Arimidex - Coping with the SE's
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Wave and Musical...my first night after upping the dosage...It was as if I had taken a sleeping pill! Usually I sleep very fitfully, waking every hour or so...adjust my position and go back to sleep for another hour. Last night I slept all night without waking until 6:30...that's fine but I never moved all night and my neck/head is killing me. I am hoping now I am up and about, it will go away...it usually does. One step ahead...two steps back! I'm hangin in there tho'
Wave...have you tried Temazapam? It is supposedly "non addictive", altho I think ANY med can become addictive. I have used it off and on for years. The most I have ever taken it was 4 times in one week.
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My gynecologist prescribed effexor when I was dx'ed with bc and stopped cold turkey taking hormones. I took the 37.5 mg for a few days and then worked up to 75 mg. My hot flashes are mild warm flushes, and I don't have mood swings. I may continue taking the effexor after I finish up my 5 yrs on arimidex because my personality is much improved! I "go with the flow" and am generally content and happy.
Yesterday I woke up with a very sore thumb joint on the right hand. I'll turn 70 in March and so far have not developed arthritis. I'm taking 800 mg of ibuprofen (prescription dose) 2 or 3 times a day with meals for plantar fasciitis so I hope the thumb joint inflammation responds to that dosage, too. With aging you have to expect some aches and pains, and I have been remarkably pain free even with taking arimidex. It probably has something to do with staying physically active.
For younger women the SEs are probably more clearly the result of taking A.
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Well here sit I at 5a.m. Awake at 4. .....NOw where's that insomnia thread.....LOL Im getting it when people say something like "I've got this box of pills just sitting there ....." Think I'll start it After new years day....
Schatzi hope your neck is is OK. Thats horrible when that happens. It's nasty when we feel like we can't win with all that entails BC. Mmmm it certainly likes to hook into your whole health past present and future doesnt it.
Always good to hear how individuals have fared on this Arimidex. We hear the bad and we hear the good. Both are beneficial. I've almost done a year, and S Effx kicked in about 4 to 6 months after. I reckon if anything, overall, the aching joints may have subsided just a tad. That may be because I've increased my walking distance which I'm only able to do because I get up earlier before it gets too hot and the neuropathy starts up.
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Schatzi and Wave, Clonipin and Temazapam are in the same class of drugs. They can be addictive if not used with care. As long as you stick to the prescribed dose, you'll be ok. I take trazadone for help with sleep. It's an old anti-depressant which has sleepiness as a side effect. Helps me get to sleep. Lately I've been sleeping restlessly, waking up 3-4 times during the night. I don't know what's up with that, except maybe the weather here is so gray that it seems like twilight all the time.
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I am sure that my problems..sleeping poorly and head/neck pain have absolutely nothing to do with Arimidex. I had them long before BC. The one thing I do wonder though, is the quick onset of arthritis. Both my index fingers are now badly swollen and stiff...I had arthritis in my one pinkie finger for years so kinda expected it sooner or later but it happened almost over night. As for the aches and pains, I credit them to old age and lack of exercise for years.
Musical...thanks my neck is OK now...just needed to get up and get moving. LOL I feel your frustration at insomnia...been there done that. I am often here on the forum looking for others that can't sleep.
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schatz Just went on the world time server and looks like you are 17 or 18 hours behind us depending on where you are situated West ON or ON. Soon Im heading for mid afternoon and soon you should be heading for bed and having sweet dreams LOL. If youre on the boards when Im about to hit the sack it means youre having a ROUGH night. Just thinking aloud execising my Arimidex brain if nothing else. LOL
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Well I'm still here! Take that Mayans! LOL
I can usually fall asleep, but three to four hours later I wake up. Then I might ad well get up to pee, and most times I get back to sleep as soon as I snuggled in. But, two times s week, or thereabouts, I can't fall back to sleep and am up for hours. Right not a problem ad I go back to sleep and get up at eleven or so but if I go to work it will be a problem. oh well. Worry about that later. Much love0 -
Moonflwr, LOL if I have sleep issues and I do, it certainly aint because the onslaught of continuous false predictions. I saw the usual propaganda about that on the news tonight... and they said it was supposedly supposed to be on the 21-12-12. Well 21-12-12 according to where? It's been that for for over 20 hours here. If it happened now, what about the places it's still the 20th. All I can say is DUH. ANywayz I thought it was supposed to be on the 12-12-12. Oh well that goes to show how much credence I give it, but I reckon all these false alarms are happening for a reason.
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Mountain
Have you considered grapeseed extract ? Clinical trials with activing GSE are very promising. It ' acts like' an AL. You might want to search some of these threads for more info .
I want to take it myself, but it may lower BP and mine is dangerously low already.Good luck to you.
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Musical....where are you located? I know Europe is 6 hours ahead of me but are you in Australia or??
I am close to Toronto. Southern Ontario!
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Hi Schatz. Im in NewZealand. Unless theyve been doing more fiddling with the date lines, I think we're still the 1st to see the sun. LOL so if anythings gonna happen good bad or ugly, we get to see it first.
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Musical, you live in a country I would love to visit.
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Musical...yer a Kiwi??? LOL Hope you aren't offended cause I am a Canuck! Since you will be having Christmas before me, let me wish you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a wonderful, healthy and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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carolehalston well I hope you do get to come here and visit sometime. I would have to say, there is a lot to see in a very short distance. You don't have to go very far before the landscape changes dramatically. Many parts of NZ have areas unique to themselves where it doesn't occur anywhere else in NZ. I guess theres a lot of that really in any country you may visit. Theres some very unique landscapes in OZ too. I would love to see the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone must be amazing. I'd love to see Canada. The only area in NZ I havent seen is Fiordland.
schatzi Im not offended cuz I don't even know what a Canuck is (without looking it up) :-). Wishing you a happy break over the holiday period too! All the best for the new year.
