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Life on aromasin

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Comments

  • Molly50
    Molly50 Member Posts: 3,008
    edited May 2016

    gypsyjo, on Anastrozole I was barely able to get 8k steps in. Now I can easily get to 12k without feeling bad. Only bad effects so far is my appetite is through the roof and my mid section feels thicker.

  • feelingfeline
    feelingfeline Member Posts: 5,145
    edited May 2016

    I know I definitely was when on chemo. My DH thought I was grumpier on aromasin. Me I had just thought it was part of my natural, winning personality, but he really felt I got a shorter fuse from it.

  • Molly50
    Molly50 Member Posts: 3,008
    edited May 2016

    I have been feeling really good on exemestane until this week and now I am beginning to hobble when I walk again. I can't use Claritin every day, it dries me out too much. Any suggestions?

  • Tootsbaby
    Tootsbaby Member Posts: 1
    edited June 2016

    Does hair grow back after stopping Anastrozole? Thanks!

  • claireinaz
    claireinaz Member Posts: 714
    edited June 2016

    Dear Tootsbaby, I didn't have hair loss on either Arimidex or Aromasin but I've been taking 1 dose of biotin--100 mg? daily since I stopped chemo. My hair seems to respond to it since it's thicker than pre-chemo and grows faster, according to my stylist. It could also be the lasting effects from chemo itself. My hair wasn't thin but really fine, and now it's "fatter" with more body.

    As for hip pain, generally, I developed what I think is tronchater bursitis in my hip a few months ago. Freaked out at first because I thought it was little c re-visiting, but then realized no, it might have been the Aromasin SE, but most likely brought on by irritation of that hip joint because of a pair of new athletic shoes I bought at the same time! Now I see that hiking in teva sandals or walking a couple of miles in Chaco flips (used to do that just fine) irritates that joint and I have pain in it at night when I sleep on it. I don't have pain when I make sure to hike/walk/run in my old tried and true Vasque running shoes. And go to Bikram yoga regularly.

    Occam's Razor: sometimes it's the simplest explanation (shoes over anything else) that makes the most sense.


  • april485
    april485 Member Posts: 1,983
    edited June 2016

    OMG, Claire! Occams Razor! I have not heard that used in a really long time! My ex husband would say that to me whenever I would make things too complicated!! We've been apart since 2002! When we were finalizing our divorce, he was trying to talk about why he should get "more" of the proceeds from the sale of the house and had this complicated reasoning he was throwing at me. I threw "Occams Razor" back at him and told him 50-50 bucko! LOL. Thanks for the smile today. He passed away last year and I now have much more fond memories of him than bad ones so this was a good one today.

    Winking

  • april485
    april485 Member Posts: 1,983
    edited June 2016

    For those of you suffering from AI induced joint pain, my daughter bought me a device called "Quell" and if you have ever used a "Tens" unit, it is similar in theory. You wear the device (with electrodes) for several hours a day on your upper calf below the knee and the theory is that it will reduce your pain levels via electro therapy. I am wearing it for the first time today (received it yesterday) and after one hour, I do feel a remarkable difference! I am not naïve enough to not think it could be "wishful thinking" working on my mind, but I was in some awful pain today (it is raining and damp and those days are usually the worst anyway) and now I am walking without a lot of pain...am impressed so far. We shall see how it goes moving forward. I am keeping my fingers crossed. It is not cheap and the electrodes are an added expense of 30 bucks a month but I am desperate! My daughter bought me the unit so now it is a matter of the electro. It has a 60 day guarantee so if it does not work, back it will go! I will keep you posted!!

    I have not been paid to talk about this thing so want to make that clear! I am a regular here and now take letrozole (stopped exemestane last year) but wanted to share in case it might help some of you!!

    http://www.amazon.com/Quell-Wearable-Pain-Relief-Starter/product-reviews/B0141A6EVS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_paging_btm_2?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=helpful&pageNumber=2des


  • claireinaz
    claireinaz Member Posts: 714
    edited June 2016

    Hi April485,

    Thank you for recognizing that reference. I love it, actually! And my ex just died 2 weeks ago from pancreatic and liver cancer....my daughter is heartbroken, of course--her dad was just 61 and it was a terribly agressive cancer: 5 months from dx to end. I am shocked by the sadness I feel for his death. We haven't been married for 23 years and although the break up was terribly acrimonious and hurtful, we made our peace, were able to be co-parents to our only child, and I was able to see him and talk to him right before he died. I love how so many of us can find similarities in our lives on this discussion board.

    claire

  • april485
    april485 Member Posts: 1,983
    edited June 2016

    Sorry about your ex Claire. My ex was only 64. He went fast from his cancer as well. It was skin cancer that was in a scar that never healed from a surgery he had so he did not know that it was cancer and the doctors didn't catch it until it was in his liver and his bowel. He was in the hospital for two weeks and then he was gone.

