FEMARA
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Aussieched, are you presently using Femara? Your script should cost you no more that about $33.00 and $5.00 if you are on a pension with health card. If it is costing you more, your pharmacy is ripping you off.
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I have been on Femara for 5 months and the SE that bothers me the most is knee joint pains when I get up. I try to walk as much as I can and that seems to help. I did take the recommendation from Eph and started taking it at night and my SE are so much better. I am sleeping better at night too. I had neropathy in my hands and feet from chemo and luckily the Femara has not aggravated it so it has almost gone away in my fingers just some tingling, still have it in my feet. The SE are so different from one person to the next, my MO recommended it for me and I am glad. I use the prescription by mail with my insurance company and I get three month refill for $80 vers the $40 per month I would have to pay at the pharmacy.
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Each time I get up, I walk like I'm 90 years old. My feet hurt a lot, especially first thing in the morning. And I have almost no strength in my hands because my fingers hurt to grip anything.
Three years, 4-1/2 months to go!
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OMG, I am a mess. Supposed to start Femera monday, but after reading all these posts I am soooo nervous. Had ovaries out 3 weeks ago because the Tamoxifen caused a blood clot to develop. I am 53 years old, high blood pressure but other than that in pretty good shape. Is it better to take it at night?
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Many have recommended taking it at night, especially when the side effects were bad during the day.I have always taken it at night. Understanding your anxiety about starting Femara I have had no extreme side effects and the various aches go away quicky as I go about my morning routine.Hoping that you will have good results!
Jane(xgolfer)
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KittyDog & others with trigger thumb: I saw an orthopedic doc who specializes in hands today. He gave me an injection of corticosteroid in the joint at the base of my thumb. It instantly numbed my thumb & stung, but pain was tolerable. I am scheduled to get another injection in 4 weeks if this one does not cure the trigger thumb. He said I can have a maximum of 3 injections a month apart, and if the problem still persists, he will do a minor outpatient surgery where he cuts open the base of the thumb & makes a small snip to loosen the tendon. Hope this shot works!!
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lindajbar - just take a few deep breaths, pray. I have been on it for 5 months now with minimal SE and I am usally the kind of person who gets hit with all the SE. Taking it at night has helped so much. Same as xgolfer, hoping that you have good results.
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Dear ladies, I'm so happy to find this site!
I'm on Femara for 5 years. I found it the heaviest therapy of all before because of this long duration. It's my eleventh mounts, I started Femara in April 2010. The first two months I felt nothing special, than I got terrible knee join pain, but my ONC. Was satisfied and said "its works". I was taking ibuprofen for six weeks, then I took Vitamin D3, for a while it was better, later I also have so much bone and muscle pain, stiffness, depression too. Now I'm taking my pill before sleeping. It's better! As painkiller I take ibuprofen and not to destroy my digestive tract a pill of 30% tramadol with 70% paracetamol.
I see we all have the same SE's that cherries mi up.
Joint pain from taking an aromatase inhibitor can be troubling. But a 2008 British study suggests that women who experienced joint pain while taking hormonal therapy medicine were less likely to have the breast cancer come back (recur). Knowing that this side effect might indicate a reduced risk of the cancer coming back may help some people stick with treatment despite the side effects
Best wishes to all! Usha
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Thank you all for answering. I just found this site, and I am so glad I did. I don't have friends going through this with me and sometimes feel alone. Try to make good decisions with Oncologist, but still scary. I will start Monday on the Femara, and take it at night. Keeping my fingers crossed for good results. God bless all of you.
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I just got my scrip filled with the coupon and it took my copay down to 10.00 - before the coupon it was 176.00 because I took it to a local pharmacy. My insurance makes an incentive to do this type of prescription by mail BUT the mail order program wont honor the coupon- so I will take it locally until it expires or I use up the allotted amount and then convert to mail order which costs me 50.00/month requiring three months per order (so 150.00 total).
Kristy
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Thanks sincerely for all the replies. After extensive reading (amateur, non-medical background) of websites and also medical texts I have concluded that taking Femara is just not worth it considering the side effects and the relatively minimal advantages that taking the drug offers. See, for example: http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=20726&name=FEMARA
Susan Love's material would also suggest that we should seriously consider the relative advantage of taking Femara in light of the side effects.
See the following relating to the actual advantage of taking Femara: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4070/is_200403/ai_n9396921/
Does anyone have a link to other trials that show that Femara gives an advantage:
4cm tumor, lumpectomy, HER2+, PR+, ER+, 7 lypmh nodes removed, no metastatis, I've had chemo (TCH), Herceptin for a year and now undergoing radiation therapy.
