eye problems with arimidex
After I had my breast cancer surgery two years ago, I notice I have had floaters in my left eye. I went to my optomitrist and told her about the floaters. She wanted me to come back in six months. When I came back, she notice a change in my left eye since last time. She says she would make a appt with eye surgeon to take a look at my left eye because she thinks I might have retina detachement. I was just wondering if arimidex would cause any change in my eyes. I notice they are really dry since I have taken arimidex.
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We had a bunch of posts about the dry eye SEs of Arimidex - so it is fairly common. Detached retinas not so much. Good luck with your eye appointment.
Susan
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Sunshinegirl
I had floaters since last year before my cancer and my eye surgeon just gave me a eye drop for the dry and the dry went way, with time I do not notice the floaters any more but if you develop a retina detachment you will have to see the Doctor for surgery in 2 hours or you will lose the retina...be carefully and good luck.
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I had a detached retina when I was 29, long before BC. I don't think it is related. I do think you need to clarify whether or not they are seeing a tear in the retina or if it is actually detached. A detached retina is a medical emergency because if it gets to a certain point it cannot be repaired. If they are really using the word detached, you need to get a medical eye exam ASAP. Oh and if she didn't dilate your eyes and do a real exam, she has no idea what she is talking about, though you should see a medical doctor anyway.
Floaters are a natural part of aging.
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I've had difficulty wearing contact lenses due to dry eyes since being on Arimidex and also had some sort of conjunctivitis 4 times. My onc said the dryness could be a SE but not the infections. I had a floater before I started on Arimidex and had 3 more appear since then, all in the left eye. They came all at once so I saw an eye doc right away because of the possibility of a detached retina. It was a very thorough exam so I was relieved when his dx was normal aging. But who's to say all these eye issues aren't related?
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I developed floaters in my eye also. I did some research on estrogen and the eye and discovered three fairly recent studies suggesting that lowered estrogen can contribute to liquefaction of the vitreous, the gel-like substance in the back of the eyeball. When the vitreous is more liquid it can detach from the retina, called a posterior vitreous detachment (PVD). This causes floaters.
I am sure arimidex caused my floaters.
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I have had dry eyes whilst on Arimidex, just over 5 years now. I sometimes use false tears, from a dropper, if they get bad.
I also have noticed I am reaching for my glasses a lot more this last 5 years, and I had a haemorrhage in the back of my eye, discovered last month with some new piece of optical wizzardry my optician had aquired ! My GP is deciding what to do about this at the moment, she seems to think it is connected to high blood pressure, and is adjusting my BP tabs.
Isabella.
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Gage - that's very interesting about the floaters and Arimidex. Those darn things are so distracting!
Along with conjunctivitis caused, I'm sure, by wearing my contacts with such dry eyes, it takes the fun out of reading, etc.! Geesh.
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Its interesting about estrogen and PVDs. I am on tamoxifen and asked my ophthalmologist if it was related to my increase in floaters and flashers that are the result of PVDs in both eyes and she said no, it is unrelated. But it has been pretty dramatic in the past year or two and the estrogen thing makes sense to me. My understanding is that once the vitreous detaches, it remains that way, but I'm still in that limbo where there is a lot of tugging. And of course I've been in this situation before because of my detached retina.
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Here are the links to the studies I found re estrogen and they eye.
I w1. "Conclusions: An association between PVD and menopause has not been documented previously. We suspect that high estrogen levels seen in premonopausal women may be protective against PVD and that hormonal changes associated with menopause may lead to changes in the vitreous, predisposing to PVD." This from a 2006 study.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VK5-4KVXNDF-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=fca6cd56a978d2c37f3f543c587342a9
2. "Several investigators point out that the synthesis of hyaluronic acid (and other glycosaminoglycans) is known to be influenced by gonadal hormones and may drop with declining estrogen levels in postmenopausal women. These observations lend further support to the concept that insufficient hyaluronic acid destabilizes the vitreous gel, contributing to liquefaction and PVD." This was in 2005.http://www.aosonline.org/xactions/2005/1545-6110_v103_p537.pdf, p. 539
3. "The neuroprotective effect of estrogen may have therapeutic benefits in retinal diseases associated with RGC death such as glaucoma."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16696958/I wonder about tamoxifen causing floaters though since I dont think tamoxifen lowers estrogen...just that it prevents estrogen from binding to the receptors in the breast.
