Life on aromasin
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rettemich I was on Anastrozole (generic Arimidex) for 3 years. I ended up with bad back/neck/shoulder pain and depression. I also now have osteoporosis but I was osteopenic before chemo and have a family history so this just brought it on sooner. BUT in April I switched to Exemestane (generic Aromasin). Back/neck/shoulder pain gone and no depression. I am being treated for osteoporosis. I have it in my spine, just over the border. They will do bone density scans on you to watch and treat before it gets out of hand.
You can live a lot longer with osteoporosis than you can with metastatic cancer… and they will not let your bones get that bad. Remember you can always quit.
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Hi, Bren!! It looks as if we had the same diagnosis and receptor status, except I had a tumor in each breast and a slightly larger tumor in the left breast. I am almost 10 years out and will be taking the aromasin the full ten years! I am done next September😀 it has not been a picnic but the side effects have gotten better with time! I have wanted to go off of it many times,but was afraid of the consequences!! This year has been easy, I must say! I am almost afraid to stop taking it when I Hit the 10 year mark next September! I have another bone density in January,but so far so good😃. I exercise a lot and drink tons of water!! Wish you the very best.
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OK it's official. I lost 10 lbs switiching from Anastrozole to Exemestane. Who Hoo
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Yay Lago! I lost around 30lbs when I switched, sadly it's all come back, but that's my own stupid fault for not keeping up the good eating habits and exercise lol.
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I didn't have a weight problem. At least my MDs weren't concerned but this 10 lbs is all from the drug so it's nice that it came off.
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Lago! Way to go!!0 -
good job😃 Lago
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I'm gaining....wtf!!!!!!!
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hey. Lonnie, don't worry, I gained at first too!! But, then I started losing once I figured out what foods triggered my weight gain!! I am very carb sensitive! It is a little harder to lose while on aromasin, but you can do it
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lonnie, me too...big time! I eat very little and still it is piling on at an alarming rate. Not sure what is up but it is very disturbing since I lost lots of weight on WW prior to my diagnosis and it is almost all back! ugh!
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Kindergarten and April485,
I lost 20pds on the ww point system two yrs prior to this journey. I didn't gain any weight while on chemo but once I started the tamoxifen and switched to aromasin the weight just piled on. I'm working out too. I spin, zumba, cardio condition classes all to no avail. I was hoping to get the diep flap for my exchange hoping that would slim me a little bit but my ps said not enough fat.....I laughed my ass off!!!!!
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Hi Ladies, I am getting ready to start generic Aromasin in the next week. I was on anastrazole and then Arimidex for 6 months but the side effects seemed terrible. MO said to take 6 weeks off and see if I feel better, and if so to start the Aromasin. I still have lots of aches and pains but not nearly as bad as before. I see some familiar faces on this thread, and look forward to getting to know those of you who I don't know. Hoping the side effects won't be too bad.
Martha
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rhodymmm,
The only issue for me is the weight gain and the hot flashes throughout the day and evening. My hands used to stiffen up something bad at night but that has subsided a bit. I'm glad that you get a 6 week break....woohoo!!!!!
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RhodyMMM read my post near the top of this page. I am doing 200% better on exemestane
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I've stayed below my weight during chemo for almost 2 years now on Aromasin. It's a healthy BMI. I exercise some and eat relatively healthy, but am surprised I don't gain weight. My job requires lots of desk work and is stressful (need dark chocolate for stress relief). So if I was more conscientious about exercise and food, I'd probably lose another 5-10 pounds on Aromasin. All our bodies react differently.
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yikes, April and Lonnie, not sure why you are experiencing this!! I did gain weight at first, but then I leveled off! It is hard to lose while being in menopause and taking the Aromasin!! Hang in there
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Doing much better on exemestane!Hope I lose some weight too ,Lago:)See the doctor Nov 20
to see what she says.Have a great weekend everyone!
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Have been experiencing serious hair-thinning on Aromasin. Saw a dermatologist who specializes in hair thinning and was quite familiar with aromatase-inhibitors. She has me on a prescription shampoo, designed for dandruff, which she says has a side benefit of thickening hair strands. Oddly, she also has me on a blood pressure med, which apparently has the same side effect. She had to get an OK from my MO for that. Dhe also has me on OTC supplements such as D, zinc and 2 others. I already ws taking Biotin and Viviscal. After 2 months, she'll re evaluate and possibly add Rogaine. If anyone's interested, I'll look up the names.
Little worried about the blood pressure med and have stopped it for a few days. Definitely feel a little light-headed an hour or so after taking...And am now up to about 18 different pills a day, from MO, PCP, dermatologist...
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which blood pressure pill is it? Some are best taken at night
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Wave, if the BP med makes you light headed, have you taken your BP yourself to check? since ending my aromasin, I know my BP is lower, still on my long time BP med but we are monitoring it and I hope to reduce the need for it
I never lost hair so can not comment there
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I had my regular hair cut last week, and my hairdresser was shocked at some of the bald patches I'm developing. I have one just to the left of the centre of my head on top that's about a half inch in diameter, and a couple nearby that are not quite as big.
I must say - I was shocked too. I knew I was loosing hair, but not that it was from particular areas. My hair pre bc was very, very thick and wiry. Now it's fine and thin.
So - should I try Biotin? Has anyone had a "good" result from it?
