Life on aromasin
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Lago good luck with ths new med for u, and as u already know what happens to one doesn't mean it's written in stone., If I still flirted I'd have a fit about my lashes but under the circumstances it's whatever and u always have suck a bright attitude I bet u'll do well.
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camillegal I'm not really concerned about the eyelashes just realized a few weeks ago they came back. I have big eyes so not a huge deal for me. This is not the SE I'm really worried about, trust me. If that was all I was experiencing on Anastrozole I wouldn't have even taken the vacation.
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Well as for having receding hair, I realized I have a bangs mullet. I cut my own hair and I've had to adjust to this. I noticed this with short hair after chemo. Before that it was very long, but still receding.
Lago, I've not had much joint pain, mostly soft tissue - muscles, tendons, synovial tissue. I've a little bit of osteoarthritis in my hip which caused a lot of pain until I tried running the opposite direction around the park loop. One leg is shorter than the other. I had a trigger thumb treated by a cortisone shot. I also have swollen toe joints that started with the thumb joint problems. I'm getting them x-rayed soon. Could be a sign of rheumatoid arthritis. That may have nothing to do the AIs. If I get this diagnosis, I'll look into it deeper.
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I wonder if some of the differences in Aromasin SEs has to do with who had and did not have chemo. I never had chemo, never lost hair or suffered from neuropathy. Maybe my SEs are less severe because of that.??
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yorkiemom,
You are on to something here. My trigger thumb may be related to Taxotere instead of AIs. Those who received one of the Taxols have 4x the risks of getting trigger finger. So the toe joints that have swollen may be from chemo too. So instead of someone with SEs from AIs, I may have have none, as long as I take gin and golden raisins.
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Doxie, I don't know, but I'll happily toast to our good health with gin and golden raisins!
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Doxie I had trigger fingers in my left hand every morning on Anastrozole. It got better but still a little bit first thing in the morning. So for me it was the AI and not Taxotere. I feel my back/shoulder pain are issues I had in the past but on the AI they surface. Don't think that's chemo related either.
Yorkiemom I already started to recede before chemo due to perimenopause. Sister & mom have it too but it gets worse on the AI. But I do have a few other things I do blame on chemo for sure
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I really think it is almost impossible to tease this out, chemo or AI. Probably a combo of both in some cases. Oh, forgot my dry eye. That is AI for certain.
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My dry eye started with chemo but wasn't diagnosed till I was on the AI.
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My dry eye is definitely AI / low estrogen related. It went away during my break between anastrozole and aromasin. Though I think some dry eye is normal after going through menopause, then on AIs. But on AIs, I wake up in the morning with blurred vision that takes sometimes hours to resolve. It's much better now with drops and moist compresses, but never completely ok.
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Gin and raisins?
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Doixe I've been using drops in the morning for a couple of years now.
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Lago - my MO said I could try tamox if I was having too much trouble tolerating the AI's, but I'm just not willing to do that, so working on managing the SE's from the AI, which is pretty hard most days. This lovely journey has left me with so many SE's it's hard to sort out which were caused from surgery/rads, chemo, AI's......
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well my SE from aromasin were minimal, I did not do chemo so maybe you are on to something~~
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I did not have chemo and my worst SE from Aromasin is the joint/soft tissue pain. I can deal with the rest, but the pain is pretty darn bad. Some days are worse than others. What is the gin and raisins for? I am all for the old fashioned remedies..they work so if that is for pain, let me know! I will try anything since the pain is so terrible.
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I am not clear on the gin thing but actually, I am trying to find someplace to vacation that does not involve walking much, dang feet hurt and only thing I did was walk around Kohls
dang it
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boswellia and turmeric have removed all my joint pains arising from aromasin, i really recommend them
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Hi,
Before years Ruth wrote on the boards:
"I don't have arthritis, but here is a home-cure both my mom and aunt swore by: buy white raisins and a bottle of gin. Soak the raisins in the gin in the fridge for two weeks. Then eat six of the raisins every day. It supposedly gives a natural cortisone effect. My mom's fingers were starting to get those arthritis bumps on them & after she did this for awhile they went away. (And if it didn't wore, I suppose one could dump the raisins, drink the gin, and feel better anyway)"Later we stated it’s necessary to increase the dose!
