Arimidex
Comments
-
Ronna,
You know they are just being extra careful due to history. Thinking of you in this stressful time.
pam
0 -
Pam, thank you.
I sincerely hope that all they see is left over "bruising" from surgery.
Thank you again.
0 -
Pam, wow, I just replied to you on the other Arimidex and Side Effects site.
Thank you for your good thoughts, the MRI is scheduled for Friday. Remember, if you go off A for a short while, ENJOY IT.
Have a good night.
0 -
Let us know how it goes on one site or the other (or both)!
0 -
Cyber hugs to ya Ronna.
My calcium is too high so now we have to step back and try again. I was put on Caltrate when the bone density test showed I needed it for my bones. So now I have to cut the Caltrate in half and taken off of Celebrex because now they think my kidneys aren't processing the calcium like they should. I feel like I am on a merry go round. Now I have tennis elbow from the computer. up down up down.
0 -
Hi everyone: Had MRI of the one breast giving me a hard time today. It was a 15 minute MRI with contrast and w/out. I am now on pins and needles for results. What is scaring me is the ultrasound I took last Friday which was not clear. The mamo was hard b/c of my scar under the breast and I could not lean into the mamo machine.
I have no idea if tomorow I will have results, expect nothing Sunday, and we will be away Mon and Tues, home late Tues. evening. I will call bs first thing Mond morning but will not have access to any computer until Tues. night.
Thanks again to all who have listened to me moan.
Great big HUGS back to all.
0 -
Hi everyone: Had MRI of the one breast giving me a hard time today. It was a 15 minute MRI with contrast and w/out. I am now on pins and needles for results. What is scaring me is the ultrasound I took last Friday which was not clear. The mamo was hard b/c of my scar under the breast and I could not lean into the mamo machine.
I have no idea if tomorow I will have results, expect nothing Sunday, and we will be away Mon and Tues, home late Tues. evening. I will call bs first thing Mond morning but will not have access to any computer until Tues. night.
Thanks again to all who have listened to me moan.
Great big HUGS back to all.
0 -
Hi everyone: Had MRI of the one breast giving me a hard time today. It was a 15 minute MRI with contrast and w/out. I am now on pins and needles for results. What is scaring me is the ultrasound I took last Friday which was not clear. The mamo was hard b/c of my scar under the breast and I could not lean into the mamo machine.
I have no idea if tomorow I will have results, expect nothing Sunday, and we will be away Mon and Tues, home late Tues. evening. I will call bs first thing Mond morning but will not have access to any computer until Tues. night.
Thanks again to all who have listened to me moan.
Great big HUGS back to all.
0 -
We will be waiting with you. Hang in there! Ruth
0 -
Yes, Ronna - when one waits, we all wait.
0 -
Hi Patoo, Hi, Ruthbru, Pam and everyone else.
MRI showed something "suspicious". I am now scheduled to take the Sterotatic Core Biopsy (spelling). Test again. I think Hitler invented that one. Same exact day as last year. 10-6-09
As to the Femara which I started, much easier on me that A.
I just hung up with the medical center to schedule that date.
Love to all, as usual will be jumping around the different posts
Hugs to all, feel good everyone.
0 -
Oh, Ronna... so sorry you are facing this again. All the anxiety, etc. I thought the core biopsy was the worst of the whole process :-( You were sure not a candidate for this again, with your good prognosis. So still hoping it is all a false alarm.
I am currently struggling with my treatment. I have an appt with a neurologist and hope to get some answers. I don't want to quit Arimidex but can't go on the way I am right now.
pam
0 -
BLAH!!! Hugs to Ronna and Pam too. Keep us updated..... as the kids say, "This sucks."
0 -
Hi everyone, Pam, I wish you much relief, perhaps your doc can suggest something else.
AND THEN tonight on top of everything else, my endocronologist calls and tells me I am pre-diabetic.?????? and my hormones are off.
WTF and I don't mean Wed, Thurst and Friday.
I do have an appt with my onc tomorrow. Can't wait for more thrilling news.
