FEMARA
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I've been on Femara since Aug1. My legs were a bit achy at first but could have been chemo related - I finished chemo 2 weeks before. I started taking it at night before bed but have now switched to mornings. I was having problems falling asleep which is unusual for me, staying asleep is usually more of an issue. Only just switched to mornings but so far my ability to get to sleep seems to have improved.
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hello ladies, I've decided on femara nervous about the tamoxifen SEs. I was gonna take first dose tonight but seeing best to take in the mornings? Anyone NOT have any SEs?
I'm already taking the folllowing:
Juicing
Coq10
D-ribose
Multi-vitamin
D3 drops
Magnesium
Curcumin/tumoric
Biotin
Bone maker
Gluclisomine/MSM
ALA
ALC
I'm sure I'm leaving out something. Thanks for feedback.
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC222838...!po=81.1620
The what, why and how of aromatase inhibitors: hormonal agents for treatment and prevention of breast cancer
It confirms everything my onc said, especially the part about muscle and joint pain improving over time. Excellent read. The really encouraging thing to me was the low incidence of bone loss which was often seen in women with low levels of vitamin D
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Does anyone have any experience being removed from an ai (in my case femara) due to extreme side effects? My doc is recommending I get off for 2 weeks and we will than discuss another. If you got off of one how long did the side effects remain in your system
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Hi all,
I started the Letrozole on 8/30. I had finished radiation on 8/11 and wanted to wait until the fatigue from radiation was mostly behind me. After one week on letrozole I have fatigue again and it is a giant bummer. I didn't expect the menopausal type side effects to be much of a problem for me because I had surgical menopause five years ago. But today I had a major hot flash that was really more of a flash BACK for me. If the fatigue keeps up like this I'll have to seek out another treatment...I am just not myself at all. It is hard to picture taking this for five years. My onco-score was 17 so I really need to (and will).
I had a bone density test prior to starting on this and i have osteoporosis (at 50!), serious in my spine. So I'm taking calcium and vitamin D and interested in any supplements and dietary recommendations...none have been suggested by my doctors other than the calcium/D supplements. Glad to have found you all and to have read your posts so far!
Mo
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Thanks for the reply bayou. I have been on femara for just 5 weeks but the last 10 days have been unbearable with severe hip pain. I am walking, taking 800mg ibuprofen twice a day, muscle relaxer and percoset when I can't stand it any longer. I know we are all different as some don't seem to respond this poorly. She is taking me off it for two weeks. I am hoping the she's are gone in two weeks. I rely a lot on these posts and really appreciate the information I gai
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Hello All:
I finished chemo 3 weeks ago and will start radiation tomorrow. I will begin letrozole when I complete radiation, which I understand is Femara. I am very concerned after reading about side effects, because I must take it 10 years. Ugh!
Wishing you health and happiness.
MariaTeresaG
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I started Letrozole four weeks ago and so far, so good! I've had a few extra hot flashes than usual, but nothing too bad. It's scary to look up potential side effects online, however it depends what the drug is for and in my case I definitely need to take it. I will do my absolute best to continue on it as long as possible.
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BayouMama....I just had my bone density and my results were the beginning of osteoporosis with a -2.5 in my spine. My MO wants me to see specialist to del with this. I have only been on fermara for six months. He said that they may put me on a drug like Boniva. All other scores were osteopenia.
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I woke up today and I realized I could almost close both hands with no trouble. Glad I slogged through it. Hopefully my body is adjusting to being post meno and Femara and it will be smooth(er) sailing from now on
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MariaTeresa....you may not have any side effects. I've been on femara almost a year and if I've had any side effects they have been minimal. I say IF, because it hard to tell sometimes if it's the femara or just the gradual aging or lack of exercise. I feel I do better overall with consistent exercise. I mostly do yoga or take a brisk walk occasionally. Just keep moving.
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Contacted the Osteoporosis Specialist to follow up on my osteroporosis diagosis...cannot get an appt until Jan 4th. Both doctors totally booked. The other group is not in my insurance plan. I guess I need to call my MO to find out if -2.5 in only the spine is okay to wait until Jan to be seen... not feeling good about that. Need to look at some other doctors I guess that were not recommended.
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so I went gluten free when I started all this as hoped it would give me a jump start on joint pain. My daughter has arthritis and gets flares with wheat. Had been on the fence about dairy and sugar which are so much harder. We went out for ice cream last night ( a rare treat) and my fingers bent better today. Maybe I should eat more ice cream?!?.
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I'm pretty sure ice cream cures everything
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Thinking positive...my bone scan was a -3.5 in the lumbar. My scores were sent to my primary doctor and his nurse called me and said he wanted me to start taking Fosomax once a week and continue with calcium and to check back in 1-2 years. Didn't even have to see him and they didn't seem to think the score was alarming. Hope they are right.
