FEMARA
Comments
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Mine is just before bed ingestion. Works much better that way for me!
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does anyone have muscle/ligament pain from letrozole, or just joint pain? I've got some pretty good pain going in my left thigh, which has been getting worse over the last 2 months - I've assumed letrozole, but thought I'd check with y'all to see if that seems unlikely - in which case I'll get myself to my doc (which I truly hate the thought of... )
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I take mine first thing in the morning when I get up. It seemed to make me have trouble falling asleep. I have mild aches and pains but nothing very bad. I'm just chalking it up to getting older, rofl!
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Gardengumby, I had an achiness in my left leg, not exactly my thigh but above my knee. It concerned me, but it has passed. My understanding is that any persistent or worsening pain should be looked at, so please call your onc.
Anyone concerned about what happens after the five years??? Some studies shown better outcomes when women have continued with anti-estrogen meds beyond the five year time frame.
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I have been on generic Letrozole (gold colored ones) for about 5 months , and have noticed no new side effects .. and in fact I have been NED since Jan5th.......... I take mine in the am...
everyone is different but I certainly do LOVE paying only 5.00 a month for the script and do not feel I have done any harm to my treatment . My doc actually recommended it ..
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Gardengumby if your pain has been there for a couple of months and seems to be getting worse please go to the doc and get it checked out. Most Letrozole pain no matter where it is usually either goes completely or lessens over time but not increases. I think it's time to see exactly what is going on.
Good luck!!! Please let us know the result and know that we are all here for you.
Love n hugs. Chrissy
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Hi Ladies, haven't posted in a while but I went for my 6 month check & was told I now have osteoporosis, cancer just keeps on giving! They are now looking into treatment for the new "side effect". My husband and I talked last night and we have pretty much decided that I will stop taking letrozole and forget about the bone building treatments, although I will talk to my onc first. I have hated taking the AI since I began but have persevered. My husband has already had two hip replacement surgeries even though he is still in his 40s so we know what inconvenience, pain etc bone issues can cause and I don't think I want to lose any more quality of life than I have to. It's four years since my diagnosis, treatment etc and I have had enough. I don't know if anyone else feels the same but I feel when I take the letroxozole that it affects my moods, sleep, and overall feeling of well being and after 3 years of this I believe now is the time to say no more. I admire all you ladies who will continue to battle this with whatever the medical profession has to throw at it but for me I had my ovaries removed after chemo & radiation and I think I have put my body through enough. I'm not sure my oncologist will agree but for the first time I am ready to admit to her that this is the end of AIs for me.
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It has been a long, long while since I have posted on this thread, but have been trying to quickly read through to catch up. Femara was my ONC's first choice for me which I took for several months before MEDCO started sending me the generic. Within two months of the generic, my hands became so crippled that I could not open a door, a jar, or anything else. ONC switched me to generic Aromasin which didn't produce any side effects for about two months and then, WHAM, my knees went stiff and the sight of stairs made me cringe. Tooo painful to even think about it and we live in a house full of stairs that I was going up and down on my butt! So, my ONC appealed to MEDCO to put me back on the real stuff, FEMARA, no generic. So, I have been back on that now for two months with no problems at all. It was absolutley amazing on quickly the knee joints recovered... maybe two days at most. I am hoping that I will continue to do well on the real Femara.
The kicker is.... my DEXA this past February showed my hip bones to be -2.4. I was told that osteoporosis is -2.5. Yikes! So my ONC gave me some homework to study up on bone treatment which will be the big discussion at my next appt in May.
The other kicker.... I have back surgery in my future (spinal fusion) due to 3 herniated discs. They need to graft some bone for the surgery. Guess what... they normally take it from your hip. And the plot thickens.
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If there is bone loss on the femara can you go 'back' to tamoxifen?
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Hi ladies, I just finished rads and will be starting femara in April. My onco never even mentioned having a baseline bone density scan. After reading a few pages here and on femara website, it looks to me like this should be done. Did you guys get a baseline done?
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Mollydog, Is that a border collie in your avatar? That's my favorite breed of dog, next to the one I have now, which is a miniature dachshund.0
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Grandma V-I did.
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Grandma V - I did too.
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Thanks Eph3_12 and Joan, guess I'll be calling my onco Monday to see about getting one.
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I did too. Just had my second one done last week....anxious to see what change has occurred in just over 2 years on Femara.
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GrandmaV, no, not a Border Collie. Just a beautiful mix. She may very well have had some Border Collie in her, tho.
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Molly, She is beautiful.
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I had a dexascan right before going on Femara and then another two years later. It showed minimal bone loss. I'm hoping I can do another two years with the same results using the generic. I do take lots of calcium and use weights at least once a week. Also when I do step aerobics I put a light weight on my ankles.
