FEMARA
Comments
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Dee, I remember you posted this question on the Ibrance thread and I didn't answer then BC I thought others would and I've been very busy and sometimes just too tired to post but I have had a lot of lightheadedness and some shaky hands especially when first starting this protocol. However, I think some of the problems are caused by my low sodium levels. I probably drink lots more water than most people but my sodium levels are almost always less than 125-130. Do you know what yours are? My onc. told me drink v8 or tomato juice and it helps.
I've had 2 different generic brands of letrozol and never saw a warning on either one. What the heck?
Faith (in the future
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I have to correct what I said earlier about no warning labels on the letrozole. I haven't paid attention to them, dumb me. Both brands Teva and the newest one Apotex have the red warning label for dizziness.
Sorry if I misled anyone
Faith (in the future
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OceanSky, I have some fatigue but I've had it since my surgery. If I sit down around 3pm, or if I miss lunch, I totally run out of steam. Nowadays I can work through it but early on I took lots of naps. I take Teva brand and sofar it's been pretty good to me.
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Not getting fatigue from the Teva brand (nor did I get it from Roxane or the few brand name Femara pills I took from my 3-month stash in between the generic refills). Afraid to get a lipid panel, because I was on Lipitor once for 3 weeks and got awful quadriceps aches. I notice my postprandial glucose has begun rising, but it could be from weeks of cheating on my low-carb diet. My hair has been thin since menopause, and I don’t see it getting thinner, nor has my stylist (especially if I only blow-dry it w/o flatironing). When it starts getting “fluffy” again I know the protein treatment has grown out and my coarser gray roots are kicking in again.
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thanks Faith. I got a couple of answers on Ibrance, but I hadn't been on Ibrance for more than 3 weeks at that point, so I was thinking it was the Femera. I too drink a ton of water & have taken to adding salt to things because my sodium levels were low enough that I was getting leg cramps. I was hoping it would go away with time. cheers, dee
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savgigi, I don't take a statin so that is not it. I just need my estrogen to feel good I guess..sigh. I never took any hormones but I miss what little I had left after menopause.
I am thinking I should see a rheumatologist. I may be developing rheumatoid arthritis from all that I have read because this pain is not normal, even for an AI user..at least I don't think it is. Ugh!
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Thanks Luckynumber, I found a thread on Femara fatigue, but it's not as common as other side affects. I'm taking Sun brand and it doesn't appear to be a common brand. Anyone else taking it? Walgreens filled it, am going to ask them to change it. I have autoimmune disease in addition to BC. The fatigue may be the result to the combination of those things, although the fatigue I'm getting from Femara is extreme. I feel asleep getting a pedicure and all the Asian ladies were laughing when they woke me up to put polish on. That was fun.
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Kbee - thank you for your comments about weight loss. I find that if I have a particularly stressful week, I lose weight, probably from lack of sleep. I have also cut out after-dinner snacking (trying to follow the 13 hour daily fasting routine), which probably also contributed to weight loss. I'm now eating 2 breakfasts - my usual granola with almond milk, walnuts and berries, followed an hour later with an egg sandwich on whole wheat toast with butter and sometimes a slice of avacado. Since I've started this, I have been able to maintain my weight at 120.
OceanSky - I took the Sun generic but switched to brand name after having my estrogen levels tested. They seemed higher than what I would have expected on an AI - Estradiol was 16.9 pg/mL on Sun and fell to <1 pg/mL 2 weeks after switching to brand name Femara. My MO is skeptical and I have read that the levels can bounce around a bit when you first start on AI, but I still feel better knowing that my estrogen is lower. As for SEs, I have not had anything to complain about on either the generic or brand name, but I only started taking it in March, so the SEs may kick in later.
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Grandma, I have started having 2 breakfasts as well. I also got some protein bars from the health food store. They do not have soy or weird ingredients and they pack 400 calories a piece.
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Thanks Grandma, Haven't been on Femera long. Am leaving this weekend for M.D. Anderson in Houston. Will have levels checked there. Also, am on the lean petite side. Since starting Femera I have no appetite. Do you have an appetite and loosing weight or no appetite and loosing?
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I have had little appetite the past few days due to the Zometa faux-flu reaction. My appetite is back now, but somehow I have no desire to eat things I bought that I love (Whole Foods' in-house-made tortilla chips, gelato, pasta, cereal) but that I know are no good for me. I am craving protein right now--had a double-yolk fried egg with a piece of low-carb whole wheat toast and a little butter. If someone put a steak, chop, chicken wings or a turkey leg in front of me right now I would wolf it down. I could make a salad, but veggies just don't satisfy me unless combined with carbs (which I must avoid) or on a slice of pizza.
Normally, Femara alone doesn’t suppress my appetite--if anything, it makes me hungrier. Combined with the estrogen-deprivation-caused reduction in metabolism, that makes it very, very hard to keep my weight down to even the mildly obese level it was at dx. Part of that was the self-indulgent comfort eating I did between that fateful screening mammogram and the end of rads (despite knowing how damaging that was).
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grandma, we eat pretty much the exact same thing!!!!