Greetings and best wishes to all AI takers!
Usha
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I'm taking the golden raisins and gin combo instead of NSAIDs which give me nausea. I was skeptical for a long time until I could no longer take the NSAIDs. I think it has helped especially my muscle aches. It did nothing for trigger thumb. Took a cortisone shot to tame that severe pain.
And I got the idea from the many postings from Ruth.
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I started Aromasin a few days ago after being off of Femera for 5 weeks. I was on Femera only for a couple of months but had horrible joint and bone pain from it. Hope I'll be able to tolerate the Aromasin better....so far I'm really tired and my hands hurt more.
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Bonski, hope you do well on it. I am having a very rough day today and actually, it has been a bad week for me on Aromasin...am not doing too well with it. Have been on a year and think that since it is the "least" troublesome according to my onc, that I will stick with it rather than risk worse with another one...sigh. Good luck!
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April, hope it gets better for you. Gas it just been recently since you started having severe SEs? I heard that some do better on Femara and some better on Aromasin. I can't imagine having severe SEs for five years. If Aromasin doesn't work for me than it's off to plan C...tamoxifen. I had some blood clots due to chemo, so it wasn't our first choice
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No, have had them from about 6 weeks in but they seemed to calm down a little in the middle and then started up again after a short time. I have been dealing with them cause aromasin is the "devil you know" and I don't want to start over but if they get any worse, I will stop altogether maybe.
My MO does not like to use the other AI's for DCIS and tamox is out due to a strong family history of blood clots/stroke so I will keep trying. I was >95%ER+ so do want to stay on if possible, even for the small benefit. I am dealing...just better some days than others. The worst is the joint pain in my hips and feet/ankles and hands. Ugh! I did take a short break and it was heavenly! (a month off) I was hoping it would be better this time around but no such luck! Some who stop and go back say the SE's are less but not me unfortunately.
Good luck! Many do well on this drug.
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april485 when I mentioned to my onc that my mom had blood clots she told me it has to be my history… but I don't have any family history of stroke. Also I am not sure why she said that. Not buying it.
Bonski68 so far just a little shoulder pain (granted it's humid and hot today so that's not unusual). 2.5 weeks on Generic Aromasin. I do think it's messing with my head but I don't have any sleep issues and not as bad as before.
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April, I know what you mean with the break. I was told to take a 1-4 week break before starting Aromasin and I took 5 because it was so nice not having many SEs.
Lago, hope your SEs don't get worse and your shoulders feel better soon
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Ha ha shoulder isn't that bad. I mean I did just vacuum. No pain in the neck though. Before it was my shoulder, neck and I couldn't even hold my shoulders back without pain. This is normal for this kind of weather.
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I find Boswellia and Curcumin help with side effects of Aromasin and I feel almost normal on them joint wise
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just getting my first refill on my generic aromasin. After almost 4 weeks main problem is hot flushes but not as bad as when I went through natural menopause., but still annoying to get them 8 years again. I am a bit achy in the morning when I get up but I am trying to walk 1-2 miles most days and feel much better the days I walk. Do the joint side effects get worse over time?
Getting a DEXA scan next week, hopefully my osteopenia will not be any worse before the effects of the aromasin set in. I am getting 2 years of zometa very 6 months to both delay the bone loss and to lessen the long term risk of bone mets, at least according to a recent study.
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Lago, my Onc didn't listen to my warnings about my Mother's and her Mother's history of blood clots. My Mother's showed while on Tamoxifen and turned out to have several genetic blood mutation factors. Pay attention to your Onc, please. No family history of stroke either.
Sadly, despite ordering a thrombotic risk panel the one test for Factor V Leiden hadn't ever been run. It wasn't until during Diep surgery that I threw clots. Afterwards it was realized and I was tested - positive for one of the genetic mutation blood factors that Mother has too, with the propensity for clots. No more Tamoxifen, naturally. Put on Lupron and AI.
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Galsal that's my point. My onc felt that my mother's history was not an issue. If I had a history then she would be concerned but I do not. I still feel my mom's history counts but I'm no MD. I just see me turning into her as the years go buy.
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