FEMARA
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Welcome, Ginger, and Merry Christmas! Take care of yourself while you're recuperating! My surgeon shook his finger in my face and said, "You have one incision on the outside but you have hundreds of places trying to heal on the inside that you can't see. You only have one chance to heal properly from this surgery, so cool your jets for a couple of months!" Good advice.
Get enough sleep and keep your jets on the cool side! :-D
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Ginger, Thanks for the info on Carlson Key E cream, I will check it out on Amazon today! I am willing to give it a try. I am seeing my Onc in Jan. and will ask him about Scream Cream and Lidocaine also. My poor DH has been very patient, but I feel bad for him. Merry Christmas to all, and may we have a SE-free (as much as possible) New Year!
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Hi Ladies. Been on and off this site for quite awhile. I don't want to be repetiive, however, Good Days.Com will help with the Femara costs. I have Aetna, and I would have to pay $231.00 a month, I pay just $30.00 for the pills. Actually I have been off the site for awhile, so now I will go back and read. Just wanted to give some info that might help.
Hugs (now have to go back and read).
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Hi Ladies. Been on and off this site for quite awhile. I don't want to be repetiive, however, Good Days.Com will help with the Femara costs. I have Aetna, and I would have to pay $231.00 a month, I pay just $30.00 for the pills. Actually I have been off the site for awhile, so now I will go back and read. Just wanted to give some info that might help.
Hugs (now have to go back and read).
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Again...22.50 for the generic at Costco. (30) pills. I don't know why my insurance won't give me 90. With us going to Arizona for part of the winter maybe they will let me have it.
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I took my first little pink pill last night...nervously waiting to see if I have side effects. How soon did you ladies notice side effects?
For some reason; my prescription was free. Not even a copay. Not sure why. Maybe a promotion because it was a new prescription?
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Ginger, maybe you met your out of pocket for the year?
I think it was about 3 weeks before my s/e's started.
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hi Ginger48,
My SE's started two months after first pill!!!
Best
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Months later and gradually kept getting worse.
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Some of you are mentioning constipation as a side effect. Mine has gotten terrible! I have rock-like stool everytime I try to go. They are small and dry and come out one at a time. Sometimes they join together and boy is that painful. What can I do to help relieve this?
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weety I also have that problem, but really can't blame the Femara. There are some things I really find helps me. First I eat an apple or a pear every day without fail, next I drink Metamucil every day. Along with those I also eat lots of whole grains, beans, prunes or other dried fruit. I hope this helps.
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I could not take the side effects of the little pink pill, could not believe how potent it is for its size. The following were the side effects for me: severe constipation, headaches, joint aches that I could not hold paper in my right hand or turn door knobs, car key etc, dry dry dry everywhere and u know what I mean, mood swings with absolutely no interest in anything that I have sometimes felt is it worth it, ditorted smell and taste, vision changes, and so on. Finally I had to talk to my Doctor and he has asked me not to take it for three weaks. After that I am not sure which med he is going to put me on. I am loosing sleep that I am not taking any meds. Have anyone gone through what I am going through?. What should I do when I am not on any meds?. Sweats are my weakness and now I am eating more as I am stressed. Thanks in advance for your advice.
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Oh I forgot to add that I have been taking this pink pill for almost 2 1/2 months and before that I was taking Tamox for 3 years and I did well with that. Thx.
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MBoss could you go back on Tamox? You seem to be having a really hard time with Femara. I do have the joint pain which I control with an over the counter pain pill daily. I do have the neuropathy, but only at night. I take L-Glutamate for that which seems to help me.
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Thanks everyone for responding. I guess I may not feel SE right away which is a bit of a relief. I am starting back to teaching preschool next week after being home for 10 weeks and was afraid it would all start at the same time as I am adjusting to being back to my busy job.
MBoss- my onc said if I had a lot of trouble with this drug; I could try tamox so maybe you could go back on that?
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I have been taking femara for 9 months now. Side effects did not show up until after the 7th month. My finger joints were hurting and there is pain when I twist or fold them. Someone from this blog recommended AVEMA (powder to be mixed with juice or water), After taking it for 5 days, the pain is not as bad, I think it helps. Let's see after 30 days, I will keep you all posted.
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I am hoping that my Dr would put me back on Tamox. I am not sure if Femara is better than Tamox. I want to try eveything possible to be healthy.
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Ginger, it may take some time for the SE's to kick in if they do at all. Some people, like me, have very few se's from Femara and you could also be one. The ones I do have, i.e. skin dryness, vaginal dryness, hair thinning to me are all managable and not problematic at all in themselves. I also have osteoarthritis in just about every joint so I atribute my joint pain to that as it was there before I started with Femara and has not gotten worse other than the progression of the arthrits itself. Good luck and hope you have few or no se's at all and if you do, there are other options when it comes to this form of medication. If you are not on a med for only three or four weeks, it should make no difference to you being protected as the drugs hand in the system for a good while after finishing them that is why they do the break before starting something new. Good luck!