However, the Femara has made me a happy camper.
Wishing everyone well, HUGS,
0 -
Ronna,
I know this is going to sound strange but in a way the pre-diabetic status is a good thing. There's no medication to take and no imminent danger but it's a warning sign, one that can in many, many cases be addressed by a change of eating habits.
I think I mentioned on this thread that I recently went thru something similar with my Mom. She'd be pre-diabetic for a while and the doctor thought she had crossed over into being diabetic.After 3 weeks of modifying her eating habits (I moved in and cooked), her blood showed that she wasn't even pre-diabetic anymore.
Basically it was cutting out junk food, cutting down dramatically on carbs, eating lots of vegetables and lean protein, and fruit (raw, cooked, frozen and in smoothies) to satify sweet cravings. I'd be happy to help in any way I can; just PM me.
0 -
Hi all -- I just popped back in to see what the buzz is on the generics so far. I'm still experiencing very few side effects (if any - I'm not sure if some of my symptoms are caused by A or not) since I started taking it in February this year. So I've been afraid to switch to the generic, since I might develop SEs from them! You have all provided such good information -- I so appreciate having this place to come to! Thank you all...
Another question I've been wrestling with for about a month or more is about one of my more annoying symptoms. Though it's not debilitating or anything, it has gotten pretty uncomfortable lately. It has to do with my bowels: it seems that since I started A my movements have changed-- a lot looser and more frequent, with bouts of constipation. Lately, it's almost as if I have irritable bowel syndrome or something! (Aren't you glad I came here to tell you all this? :-) (Sorry) But, I did see bowel problems on the list one of you so kindly compiled. Do any of you here experience this problem? I've been trying to research and find out if there is something I can do to counteract it. I already eat a good daily dose of yogurt with live cultures, so I don't know if a probiotic would help (besides, it sounds like probiotics help with constipation, not loose stools or diarrhea..?). Maybe I should lay off the yogurt for a while? Can vitamin D cause this problem? I started taking D with calcium a little over a month ago. But I've not been able to find any mention of D causing this...
Anyway, I'm sorry to bring up such an unpleasant (and embarrassing) subject, but I'm getting desperate. My doctors and pharmacists don't seem to know any more than I do about it. I would sure love some help with this. Is this a SE of A? And if so, is there any way to counteract this type of A effect? Thanks so much for anything you can offer!
0 -
I'll be thinking of you and praying for you, Ronna. So sorry you have to go through this again! Hopefully it is a false alarm...
0 -
Ronna, I'm so sorry you need to go through this, wishing you the best possible results. Great that the Femara is working out for you.
0 -
Ronna - I'm so sorry you have to go through this. Like one time is not enough, right? Wishing you all the best. My thoughts are with you.
0 -
Ronna (((((hugz)))))
Prairie- do you think it might be the calcium that is causing problems. Eat bran. That might help. Feel like guinea pigs??
0 -
Maybe just eat regular yogart, my sister had some problems when she ate the probiotic stuff too.
I've been on the generic A for two weeks. No different SE at all. My pharmacist says that since arimidex is a 'serious Class A drug', the formula for the generic has to be EXACTLY the same as the orginal.
0 -
Thanks for the replies on my GI problem.
Joy - Yes, I'm suspecting the calcium, too. I upped my calcium carbonate intake early on this year in the form of Tums, and then supplemented that with those calcium carbonate/vitamin D chewy caramels (Viactiv) a little over a month ago. It's been getting bad in the last month. My oncologist just called and said she thought it was unlikely that it was A causing this (lower GI upset is listed as a side effect, but it is rare in their experience), and targeted the calcium as the culprit. She has me dropping all calcium supplements for a while and said it should get resolved in about 2 weeks. Yikes! I feel awful today, and two weeks sounds like *forever*. I do hope this is the answer, though. I will follow the example of all my sisters here on this board and be brave about this minor (in comparison to what so many here endure) upset in my health...