Sorry that two of the cites did not come through as links. But, I put what was to me the important conclusory sentence in each study.
My eye doctor did not know if arimidex would cause PVD. All he said to me was that it could if it lead to liquefaction of the vitreous. That is when I did some research and found those studies.
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I have had other symptoms of dropping estrogen so why tamoxifen does not work on estrogen directly, it does do something. Then again, I have had eye issues most of my life so it is possible that it is just a coincidence.
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Perhaps those of us who already had eye problems find that Arimidex makes them worse. My eyes have been very dry while I'm on arimidex, red-rimmed and sometimes quite sore. That bit about liquefaction of the vitreous, which gage mentioned, is interesting. I tried using contact lenses for a while last year, and one evening I had trouble getting a lens out because my eyes were so dry. The next morning, I had a long floater in the left eye, almost like a crease. It was checked out by the opthalmologist, who said it was just a floater and nothing more serious. But I haven't used lenses since, and after a few weeks the long floater disappeared.
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I have been on Arimidex for six years. After complaining to my oncologist about head aches, joint pains, and dry eyes, he finally has taken me off it. I think five years is the cut off point. I am hoping all these side effects will go away. Anyone have any info on the long term effects of Arimidex. I was on on tamoxifen for 2 years before the arimidex.
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Bumping this up as over the weekend I noticed increased blurriness in one of my eyes. I saw the eye Dr. yesterday and she said it's a bit unusual but not uncommon. Gave me a thorough exam and said my eyes looked healthy other than dry. I've noticed increased dryness on Arimidex for sure. I've been on it nearly 3 years.
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Dry eyes here. On Arimidex for 2 1/2 years. I have special eye drops that I use frequently now especially when I wake up.
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The dry eyes are a pain (not literally) but I find they are manageable with lots of drops. I'm a bit concerned about the blurred vision in one eye that seems to have occurred rather suddenly. I guess the next step will be to get my glucose checked. Maybe I'm just getting balky at a natural aging process?
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Been on Arimidex since June 09 and I know my vision has deteriorated. More dry eye than before. Interestingly, during rad treatment, I had a broken blood vessel (?) that was worse than any I had ever had. When I went to treatment, everyone asked what happened to me but no one ever suggested Arimidex, or the rad treatment for that matter. Until I read this post, I never connected my dry eyes with Arimidex. I just use OTC tears for dry eyes, but I have eye appt in October.
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OMG, my eyes are dry also. I was at work, it was about 3 months ago when I moved my right eye there was a concave flash of light towards the right side, after a few weeks it went away but I have a lot of floaters. Drives me crazy, I went to a specialists and there were no tumors or tears. But did find cataracts. Swell, no wonder my vision is blurry in my right eye, the left eye also has a cataract but not as bad as the right. When I had my eyes examined by a regular eye doctor she did mention that I had dry eyes. I bet it IS the Arimidex. I did ask and they did not think it was related. Why don't they believe us??? Meanwhile I will keep thinking there are bugs flying in front of my face LOL.0
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I found this discussion after I went to the opthamologist yesterday and discovered that I have PVD (posterior vitreous detachment) in my left eye. The doctor says it's common in people in their 50's and 60's, but I, too, wonder about the connection to Arimidex. I also have dry eyes which so many of the posters mentioned. It makes sense to me that if Arimidex is contributing to the dryness in other parts of the body, it's helping to dry the eye, too. Fortunately, or unfortunately however one looks at it, I'll be finishing the Arimidex in May. It has been 11 years since my diagnosis.
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There's no connection between dry eyes and PVDs. PVDs are a natural part of aging.
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Glad to see this got bumped. My blurr resolved. SO have no idea where I am with that. Just know.......it remains a mystery.
