanted to reach out and hug her and tell her it would all be ok.....
back to the pool...
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Welga,
Really... Tamoxifen isn't really that bad, either. It's been around longer, and has been studied more than the AI's. The uterine cancer is VERY RARE, and since they are taking it, those women who are taking it are being monitored closely, so that IF it should develop, they have surgery immediately...
What concerns me about the AIs is the risk of osteoporosis... I already have low bone density. AND, the AIs raise our cholesterol levels... I DO NOT want to go on cholesterol medicine.
Are you getting Zometa, while you are taking Femara? I was thinking about Femara. I will have to discuss this with my onc when I see him on Friday.
Thanks for the info....
Hugs
Harley
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