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I shared this on the Arimidex thread but will post it here also. This is my hair thinning/Minoxidil experience, maybe it will help others. After chemo, when my hair started coming in, I started using Minoxidil. Although my hair grew slowly on herceptin, it did come in and my family even said it looked thicker than before (it has always been on the thin side). So after using Minoxidil for abut 8 months, I figured I didn't need it anymore since my hair had come in so well. Bad decision! I was still on Arimidex at the time and my hair began coming out very quickly, and soon I was very disheartened by trying to arrange my thin hair every morning to cover the areas where you could see my scalp. So in June of this year I once again began using Minoxidil and now I can see about an inch or so of "undergrowth" of new hair coming in. So lesson learned, don't stop using it if you get regrowth from it!
I also use a special shampoo, conditioner and scalp treatment from the salon that is designed for thinning hair (it does not contain Minoxidil). So far the combo is working for me.
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I've been on anastrazole for 4 months and am experiencing major joint pain and some fatigue but no depression. My doc suggested switching to aromasin after this month's supply is over. I'm going to give it a try. So how many people found an improvement after switching to aromasin? I'm hoping it will be better.
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Raising hand big time. Made the change in April. Back, neck and shoulder pain gone. Sleep issues gone. Depression, gone.
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Me too - switched from Arimidex to Aromasin. My pain level while on Arimidex was an 8. I limped to my MO's office and cried while being interviewed by the nurse. They switched me that day and after two weeks I felt so much better. I've been taking Aromasin for over a year now and still no joint pain or side effects that I know of. Everyone is different. I'm just so glad it's working for me!
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Trisha-Ann, I'm just in the process of switching back to arimidex. I'd only been on exemstane since the beginning of July, but the wads of hair in the shower drain just didn't seem to be getting any smaller. When I started arimidex last year, the hair loss only continued for a couple of months. My onc said a lot of hair loss happens to 6% on aromosin, but only 4% on arimidex, so I'm hoping for some improvement.
I'd made the switch to exemestane because of hip pain, but, as it turns out, the pain was from bursitis and PT fixed it.
I kind of suspect I'll spend the next three or so years switching back and forth, and maybe taking drug holidays, Maybe the joint pain will come back on arimidex, and frankly, I don't know how I'd choose between pain and hair loss. Hoping I don't need to do so!
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I actually found Aromasin to give me fewer side effects than Tamoxifen. Not a lot, but enough that I was glad to have switched. (I went through menopause during treatment.) Aromasin was a big shock to my body. I could live with the bone pain and hot flashes of course, but they ruled my life. I still had everything on Aromasin, but to a lesser degree. The bone pain especially. I, still today (4 years after treatment) have both bone pain and hot flashes, but they're down to a tiny level and are probably now just due to normal aging/constant lessening of hormone production. Everyone is different; there is really no way to predict. I think it all depends on where every one of our hormone levels are before we start these system-altering meds. Hormones are such a crazy, intertwined cocktail that dictates how our body functions in so many ways. Case in point, and long story made short, I was having 1 to 3 debilitating migraines per day only a few months ago (they'd increased from nothing to this very high level in a few years- a few months after I stopped taking my Aromasin). They involved an aura, and one symptom of that aura was a visual disturbance (I'd see a reflective, mirror type image in a zig-zag pattern, with prism colors on the edges). No, I wasn't dropping acid. Anyway, I couldn't read, see, sometimes I had cognitive loss to the point where I didn't know my own daughter's name. But it was always temporary. I found out I was severely deficient in vitamin D, and starting slamming large quantities (doctor's orders), and they resolved! Not the migraines (dang!), but the visual auras and most of the cognitive loss. Vitamin D, as it turns out, can behave as a hormone in many parts of one's body. I think the Aromasin was taking out the estrogen (or convincing parts of my body it was--I forget which medicine acts which way). When the estrogen came rushing back (we produce some estrogen/progesterone even after menopause), my body didn't handle it well. Same thing happened after I had my child. I dumped hormones rapidly and my body is just one that can't handle it. So I got what I now know where probably migraines and affected my trigeminal nerve (pain in upper/lower teeth that I used to think was a sinus headache, but no medicine worked and it was so painful!). Anyway...the vitamin D seemed to help level out the worst of the worst, and I continue to take it every day now and the visual part has not returned. I have days when I think it is close, but it never goes all the way into the full visual.
Anyway- these meds affect our hormones and even if we test for a few of the big hormone levels, we can't know how they're gonna work on each of us. Good luck to you!
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Wow whatnow...very interesting. Sorry you went through that. My body hates exemestane but I am afraid to move to the others which I hear are worse. My MO said she would try Femara next but I just am not sure what to do. I am of the mind set that I might just stop or at least take a month off like I did earlier this year. It felt incredibly wonderful by week 3. I felt like my old self and even my friends at work noticed it big time. These drugs are very powerful for sure. Such a teeny tiny little pill but sheesh! Wreaks havoc with our bodies and brain.
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April, my onc seems to be of the opinion that we can switch back and forth (at least between aromasin and anastrazole) pretty much at will. He said I could take the aromasin (exemestane) one day, then the anastrazone (arimidex) the next. Nothing doing, by the way. I'm taking a break! It's been a week already, and the new drug hasn't arrived, so maybe two weeks?
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I am on day 4 of examestane and so far, so good. When I started the anastrazole, I found that about an hour after I took it I felt like I had been hit by a train. So I started taking it at night. I am taking the examestane mid-day (didn't want to try it right before driving to work just in case I got drowsy), and I have been fine. I know it's early to know about other side effects, but I feel good so far! Towards the end of 6 months on anastrazole and then brand Arimidex, I was also rating my pain upwards of 7 or 8. I am being cautiously optimistic that this will be much better.
Martha
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