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Arimidex defo have connections with PVD and Floaters
I was put on Arimidex on nov 5th 2010...In 2-3 wks my left eye started twitching for abt 2 wks..And last saturday early afternoon I noticed black circles and grey cloud type floaters in my left eye...My eyes have been dry and feel pulling and headache on left side...I also had a massive charlie horse on my left calf which pulled muscles on my left side upto the lower part of my head-upper neck..next morning I started singing floaters...My Onco has suggested to stop meds and I will fup in 5 wks with him...I am off meds for 2 days now..
Besides floaters I was having major Arimide SE issues which lead my Onco to stop meds for me..I am 56 yrs young..
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What are floaters? I was on Tamoxifen for 6 months, then switched to anastrozole -5 months now. Since being on arimidex, I started to have white spots (a small portion of the text would blank out) when reading. This didn't last very long but was recurring. Now it's mostly blurred vision when reading. Optomotrists performed several tests including one on the nerves and found only a very, very small cataract that seems to be forming, otherwise all good. Oncologist said to keeping monitoring and let him know if it continues and/or gets worse.
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Blessedone
Floaters in my left eye is black dotted circle and grey cloud looking haze keeps floating from far end of left eye to middle so often..I had to go to emergency..They did catscan for blood clot in brain and ultra sound of leg -doppler for blood clot also...both negative..I saw Optholmologiest in 2 days and she told me it was floaters and nothing to worry..Dryness in eye is there along with floaters...hope this helps..
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I was on Arimidex for a while, and am now on Femara (see history below). I have very dry eyes, and use Refresh PM gel at night, and Refresh drops during the day. They have helped tremendously. For dry skin, I use AmLactin lotion, which also is a great help. I am sorry to hear about the floaters in your eyes, and I pray it will resolve for you.
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I started Arimidex on November first and my eyes have become dry and red.
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I have been on Arimidex for 18 months. I suddenly developed floaters and flashing lights in one eye, which I had checked out immediately by a specialist. Luckily, there didn't seem to be any retinal detachment.
I suggested that the Arimidex was a possible factor and the doctor immediately dismissed it, saying these things are a normal part of aging.
As lack of estrogen is a normal part of aging, wouldn't increasing the lack of estrogen even more perhaps accelerate or worsen the eye condition?
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Lindissima, the kind of detachment you had (the eye fluid, not the retina) is a normal part of aging. It happens to those of us who are severely nearsighted, earlier. For me, it happened in my late 20s and I did develop a detached retina. And again a few years ago, it happened again (I was in my mid-40s) and I got it checked out -- good thing you did as well, always important -- and my retina was fine this time.
Accelerating the condition would actually be a good thing because once the fluid detaches completely the symptoms usually disappear. This can take a long time. But I agree with your doc that this isn't an estrogen-depletion thing and it won't "worsen" as you said (unless the retina became detached, a medical emergency). But it happens to most people eventually.
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memeber_of_the-club,
Thanks for the info.
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Vitreous detachment! Thats the word I was searching for! perfectly normal.
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Thanks to all for responding...My optholmologist right away dismissed any connection to Arimidex SE...I had lasik surgery Mono vision april 2009...After lasik I had lil dry eyes for a month or so otherwise I was doing just fine..friday night I had a charlie horse in my left calf and my complete left side all the way up to my lower head-upper neck area was pulled and hurt for 3 wks...Next afternoon i started seeing floaters and dry eyes...My eye was twitching for 2 wks before having floaters...Twitching of eye is on SE list...It is so hard for me to prove that pulling of muscle has something to do with Vitreous detachment of the fluid...Floaters are considered to be part of aging and normal...What a coincident than...I will discuss this with my Onco on next appt..At this time I am off the meds since 12-21-10 as charlie horse happened on dec 10th night and floaters dec 11th 2 Pm..I was in emergency from 4Pm till 9Pm running all sort a tests..
Armidex can kill me with Heart attack, stroke, High BP, cholesterol and not taking it will kill me with cancer some day...I think cancer has less chance of killing me in next 5 yrs but Arimidex has more chances of killing me within that time...My personal and honest opinion...I know my body so well inside out ever since I was little..
God bless and best wishes to u all..
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