Arimidex - Coping with the SE's
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For 7 weeks I have had knee pain...every day!..As usual I let it go. Finally at orthopedic doc today..He xrayed it ..Was surprised not as much arthritis as he thought in fact not much at all..inflammed and fluid in it..THis Doc did menesectomy (sp?)7 yrs ago on same knee..He put in cortisone today ,,,gave me list of do's and don'ts and will check with PT son on further exercises,,Doc said he will do euflexxaa in few months if it does not heal..BUT my question is COULD this be the arimidex??? Doc referred to it as 'chemo' drug..but my brain did not click in to ask him this question..ty for being there..Have not been on in a long time !
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Lakewoman, I don't think it is Armidex. Sounds like a flare up of an old injury to me. Behave and let it heal. Luckily, I don't believe that it is hunting season at the moment
.Gingerbrew, glad you are feeling better. I think you are doing the very smartest thing by getting out, meeting people and getting back involved with life. When you are busy and have interesting things going on, you just don't have time to dwell on everything so much, and then you can start the emotional healing. Eventually there will come an evening when you realize that you have not thought about BC for the whole day.....and you will be amazed!!!!
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Kathy, about the facial hair; I bought some 'Noxema Bikini Shave & Trim' little, tiny razors (in the razor aisle at Walmart), and take an occasional swipe across the peach fuzz. It works well.....sigh!
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Ruth......on peach fuzz. Just noticed that Jane Seymour has it! So happens to all of us. I look better w/o too so just do it.
Gingerbrew. The sun helps too. So if you can get outside now that the weather is better. And yes, do something meaningful. BC can get you way too much into yourself and that is not a good thing.
Benefit from AIs is more like 10%, so major important to do.
What about taking in the gardens Seattle has to offer. The rose garden at Woodland Park Zoo, the Arboretum, the Japanese Garden somewhere near near Rainier Beach? The one at the Chittenden Locks? There are others.
Can you get out and do a walk everyday?
Then there is "Seattle's other bean"......chocolate.
Lakewoman.....sorry about your knee. Sounds like you have it in hand though. I have a knee that bothers me too. I keep aspercreme handy and keep going. I did a hike with two friends the day before my surgery, and my post op pain was from my knee, not my breast! - Claire
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Gingerbrew
Vit D of 8 - and youo are upright???? WOW! I am sure that's part of the "crankiness" - your body was screaming for help! Seriously - read the SE's of low Vitamind D and you'll see evereything you've described! So glad for you that you've got that part handled. ANd, if Effexor was working for you b4 BC, you may need to have the dosage increased until your body is used to no estrogen - or add something else to it, - really think getting the VitD right will be major help.
Peach fuzz - I am with Ruthbru - just a little swipe with a razor it's the @!%!$#& LONG, LONG ( at least an inch!) dark hair that does literally SPROUT over night - mostly lower face, neck. I know keep a magnifying mirror on a window ledge ( facing south, you really do need the SUN to see these) to tweeze them. Was it Otter who used to say: "Are we having fun yet?"
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Oh yes, the chin hair... I use a combination of razor and tweezers: I shave my chin for about two weeks, till all the hairs begin to sprout at the same time -- then I pick a day & night when I don't have to see anybody and let them all grow to a length I can catch with tweezers. The next morning I tweeze away what seems like hundreds. And for a blessed week -- no shaving or tweezing necessary.
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I know a lot of post-menopausal women, not on Arimidex, who are a little too hairy also. Maybe we look better than most because we are extra conscious of things like that. ???? One can hope anyway!
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I had to laugh about the car rearview mirror thing - I would get in and get shocked! now keep tweezers in my wallet, which is always in my purse, so always in the car. The number of times I've been sitting in a parking lot, plucking ineffectually with my fingers at a chin hair that just won't budge...
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oh, haha, that's not me in the picture
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I was in NYC earlier this year and saw a "threading" salon. I went in to get my eyebrows threaded and ended up doing a full facial de-fuzz. It is totally painless and it really works. Six months later, my eyebrows are still fine (with occasional tweezing of a stray hair or 2) and the peach fuzz has still not returned. I think most major urban areas with large Indian/ Pakistani communities have these salons.
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What do they do at a "Threading" salon? I never heard of this, but it sounds really interesting!
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I've been back on Arimidex since October 2010 (after a three month break) - by December 2010 my hands and hips were both very painful, no libido, and very low energy, but all that was bearable - until the end of April 2011 when I started experiencing numbness from the knee to my toes on both legs. So my onc sent me for an upper spine MRI (he had the lower spine done two years or so ago)..........the MRI shows moderate arthritis - but no lesions (thank God). Today I see a neurologist to address the on-again/off-again numbness issues. My chiropractor thinks it's neuropathy from the chemo I had three years ago........I think it's a pinched nerve. All this arthritis in my back and hip came upon me suddenly when I started on Arimidex - and I just told my onc that I'll NEVER go back on this drug! Three years is enough - I'll take my chances and do the best I can with weight-loss and exercise to help myself but with a tumor that was Stage 1, Grade 1 (and having endured an mx, recon, 4 months of chemo and a year of Herceptin as well as nearly 3 years of Arimidex, if the cancer comes back, I won['t blame myself at all.............I know women who did everything exactly as they were told, and years later their cancer returned anyway.........seems like a total crap shoot to me at this point in time and I just can't live like an 80 year old woman any more. I'm just hoping that the arthritis pain isn't a permanent SE!
