Life on aromasin
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this link says up to 8% of women can get elevated liver enzymes on Aromasin
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My liver function has been abnormal for over 12 months now - not off the charts, but definitely higher than it should be. No-one seems too worried about it though. I have wondered if it's the Aromasin.
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OK saw my MO today. Seems my liver is fine it's my kidney's that are a bit high but she says not an issue.
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well guess that is good news as it sounds like she is not worried?
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Nope she isn't.
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I like my docs to be unworried!
celebrate with gin and rasens
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Hi proudtospin - the wrist support worked, thank you so much for the tip:)
x x
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I'm celebrating with real Feta cheese (from Greece) and Kalmata Olives. My legs are going to be so swollen
I went food shopping after my appointment. I know better than to go on an empty stomach.
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Songbird, great about the wrist brace! I wore out the one my doc gave me and replaced it with a clean one a while ago!
hmmmm feta cheese and olives? I will be right over! Me having chicken cutlet and mashed cauliflower, some chopped tiny tomatoes on top
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I just switched a week ago to aromasin, after being on arimidex only 2 months. Feel much better on aromasin, less hand joint pain. Not as anxious and mood swings as was having on arimidex. So thankful to have switched early on, as I was not handling the mood swings and anxiety on arimidex. Hope it works well for you too. Do feel fatigue, but walking biking exercise helps me feel better.
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ts, glad you feel better on aromasin and the exercise, betcha that will help with SE as well! Good luck and hope the 5 years go quickly and you can join me on the other side (I finished mine this past Jan)
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Hello, I am new here. I have been on exemestane for almost 2 months. Dr changed me from anastrozole (sp?) after 4 months due to severe knee joint pain. On the exemestane I am experiencing nausea which did not begin until 3 and 1/2 weeks after beginning it. Begins in the morning and goes on most days ranging from just being queasy to being nauseated and wanting to throw up. My onc says he is 99.99% certain it is not the exemestane, nausea is not a SE, and it would have started the first few days I started it. But that is the only thing that has changed in my meds or life style in the last 2 months. Anyone have nausea? Got to figure this out. Thanks.
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TxTed Haven't experienced nausea but on some SE lists it says it could be a less common SE but they aren't sure. Ask your pharmacist for the list of SE. Pharmacists seem to know more about the meds than the MDs.
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TxTed. If your are not doing it, take the pill after supper. Maybe less nausea on a full stomach and absorption is 40% more after a meal. I have been on it about 4 months with no side effects now. At first I was achy but got out and started walking again and much better now. Good luck hope the nausea settle down for you.
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TxTed, yes, nausea can be a side effect, regrettably. It would probably be good to discuss this with your treatment team.
Thinking of you,
The Mods
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TxTed I got nausea when I first started Aromasin, I would feel queasy - never to the point of throwing up though. It stopped after about a month, but did return for a couple of weeks not long ago. It's gone again, thank goodness. You have to take the tablet with food - are you doing that? You could also try taking it at night (with food) before you go to bed, and maybe you'll sleep through most if it? Maybe worth a try.
Good luck!
Trish0 -
I will admit I don't take any of my meds without food unless specifically directed to do so.
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My Aromasin packet specifically states it must be taken with food
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my tummy always likes something in the tummy first, I always eat, not a lot but a couple of bites of yogurt or cheese of my fav bfast sandwich works fine....then the dang pills!
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Sadly, Aromasin was not much better for me than Arimidex. Arimidex caused me depression and joint pain. On Aromasin, not only did the depression come back but my anxiety level was sky high and I was crying 3-4 times a week. Definitely not me! It just seemed to suck all the joy out of my life and it also stole my appetite. I finally had to say enough. I couldn't take it any more. I also lost 10+ pounds. Weight I really couldn't afford to lose. Even my daughter who has always wanted me to do every tx the drs wanted asked me if maybe it was time to quit. I have been off of it about 10 days and feel so much better. I did talk to my MO about it at my 6 mos. checkup right after I made my decision to stop taking it. Of course he would like me to stay on it or try Femera. Maybe I will, but for now I am just not ready to feel so crappy and miserable again. I know the AI's are a great tool for those of us that are ER+, but if you feel like life is not worth living when you are on them, is it really worth it?
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Bren - it really is a hard decision to make. QOL is very important. I was where you were now when I was on Arimidex. I'm lucky the Aromasin agrees with me.
Since I changed to Aromasin, I've had four very good friends who for various reasons decided not to take an AI. One was triple positive and the others were ER/PR+. All four are now stage IV. Two are back on chemo and the other two are on AIs, one of the ones on chemo is fighting for her life with lung mets and very, very sick.
I don't want to scare you too much - but this gave me a real jolt. If Aromasin became a problem for me, I'd try Femera. I'd do almost anything to reduce my risk of it returning.
I do sympathise with you though, QOL is sooo important. But so is life.... Of course, it's entirely your decision, only you can know how much you can take, but for me after these friends' experience, I'll put up with a lot more to have life.