Weety, you poor love! There is nothing worse that constipation to that point. A good otc stool softener is a must when you are at the point you are now as well as loads of fibre and dry fruit. Also, as Kira said, an apple every day eaten last thing before bedtime is the very best to keep things moving. I learned that from my dad many years ago and used it after having my children as I ended up almost plugged each time so I used dad's remedy and no more problems. A glass of tepid water first thing in the morning is also good for the whole GI system. I sure hope you get some relief soon.
MBoss, I started on Arimidex but because of some very bad se's and no QOL, my doc changed me to Femara and it has been great ever since. Sometimes it is the way a med is put together (chemicals used) that makes the difference in wether we can tolerate it well or not. You can also ask your doc why he changed you from Tamox in the first place and if it was only for the fact that you are post menopausal, then I would ask to go back on it if you had no problems. There are a lot of women who are post men. that take it rather than one of the AI's.
Love n hugs to all. Chrissy
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my mother's just started femara boy, do we get mood swings from her -frustration and tiredness. she can fall asleep anywhere when she takes the pill. I read AVEMA I am in the UK I don't know if there is a substitute or what it is exactly but would love to hear from other's please.
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Azura, for the fall asleep anywhere, get your mother to try taking the Femara at night, it does help.....a lot! The mood swings are because in the drop in estrogen and will even out so hang in there. I can't give you any information on the AVEMA as I live in Australia but I'm sure one of the other ladies will step in and give you that information.
Hope your mom evens out on the meds soon and they are the only SE's to affect her.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
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Hi ladies................................tried the good days.com, and they emailed me back and said they do not cover the drug Femara...................figured it was worth a try.
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Azura, I agree with Chrissy have her take the Femara at night. The mood swings will settle down. I can't say about the hot flashes I am still having them and have been on Femara for 14 months now.
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For y'all who have trouble with constipation - be sure to drink enough water!!!
As for the femara/letrozole SE's, mine started immediately, but are now (2nd month) fading a bit - unlike the tamox SE's that just continued to get worse (for me). Hopefully the letrozole SE's will not rebound down the road. I'm taking curcumin and have started on Glucosamine Sulfate for some of the joint issues - and am still on warfarin for the blood clots the tamox caused (hopefully I can drop that one within the next few months). When things get achy at night I take a Tylenol (which also helps me sleep). Also I changed from the Mylan generic to the Cara generic - maybe that made a difference, too.
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Thought I would check out this thread. I was on Arimidex - could live with everything but my blood pressure going through the roof and my heart beating fast - scared me. Next was Aromasin. Besides the blood pressure and rapid heart, the hot flushes were incredible and I would turn beat red right at 12 hours after I had taken the pill and about 4 hours later it would go away. Not a good thing when you are trying to work and manage people. I had to take it at night because the dizzy spells were not manageable. Almost took a header down the stairs. I just started Femara on Tuesday and I am back to the rapid heartbeat already. My BP, however, has seemed to remain fairly stable - just slightly higher than normal. My oncologist said if this one doesn't work, on to Tamoxifen even though I am post menopausal. He suggested I should consider quality of life vs quantity. I'm not sure I am ready to give up yet but one day at a time.
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That would be beet red LOL
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Hey BobbiM- I've got the rapid heart rate going, but it hasn't really impacted my life. I had terrible trouble with tamoxifen, but know that everyone doesn't. Hope you're doing OK. big hugs n all.
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Hi...I started out with the skipping of heart beats and at times in bed it raced until I controlled it with slow breathing.
I wore a heart monitor for a while, but they found nothing out of the ordinary. It settles itself down eventually. Scary at the time though.
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we have taken your advice and switched it to nighttime she is getting a good nights sleep apart from at 2am really hungry but, she loves salmon sandwhiches. The main issue is she is hardly putting on any weight.
[OT] Fortisip my mother is drinking today and the food has been passing through her. I wonder if Fortisip does this to many people. I need to open thread to ask sorry.
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Azura, Did your Mom have chemo? For me Femara hasn't caused diarrhea nor weight loss, in fact just the opposite. When going through chemo it was another story. I don't think the Fortisip would cause diarrhea.
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She has stopped the fortisip I too have femara but am close to remission.
Last night felt like I had too much energy in my body after one and yes sorry to say it but, I also was unable to get out of the toilet. It did affect me.Within 30 minutes I felt gassy and I was awake all night --i felt like I had drunk a can of redbull...and had palpitations...hmmm guess the fortisip is different then. Today stopped taking it and switched to Ensure instead and feel ok. I guess some people don't do well on fortisip. I guess my stomache is pretty uncomfortable.
No she hasn't had Chemo. I have had though. I switched to Ensure shakes and I am fine. I have left my mum to a fresh salad with salmon and olive oil and a caffeine free milk honey and rebush tea. All seems ok. Just wish more nutrients would go in.
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