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dkerler, thank you, may I ask what kind of calcium you take?
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Yeah, I had a bone scan before starting femara as well.
Monty, I totally can relate to your thinking about stopping the femara after 4 years! I hate it too! I noticed that your are HER2+ as well as being ER+. I've read a few times on this board that some oncs believe that the HER2 part trumps the ER part, so that if you have not had a recurrance at the 3 yr mark, you are probably safe to stop the AI's as well. This is not my opinion necessarily--I have just seen it on these boards and I'm wondering if anyone else has heard or seen anything else with similar thinking (or something that would contradict it) as well??? What did your onc tell you about stopping at 4 yrs? Did he seem to think that one extra year would make that much of a difference?
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Grandma V, I take a Centrum Silver for women and 2 Viactiv Chews a day.
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In regards to my thigh pain - it apparently is related to a herniated disk in my lower back. We have an inverter (hang upside down by your feet) and once I started doing that daily for 15-30 mins, my pain has reduced markedly. (Thank-you God!)
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Hello everyone - I am a Femara newbie, and wondering about muscle pain too (sorry about your back, Gardengumby - ouch!). My arms especially feel like I had a very hard workout at the gym, except I didn't. I do have an appointment this week w my Onc for the first time since starting Femara (about 3 weeks ago) and will of course ask about this, but curious to know if others have experienced this and if it is a cause for concern...
Tamoxifen caused big problems for me, no choice but to quit and try a different treatmet approach, Since I am young, I am also having monthly Lupron shots, and planning to go ahead and have an oopherectomy rather than ~20 more years of Lupron. Anyone else here in a similar boat? Would love to connect with anyone who is.
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Cowgirl- I'm older than you, but getting shots every 3 months and taking femera. I was premenopausal at 51, very regular periods, this was the route we did. I've been on femera since Sept '11. I had trouble with disturbed sleep initially and joint dicomfort. Sleeping is a bit better now and still with some joint pain. I've started some supplements recently and exercise does help. Good luck!
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I've been on letrozole (generic Femara) since January. I am 45 and had a DaVinci (robotic laparoscopic) Bilateral Salpingo-Oophorectomoy (sic?). I already started getting hot flashes from chemo-pause. I didn't notice them get any worse, or better, from the ovaries removal nor the letrozole.
I can't readily attribute any SEs directly to letrozole. I started taking them while recovering from surgery (the ooph was in November and had a Uni NSM with implant recon in December) and while undergoing Radiation treatment that just ended last week. So my achy legs (which feel better with movement) and hot flashes could be attributable to many of the above. Those are my only current SEs....other than the whole Radiation peely, bruisey thing.
Cowgirl: the Ooph was a pretty simple procedure for me. I was couch bound for a few days. That was it for me. I have three small scars...about and inch long each. One in my belly button (that one is about a half an inch) and one on each side about my pelvic/hip bone.0 -
I am starting Tamoxifen tomorrow. In 2010 I started on Femara and within 6 months had surgery for a torn meniscus and arthritis in my right knee (I was diagnosed with arthritis in my knees in my 20's, in 2010 I was 52, I also had surgery for carpal tunnel which had become so bad I could barely write. My Dr argree to d/c the Femara and changed me to Aromaasin. I started taking the Aromasin in January of 2011, luckily I had no problems. In June 2011 I was diagnosed with bladder cancer, had my left kidney removed, went through chemo from August to December of 2011. In January of 2012 I started the Aromasin again and to my shock started having side effects within a week or so. Terrible joint pain in all of my joints (especially my knees, elbows, shoulders and hands), my bad right knee was just excruiating. Talked to my Dr and am starting the Tamoxifen tomorrow. I am disappointed that the Aromasin caused me problems the second time around and wonder if it could be because of the intervening chemo. I also have a mass on my right adrenal gland, it has been biopsied as benign, the drs are watching it and there is disagreement as to whether or not it is a pheo or not. My calcium levels have been elevated for several months, a bone scan in December 2011 was normal, but needless to say I wonder about how it figures into the problems I have had, it is producing large amounts of adrenaline. This journey is an interesting one, and everyday has new challenges. Blessings to you all! Megan
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Grandma, yes, I am supposed to start femara and my doc ordered a bone density scan (which scares me no end). He won't tell me what is involved and I am really afraid. Does anyone know if you can ask to be put under for it?
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Another question: How many people have weight gain? I finally lost the extra weight and I would so hate to put it back on.
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Momine, please do not worry another minute more about the bone density scan. It could not be less invasive. You lay on a table with a little apparatus under one knee. That's it. Oh, and you do change into a gown. It's very quick. And you do not need drugs. Take care.
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Molly, seriously? They do not have to take a sample of your bone? If so, thank you so much.
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