Sorry to sound like a Debbie-downer about Arimidex - I know it DOES work as far as lowering estrogen levels; it was responsibility for shrinking tmy fibroid and thickened endometrial lining - but with all drugs, each of us must weigh our personal risks vs. the benefits. Good luck to all you wonderful women who put up with so many SEs every day!
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I have been going and getting my eyebrows threaded for the last 2 years and I love it, Now I have been getting my upper lip done for the last 3 months, I got tired of have a mustache. It doesn't hurt at at and feel so good when finish as smooth as a babies butt.
Nancy
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Is 'threading' different from laser? Laser removal was so expensive. I tried it once, but would have had to go back every few months.
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no it is different much better than plucking or waxing, I only pay 14.00 every 3 weeks for eyebrows and upper lip. I probley don't need the upper lip as often but it just feels great after. It is my pamper me time.
Nancy
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marybast: I've heard of it, but I've never had it done. Here's a link:
http://www.ehow.com/about_5108419_threading-hair-removal.html0 -
Thanks everyone for all the replies about the facial hair. The "peach fuzz" does't bother me as what I have isn't noticable, it's these coarse hair (some black and some light) that grows from my chin and under it. Ugh! I'm still plucking away.
Kathy
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I got a lot of facial hair back after I stopped chemo-now whether or not that was the Tamoxifen, I don't know. It hasn't changed on the Arimidex. It's fine and blond, so I leave it alone. I just have to pluck stray dark ones from under my chin about every 3 weeks. I get my eyebrows waxed once a month, but threading sounds awesome! I'll have to look around and see if it's available in my area.
My knees have been so painful for about 4 days now. We're going camping for 5 days, and going up the steps into the trailer has been excrutiating. How sad to feel this way at age 40.
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nwest, if you can find a threading salon near Mooresville, I guess they must be all over... It is inexpensive and very effective.
TinaT, thanks for the link. It is really informative.
Burley , I used to wax my brows until the technician dropped hot wax on my lashes!!! Sorry about your knee pain. I was hobbling around with excruciating knee pain until I tried acupuncture. This plus my thrice weekly yoga and daily walking have contained the pain. My yoga teacher says the more you move the synovial fluids around the joints, the more lubrication and the less pain you will have.
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Nativemaine, Threading is a way to remove hair - eyebrows, lips etc. It is not painful and looks very nice. The cosmetologist holds two threads and twists them , they catch hair and remove it. Tokyosing is right it lasts a long time.
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So true about exercise, walking, etc. to help with knee and hip pain. Also I have to again say that Vitamin D3 helps. I take 4000-5000 iu's/day and have been able to stop taking the glucosamine/chondroitin. It's rare now that I have the hip pain at all unless I twist it quickly or something.
I have very little body hair (other than on my head). Never had underarm hair or any on my arms/legs, and my eyebrows are almost non-existent. I always wanted to know what they were doing when I passed by the threading stations in local malls. I wondered why people were sewing up their eyebrows!!! But the Arimidex has sent some stray hairs out of my chinny chin chin. I just clip the few close to the skin. Never occurred to me to shave or pluck them.
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how is threading different than tweezing? It pulls the hair out, I get that - but can't understand why it would grow in slower than if the hair was tweezed/plucked out?
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Sunflowers, the 2 threads get the smallest hairs, the ones we can't see to tweeze. The best part is that it does not hurt at all! Try it you'll like it. I wonder if they would have threading salons in the Boston Chinatown. Threading is also widely used in Asia.
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Haven't found a place in Gainesville, FL that does threading. Will try it if I find it. Thanks for the info.
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Marbast the Oaks mall has a place, right outside of Belks. Try it, they're good!
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Wow, nanaof2, thanks! Do I have to let them grow a while before going?
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TY Ruth and Claire for replies to my knee problem on my xtra lg font post how did that happen?? ha! Ruth when you said behave you sounded like my doc,,,He said ''quit acting like a young buck.''.WELL did that open me up to tell about my hunts and hunting article in Womanhunter magazine!!!! Knee feels better bites a bit once in awhile...start PT next week,,,TY to advise from PT son who lives in WI...NOW I have sore throat ,,,So I am enjoying French Open and getting some writing done...
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Just call me ' Dr. Ruth'......gargle with warm salt water for the sore throat, that really helps. And large font was probably a Freudian slip.
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Hi all,
I am new to this thread, I am considering the move from tamoxifin to arimidex per my onc's suggestion. In Aug, I will have been on tamox for 2 years. I had terrible bone pain with neulasta during chemo. I have a little bone pain on tamox. I seem to be a magnet for it, hence my hesitation to move that direction.
I'd love to know your thoughts. I know everyone is different but...it's nice to be able to throw this question out to those who are walking the walk.
Thanks,
Betsy
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Give it a try with an open mind. You can always swtich if you have bad SEs. I have done fine on it.
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