Ruth -- I haven't tried any other probiotic besides my daily plain yogurt side dish (plain yogurt on bananas with walnuts and Splenda sprinkled on top -- YUM! :-) at breakfast. I've been eating that for years and never had any problems before this year, after my BC operations and the calcium increases plus Arimidex. In my last post I mentioned perhaps trying another probiotic (like that Activa yogurt), but I think I will not do that on your advice and others'. Thanks so much for that and the great info about arimidex generics. I definitely will try the switch to generic as soon as this other problem is resolved...
Sharon
0 -
Ruth My pharmacist says the same thing about being a class A drug and that they must be the same....that it is regulated very close. I have the same SE on generic as I did on the nongeneric Arimidex. What do you do to relieve that SE...pain pills anyone or asprin?
Hope you are all enjoying life. I think of all of you daily and hope all is going well and if not that you will find some answers
Balsie
0 -
A long time ago, when I was doing some coaching, I took a sports medicine class; the teacher said that tylenol type drugs are best for fevers or overall aches as they circulate throughout your body. If some specific part hurts, then asprin is best because it goes right to where it is hurting (I know there is a better 'medical' explanation, but that is how I remember it from the class).
0 -
HUGS ronna and pam.
Prairie, I seem to have read that getting our calcium supplement with Tums was not a good idea. When I'm awake I'll see if I can dig that up somewhere. I wonder if that is the same for the Viactiv - maybe it's the type of calcium that you are taking? Your pharmacist may be able to help in that regard.
0 -
I do the Viactiv and haven't had any trouble with it; but I'm thinking you might be right abou the Tums, patoo (too tired to look it up either).
edited to ask, praire, how much calcium were you taking?
0 -
Hi Ruth -- Yes I remember you saying that you were taking Viactiv AND that you had actually increased your bone density -- inspiring news! I was shooting for around 1200 mg of calcium daily (two Tums (600mg) plus one V-chew (500mg)). But I have a bad stomach and I think I got sloppy/overly liberal with the Tums. I may have been getting twice that much fairly often. Plus, I try to get a lot of calcium in my diet, too. All things considered, I may have been getting too much calcium on a regular basis. What do you take daily?
Hi Patoo -- I think we all discussed this topic last time I was here, about Tums (calcium carbonate) not being a good way to get calcium because it doesn't absorb as well as other forms. But then there are a couple of women I've talked to, Ruth and someone else here in my town, who have actually gained bone density while on A and using calcium carbonate in Viactiv. If you know any other reason Tums is not recommended, I'd appreciate the info. I started out using Tums because I have a bad stomach and the last time I used Viactiv I thought it had given me stomach pain. However, when I tried it this time, I had no problem. But I also discovered that the calcium in it is calcium carbonate and not a better, more absorbable form like I previously thought.
Anyway, I guess I'll find out in a week or so if it was the calcium causing my problem. Thanks again to both for your input!
0 -
I heard that calcium citrate was more absorbable than calcium carbonate. Also, that you should always take magnesium and Vit D along with calcium.
0 -
Hi,
I've just joined the group. I finished radium treatment yesterday, started on Arimidex two months ago, declined chemo. I am experiencing hot flushes occasionally and some joint pain (not severe). This site is a great source of information. For a start I did not know that there was a generic available. I am paying 120 euros a month. The actual cost is 160 euros, the balance paid by the health service. 120 euros is approx 160 dollars.
I am receiving conflicting information about whether to take calcium supplement or not. Just finished reading "Understanding, preventing and overcoming Osteoporosis" by Jane Plant. This book recommends getting as much calcium as possible from your diet but not from dairy produce and not from supplements. My Onc said that I have to take the Arimidex for 5 years. So basically I have the same dilemma as everyone else, afraid to take it and afraid not to.
Thank you all again,
Coleen
0 -
Every day I drink a glass of milk, eat a carton of yogart and take 3 Viactiv (they have vitamin D added to them), and also I do weight bearing exercises (walk, exercise tapes, lift weights etc) almost every single day. So far, so good with the bones.
0