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My Onc told me that I will have Femara, but yesterday when I brought it up with him, he said that Aromasin is now the drug they suggest because of the high cost of Femara.
I had a very hard time to make a decision if I wanted to take Femara or not. It sounds good with the 50 % benefit, but in reality it's more like 10 % benefits (for me)
Now when I read about Aromasin and realize that this one has even more SE than Femara, (i.e Hair-loss) I don't know what to do.
I think QOL is very important and I don't know if I will risk that.....
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Femara will be available in generic this summer.
If you live in the USA you can print the coupon and get it for $10 a month or a total of $800 off the cost which ever comes first.
I personally think the side effects are worth it for me. My main complaint is knee pain, trigger finger and a few hot flashes. Of course my NP said that knee pain and trigger finger were not side effects of the drug. hahaha We all know that is not so. Yeah my weight may not be helping it but to many on here have that same side effect.
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My onc said femara would be generic in may.
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I read online that the generic brand will be available at the earliest in July. My onc said that even so will the cost be pretty high, he estimated it to be about $100 a month in copay if the insurance company cover it.
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I don't know about the copay. My copay now for Femara is only $30 and then I use the coupon from the Femara web site and get it for $10.
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I need to ask my onc to clarify for me why he will change me from Femara to Aromasin....
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My onc also told me that femara will be generic this summer. BTW, I have almost no SE's from Femara. My onc told me I should post this news to encourage others. She said it was all because of my positive attitude. Don't know about that.
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The only SE I have is a little fatigue but by taking the pill at night that is not bad at all. I changes from Arimidex to Femara in October partly because of the debilitating SeE of Arimidex and partly because of a small progression which has now been resolved. Good luck to you girls still making the descision whether to take or not to take.
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youlooklikeyouneedabeergirl-----Love your screen name!
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ainemw: The important thing is that you are making a well researched,informed decision. I knew about the absolute percentage info, as well as all of the potential side effects, before I agreed to take Femara. My thinking is that I will throw everything at this disease, not leaving anything to chance. But I also told my oncologist that I reserve the right to switch drugs if the side effects become too severe.
As with chemo, I've had every side effect on the list. It's just how my body reacts to this stuff. Some days I'm feeling like I'm hanging on by my fingernails, other days I feel just fine. It's been 20 months, so I've got a long stretch ahead.
Femara may only help 2% of the women who take it. But if you're one of those 2%, it could make all the difference in the world.
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Texas357,
from where did you get the info about that Femara may help only 2 % ?
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Actually my comments were a little skewed. The 2% is the absolute difference in the study comparing the women taking Femara vs. the women using Tamoxifen. It was 2% fewer women who had a recurrence using Femara.
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I am switching from tamoxifen to femara as soon as I pick it up from the drugstore with much hesitation. I have had a real bad time with the night sweaats and hot flashes. My onc gave me a month between and I am not sure that was a good idea because now I have very few flashes but from what I am reading from you guys I will be back in hell soon.. My bones are already all to pieces so I don't know where that will go and my hair is thin so I am hoping for the best but expecting the worse. Thanks
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Stefie, my hot flashes are sporadic. They were really bad to start with, but then tapered off dramatically. I noticed that if I indulge in a cocktail, I can almost guarantee having a personal summer a little later.
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Stefie taking it at night has sure helped me, my SE have dimished some
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Thanks all and Texas357, I've decided not to take it. Really, how can taking Femara be justified considering the side effects and that it BARELY improves chances of recurrence? Why are oncologists prescribing this drug? If anyone out there can convince me otherwise after reading the following links, I'd be grateful to hear from you:http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4070/is_200403/ai_n9396921/http://www.dslrf.org/breastcancer/content.asp?CATID=0&L2=3&L3=5&L4=0&PID=&sid=130&cid=1393http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=20726&name=FEMARA0
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ainemw -
I felt the same way. I was very set on not taking Femara, especially after Tamoxifen caused me to develop a new disease. Then my good friend who I met in chemo was diagnosed Stage 4, mets to liver. We have only been out of chemo 18 months. I started popping that little yellow pill every night. I decided that if it was horrible I would stop, but I had to try. It has been fine. Actually, I feel great! My hip hurts, but I also run about 30 miles a week.
Take Care!
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Been on it only 1 week. Terrible headache and nausea which started yesterday. I have high blood pressure and take medication. Just took my bp, 132/94. Concerned that the femara is causing this. Going t call oncologist in morning. Just not sure what to do?
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A key question for oncologists is - how does femara improve my chances. Look for facts, figures and references to the publications that have printed the facts and figures.
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