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Thinking, I have borderline osteoporosis on the spine, and my doc is not alarmed. He says that overall my fracture risk is low, so for now we just monitor.
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BayouMama, I'm not sure your fatigue can be blamed solely on letrozole. For me it took about six months to feel like I was completely over the fatigue of diagnosis, surgery, and radiation. So I would say give it some time and you might start feeling much better.
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momine...hopefully that's the case with me. But I cannot get an appt until January!!! Looking for another specialist. Nash54...I asked if I could just send my report over for the doctor to look at and maybe start me on Boniva until I can be seen and was told no. So I am looking for another specialist on my plan.
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Thinking....well that just stinks. Why make you wait til January! It will be interesting to see what they recommend. Don't know if I should be concerned that my recommendation for Fosomax was made strictly from reading my scans 😏. Other than Letrozole I'm not on any other medications. And up until BC had never had any medical issues.
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Thinking positive.....my BS office just set an appt for me to see an endocrinologist. Can't get in til Jan 15. Not sure what to do....go with my primary docs recommendation (via phone after reading scans) whom I haven't seen in about 5 years....or see a specialist. I haven't started the Fosamax even though I got the prescription filled. I'm leaning towards the specialist in January. Don't want to mess around with this. My primary said take Fosamax and check back in 1-2 years. Curious to see if recommendation from specialist will be the same. It never ends.....
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Nash 54 I know how you feel. I'm now. following up on elevated Ca1 25 results. Have an ovarian cyst
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Nash 54 I also had a hard time getting an appointment with an osteoporosis specialist they didn't have an appointment for me until January 4 so I searched another hospital in the area and found a doctor affiliated with the hospital so I have an appointment for September 28.
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Nash 54 I also had a hard time getting an appointment with an osteoporosis specialist they didn't have an appointment for me until January 4 so I searched another hospital in the area and found a doctor affiliated with the hospital so I have an appointment for September 28.
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Thinking positive...keep me posted on what they recommend. I'd love to get my appt this year especially since I've already met my deductible 😩
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Hi All I posted here a few weeks ago - hoping to get some feedback from those of you that have switched AI's with success.
About a month ago I changed from Anastrazole to Femara, hoping for less side effects. I was on Anastrazole for 6 months, was tolerating it well and then bam - had severe side effects including dizziness, headaches, flu-like symptoms and painful joints.
Made the switch to Femara a month ago, was doing okay until yesterday, when the same type of side effects started again.
I've tried 2 AI's with no success, the side effects are bad enough that I'm not sure that I want to try another one.
Has anybody had success after failure with 2 AI's? I'm so frustrated. Maybe I go back to Tamoxifen - ?
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I hit a wall with the joint stuff about a month or two ago. I was seriously thinking of stopping. It is much better now. My hands feet knees are pretty stiff in the morning but things are much better in an hour or so.Maybe hang with it a bit longer. I am taking an Aleve, glucosamine and chrondroitin and magnesium. My onc said it would improve and it has
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I am scheduled for a PET scan on Thursday because of the severe muscle and joint pain. Off Femara for a week again. I'm a bit scared. Love, Jean
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Good luck Jean. I'd be scared too. We're hanging with you. Let us know how it goes.
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I started on Femara after both Aromasin and Arimidex gave me severe ses. Femara is not great either, but for the past six months I've been on half a tablet a day (with my onc's approval) and I'm now tolerating it. It's not a bed of roses though, but the ses are ones I can live with for now. At least I'm not having hallucinations, debilitating headaches and vision problems.
My question is - I developed a dry cough about a month ago. It's a tickle in the back of my throat and is very annoying. I've also developed shortness of breath, but not badly. I saw my onc on Monday and he tells me that the cough and shortness of breath are a less common se of Femara. Ok - so has anyone else had this? And if so - how have you "treated" the cough? It's annoying lol.
Trish
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Hi, I've been taking Femara(letrozole) for 4 years, the good news is that it has held back the cancer almost totally during this time, I am stage 4, metastatic. I'm told by the consultant that there are cases of femara holding back the cancer for 10 years.
The bad news is that it caused osteoporosis fairly quickly and I take calcium etc for that, it also causes me extreme fatigue so I have to really pace myself and can't go out walking with the girls and have to sit down a lot and rest. This exhaustion has not lessened with time, it's pretty constant really. I've had to change my life quite a lot as I was always very active before.
I don't feel I have any choice but to take it as my options are not very many now.
I have had 2 grandchildren during this time so I'm really grateful to femara.
I hope this helps
Ramade
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