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OceanSky (love your screen name!) - my appetite hasn't changed much on Femara. I do tend to eat less when under stress, so that may have been part of the weight loss.
Momine and Kbeee - it's a relief to know that I'm not the only one experiencing weight loss while on this drug! I carried a lot of weight in my tummy and hips, which is now gone
and I'm trying hard to gain weight by adding muscle instead of fat. 0 -
For me Femara has been a great improvement from Arimidex. Joint paint was my biggest reason for switching and it is much better. There was a third med that the doctor said we'd try if Femara didnt work out. She assured me they all do their job just as well so its good to know there are options if side effects get worse.
Interesting bosumblues to hear you mention high cholestorol from these meds, mine went sky high too. Doctors could never give me an answer as to if it might have been brought on from the meds, chemo or what. My blood sugar also went crazy.
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How quickly does cholesterol go up? I've been on Femara for about 6 months but my PCP said it's too early to check, that it would not go up that quickly. I had my cholesterol checked just before starting on letrozole and it was at the high end of the "normal" range, but HDL:LDL ratio was very good, so I was told not to worry.
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My cholesterol went up after about 10 months on Letrozole. It went to 220. I guess that's not super high but the bad cholesterol was high as well. Hdl/ldl ratio was okay so I did not get put on meds. I went on a very low calorie diet and walked a lot to get it down 6 months later to 192. LD dropped to normal range but so did hdl. And the ratio is not what it should be. So still trying. Have to eat very low calories in order to lose any weight. It's hard. Fortunately my A1C was fine. My cardiologist said ideal cholesterol should be 150. I have a ways to go.
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now that you mention odor, i am constantly sweating and can smell the bo under the arms, evan after a shower and a good scrubbing. The pounds are there, but i could eat almost 24/7 and i know thats not good. Will have to have the cholesterol checked, it was up with ARimidex but i dont watch what i eat either
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Thinking, ideal cholesterol at 150? I remember mine was 160 when I was pregnant and my doc said that was close to the minimum. Mine hovers between 180 and 200, with extremely good ratio (I have way more good than bad cholesterol) and my docs are not concerned.
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momine... My cardiologist is very aggressive with cholesterol. I don't think mine will ever be that number. Not sure what I would need to go to get it down to that!!! Starve?? I am happy if I can get the 190 down a little more. I would like to get my good cholesterol up without the bad cholesterol going up. Any ideas on how to do that?? I was shocked when he told me he likes to seecholesterol at 150. Thought how am I going to get there??
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Mine stayed in the normal/good range (178 with good HDL/LDL ratios) while on exemestane but I have yet to be checked since starting letrozole...we shall see.
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Aug 26, 2016 12:32AM BosumBlues wrote:
ChiSandy, what is a protein treatment? What does it do exactly for your hair?
So ChiSandy - did you ever answer this question? If I missed it, I apologize but i'm curious because I'm thinning after taking Femara for 5 months.
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Thinkingpositive, the best way to improve the good/bad ratio is twofold: exercise and diet. Specifically, you need to eat a LOT of fiber, a lot of veggies and fatty fish (nuts are good too) and go easy on refined carbs, red meat and cheese. It is not that difficult once you get used to it.
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Anyone here on the Lupron + Letrozole combo? Had my second Lupron shot today, and start Letrozole tonight. I am premenopausal, and seriously thinking about an oopherectomy. I've had my kids. Is there any advantage to keep the ovaries at all? I really would prefer not to take more meds than necessary. Thanks!
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Fighter, I did the ooph instead of lupron. I could not see any advantage to keeping the things if their function was going to be suppressed anyway. I got rid of some nasty uterine fibroids and some painful old adhesions as part of the deal. The surgery was easy. The overnight menopause was a bit of a challenge. I think it took me 6-12 months to adjust, but then I felt fine
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momine... Thanks for yje
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momine...thanks for the info on the cholesterol I'll give it a shot. I am a big cheese eater so that's probably where my problem lies. I see you had fibroids removed how did they do that? I have fibroids also but didn't have anything done when I had my ovaries out. Do they ever become a problem
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Thinking, they were going to cut them out, but since I had several and they were large, they took most of my uterus
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fightergirl--I did the TLH route. Best decision I made in all this! (Well, other than all my fantastic docs!) Surgery was also quite easy. One night in the hospital, home next day and off all pain meds (which was just Tylenol) by day 4. Driving in a week. Cleared for walking at the gym at 2 weeks and cleared for normal life at 8 weeks with just the warning to be careful for a while. I started getting hot flashes/night sweats about 6 weeks after surgery but have managed to get them mostly under control. I'm about a year and a half out and I feel awesome!!
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Well, you can get your good cholesterol up with a glass of red wine a day....but that would also raise your estrogen. Upsides & downsides to everything. I’ve found the toughest thing about getting older is that accepting the cold reality that not only can’t everything be fixed the way it was in our youth, but that fixing one thing often breaks another.
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Justwonder what percentage of our symptoms are metabolic syndrome from the chemo. This was discussed in the new research thread that a huge % of women who had chemo get this. It includes cholesterol, weight gain etc
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