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I think I'm going to stop taking my Effexor and see if the brain-fog/fatigue lifts. I almost passed out at physical therapy yesterday, they took my bp and it was 90/50. Had the same feeling today, but it passed. Is low bp a SE of Arimidex?
Wishing everyone a happy holiday early as I'm probably not going to be checking in for the next few days. (((Hugs)))
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I will be busy with family things too. Happy Holidays to All!
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Musical.....Canuck=slang for Canadian. Here I am again and it's 1:45 am... can't sleep! GRRR
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schatz I was just checking in and I wondered if you were in the land of nod .... Yep its around 8 p.m here and here i see you posted around 11 mins ago so it says. . Isn't it flamin annoying when this happens. Hope you get some sweet dreams soon !!
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Here's the problem with going onto the computer when we cannot sleep. It, as does the TV screen, daylight and halogen light bulbs, emits blue light. Our brain is triggered into wakefulness with blue light, the predominant color of light during daylight. Blue light box therapy is used to combat seasonal affective disorder and worsening depression brought on by reduced sunlight in winter.
As a queen of insomnia, I've learned to shut down the computer, TV and not use the halogen light on my Kindle the hour before going to sleep. I keep all lighting at the minimum. Same with waking in the night.
As an example, if I need to stay awake for some reason, I can read on the computer for hours any time of day. Otherwise picking up a book or kindle in dim light will put me out after a few pages, as long as it isn't a page turner.
In fact you shouldn't have blue night lights or digital illumination on your clocks. One suggestion is to wear red tinted glasses in the evening. I have to wear a sleep mask and minimize the light coming into my bedroom. I still have issues especially on aromasin since it gives me a buzz, but not as bad as it would be otherwise.
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Sleep can be an elusive thing...some nights I drift off easily but wake intermittenly all night...some nights I NEVER fall asleep. Sometimes I take a Temazapam and still don't sleep for hours, other times it's instant.
I guess it's just my makeup...although I have a neck problem that stops me from getting too comfy..sleeping on my back just doesn't work for me. It's been this way for ages.
The really strange but good thing about chemo was...the steroids in the IV made the pain disappear and I slept like a baby. Weird. There had to be SOMETHING positive about chemo. I can't blame Arimidex for any sleep issues.
Musical...I got about one hour altogether
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Oh dear Schatz...we are officially in the same boat me thinx.I used to find one of the good S FX of Amitrip was a good sleep...too bad I had to ditch that for fluid ret. issues. Thats why Im hedging on the neurontin. If it does the same grrrrr
Doxie I certainly wouldn't dismiss what youre saying.
A lot of "issues" I put down to modern living...and by modern I mean starting from the last 100 years or so, and on an escalating scale. Take a look around our rooms and see how many "new" inventions there are. For example, plastic. And there is a LOT of bad things about plastic. Handy yes! but healthy.... I think not. I'm trying to get as much of it out of my life as possible.... LOL imagine if they started making wooden computers or something.... just a thought.
...Crazy world.
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Well, I didn't take the Effexor last night and while I didn't sleep any better I felt so much better today-guess I'm done with that experiment.
Hope everyone is able to get some sleep tonight.
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I have consulted a psychologist about my sleep issues. He specializes in biofeedback, which trains the brain to relax. I have gone through the tests (written, cognitive and EEG's). Just finished this week. I will get his recommendations on 1/7. It shold be interesting. I am tired of waking up and being up for 2-3 hours at a time. Like Doxie said, stay away from the computer, TV and Ipads. I was reading from my Ipad. He said stop at least an hour before bedtime.
Merry Christmas to everyone!
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kjiberty - Good to be so proactive about sleep. It can be a complex problem to solve.
One other thing for everyone to consider is sleep apnea. If you snore, are overweight, or wake at night gasping for air, you may have it. Both my sisters do and one has a healthy, low BMI. I'm neither overweight nor snore, but there are sleep positions that bring it on for me. In time I may need treatment too.
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Yahoo..A good sleep last night! I did the usual...on the puter...watched TV till the news was over...went to bed without a pill and just got up. 8 hours of constant sleep...go figure.
If you don't watch TV...read or play on the computer, what can you do all night? Or all day for that matter LOL
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Susan...so happy for you.....I know what a good night sleep can do for you. I'm so different from many of you.....ok Susan that was NOT an opening for a comment..lol
Before BC I was up at least three times everynight...then rads...slept like a baby everynight....now Letrozole....still more or less sleep like a baby .....most of you gain
weight on Als...me, I lost weight....OK Susan, I'll allow you one comment since it is
the season of good will to others.....lol0 -
um...Merry Christmas Christine...keep doing whatever it is you are doing! Love ya and will make sure we get together in the New Year to hear all your holiday tales...hope they are MAHVELLOUS!
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Susan....I wish I could bring my new kind of sleep and weight control to all you beautiful
ladies who are dealing with these issues....can't wait to get together after the hols....
I wish one and all a pain free, worry free....NOT sleep free wonderful holiday.0 -
Wren, I'm 65 and the first time I went through menopause, I was plagued with hot flashes. I don't get them on Letrozole, but may be I'm hot flashes out from before.....lol
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