I hope you find something that helps. If you stay off an AI, that's good too - it's your life xoxo
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Trisha-Anne, sadly, I agree with you 100%. It is why I put up with the joint pain and other things but I am not severely depressed which might be a game changer. I do know that the AI's/tamoxifen are the best defense against either a recurrence or another breast cancer for those of us ER+ ladies. I was >95% ER+ so I am doing what I can and putting up with horrible side effects as I don't want BC again! Even with DCIS, the odds are if I have another BC or a recurrence, it can be IDC and once that cat is out of the bag, there is a chance for mets so I am doing what I can. Pain stinks. So does invasive BC!
Bren58, depression would be a game changer for me too. Have you tried Femara? Maybe you will do better with that one? Hugs either way!
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Bren58 I can totally relate. I told my MO's NP last week if I would never go on Anastrozole again. For me Exemestane is working great. I too would probably try Femara as a one last effort but I can understand how you want to wait. I know after being on anastrozole for 3 years and having that month break and feeling the best I had in years I was really scared to to try Exemestane.
Also it's sad what is happening to Trisha-Anne's friends but we don't know if they would have gotten mets even with being on hormone therapy. Granted the odds are in your favor you will remain NED on hormone therapy but who knows. You also don't know their risk for mets. It might be higher than yours.
Depression is no way to go through life.
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Thanks ladies. I know I have a risk for another recurrence even if I do take an AI. It's just that in my case no doctor seems to able to give me any kind of stats either way. Not that it really matters, since I only had a 1-2% of recurrence after the first time, and wound up in that lucky small percentage. I will probably give myself a little break then try the Femera.
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Bren, please don't think I'm trying to hit you on the head to make you take an AI. I don't think anyone has the right to do that. For each of us our limit to what we can tolerate is different. I'm lucky I haven't experienced depression and can understand that life really isn't worth living if you have to put up with ses so bad that you'd rather not be here. When I was on Arimidex I lost my brain. It was horrible, I couldn't spell or add up the simplest things. How I kept my job I'll never know, my workplace is very caring and tolerant and helped me as much as they could. I also developed systems to help make things easier on me. But it was hell, and if that was the only AI available to me, I'd be thinking long and hard about how much living a life like that is worth.
We don't know if the AIs are going to be the thing that keeps recurrence at bay for us or not, and perhaps my friends would have recurred even with an AI. If Aromasin becomes unbearable for me, then I'll try Femera and if that doesn't work for me, I'll try whatever is available next until I've gone through them all. But in the end, I'd rather have a life worth living and leave earlier than be miserable on an AI.
I think my main concern for my friends was that three of them wouldn't even try an AI, they'd heard horror stories about them and were convinced that they'd get all the ses going. They didn't even try. The fourth one was on Arimidex for around 12 months and decided it was too hard (which I'm totally fine with) but refused to try another one to see if it suited her better. She's the one now fighting for her life. I just get so frustrated with this bitch of a disease.
Bren - you've tried two AIs now, at least you've tried. No-one least of all me will judge you at all if you decide you can't continue, I would support you completely. I'm sorry about my post earlier, I truly didn't mean to scare anyone, but was feeling so frustrated with this disease and the toll it's taking on my friends.
Trish
xoxo
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I'm just incredibly thankful that my Onc said flat-out that I only need to take this for Five years. She had a good point - I'm half way there already. So I'll live with things much as I can.
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No worries, Trish. No offense taken. I am very happy for those that can take these drugs with little or at least tolerable SE's. I was really hoping Aromasin would be the one for me. I know we all have a choice about any TX we are offered, and we have to make the most informed decision we can and do the best we can. I chose not to take Tamoxifen the first time around for various reasons. It was the right decision for me. All the doctors I saw said it would not have made a difference in my recurrence since it happened 12 years later. I wish there were a way of knowing ahead of time whether these drugs work for each of us individually. Maybe someday in the future.
I am very sorry for your friends. It is a very sobering thing to see so many who continue on to get mets and struggle.
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Thanks Bren, it's very hard seeing my friends go through this, really brings this disease closer. You wouldn't think that's possible after all we've been through, but I'd finally got to the stage where I wasn't worrying about recurrence every day. While I'm still not worrying like I was in the first 12 to 18 months, I'm really scared about going off Aromasin.
Trish
xoxo
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A friend of mine when she finished her 5 years, was told she could end the med. She was really nervous and I remember her saying that her doc said she had no problem if she wanted to continue it, she had no side effects and it just made her feel more secure
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Good day to all. I am new. My MO took me off of Tamoxifen almost a month ago. The se were just unacceptable. I was sweating ALL the time. Not hot flashes, sweating, embarrassing so. Began getting nausea a few months ago, the weight gain and the list goes on. I was really hoping it would work for me as I didn't want to risk my bones. After a long talk with my MO I decided to try the Aromasin. Haven't pick up the script yet. My biggest concern is the bone loss and the depression. I already was on meds for that before all this began. I know everyone is different but any advise to a newbe? She is doing a bone scan in Dec.
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