  • feelingfeline
    feelingfeline Member Posts: 5,145
    edited June 2016

    Heart

  • cybermab
    cybermab Member Posts: 7
    edited June 2016

    I was on letrozole (Femara) for about a year and a half. Experienced significant joint pain and weakness as well as depression and a runaway appetite. I experienced some hair loss, but not enough to be really noticeable. I changed to Aromasin in January, and then in February, I had a terrible slip and fall accident before getting on a cruise ship in Puerto Rico. Dislocated my femur and broke my pelvis in several places. Now, in June, my hair is falling out in handfuls, and I am trying to decide if it is from Aromasin or a delayed stress reaction to the severe injury and subsequent surgery.

    Any ideas?


  • Warrior_Woman
    Warrior_Woman Member Posts: 819
    edited June 2016

    cybermab - I did the opposite - Tami to Aromasin to Femara. The hair loss started when I began Aromasin and has continued. I've been to a couple dermatologists and had a scalp biopsy to get a final diagnosis. A lot of things can cause hair loss and it may help you to get a diagnosis and find out what will and will not be of help to you. Is it fair to assume the severity of your injuries are due to bone loss? It sounds horrible.

  • zjrosenthal
    zjrosenthal Member Posts: 1,541
    edited June 2016

    cybermab, I had a hip replacement last February and several weeks later started a lot of hair thinning. I don't think it was from the Femara since I've been on an AI since I started it in February of 2015. Love, Jean

  • erento
    erento Member Posts: 187
    edited June 2016

    Did anyone experience better sleep on Aromasin? I know one of the side effects is insomnia, but strangely I've been getting deeper and less interrupted sleep since I started this medication. I was on Tamoxifen for 10 month, started Zoladex two months ago and Aromasin a month ago and have only been experiencing minor side effects so far like mild hot flashes and intermittent mild joint pain (granted it's only been a month).

    I always had terrible sleep and it continued and worsened on chemo and tamoxifen. I take Aromasin in the morning and haven't noticed increased fatigue yet that might explain improved sleep. I also noticed more mental clarity on it compared to tamoxifen. I just find better sleep weird, not that complaining!

  • lago
    lago Member Posts: 11,653
    edited June 2016

    I had sleep issues with Anastrozole (Arimidex). No issue on Exemestane (aromasin)

  • doxie
    doxie Member Posts: 700
    edited June 2016

    My sleep is much better on Aromasin. And I felt mentally more clear than on Arimidex, even after an 8 week break. Yes I was still getting over chemo and rads, but I noticed a sharp difference aftera week on the drug.

  • Molly50
    Molly50 Member Posts: 3,008
    edited June 2016

    doxie, that is very interesting because my brain was full on foggy on anastrozole but much clearer on exemestane! Funny how different we all are.

  • doxie
    doxie Member Posts: 700
    edited June 2016

    Molly,

    Sometimes my writing may not be clear for quick readers. I am much sharper on Aromasin than Arimdex. And after a8 week break.

  • Molly50
    Molly50 Member Posts: 3,008
    edited June 2016

    doxie, I think it's me reading on my phone that is the problem.

  • doxie
    doxie Member Posts: 700
    edited June 2016

    I understand. Had to get my prescription changed last year because I couldn't read small print anymore, even with my glasses off. I hated to read on my phone. Now I use it in place of my laptop all the time.

    The downside of worse vision, even corrected, is that my downward peripheral vision is worse and I miss seeing stairs. Nursing a sprained ankle and skinned knee. The MO nurse wanted to give me a pamphlet on how to prevent falls. I declined. Need only to stop running down stairs while distracted.

    I've always thought running down stairs could build bone density. I guess not, if all it gets you is four weeks of hobbling with a sprained ankle.

  • Molly50
    Molly50 Member Posts: 3,008
    edited June 2016

    Ouch I am glad that you didn't break anything! You all may find this article interesting especially the part about AI's Ten Practice Changes I Will Make After Attending ASCO 2016

  • Molly50
    Molly50 Member Posts: 3,008
    edited June 2016

    This is from an article called Ten Practice Changes I will make after ASCO 2016: I am posting just the part important to BC and AI's

    1. I will not use exemestane as adjuvant treatment for invasive lobular breast cancer in favor of one of the two nonsteroidal AIs, anastrozole or letrozole (Abstract521). There are increasing data that exemestane is less effective in patients with this histology, which was confirmed by this review of the MA.27 study by Strasser-Weippl et al. Patients with invasive lobular carcinoma had improved overall survival when treated with anastrozole as opposed to exemestane (HR, 1.8; P = .55), consistent with the findings in the BIG 1-98 trial.
    2. I will be using more AC/T and less TC in patients with high-risk early breast cancer, based on the ABC analysis of three randomized trials presented by Blum et al (Abstract 1000). In this initial report, the non-anthracycline regimen did NOT demonstrate noninferiority to the anthracycline regimens. TC may be noninferior for ER-positive patients, however, but for receptor-negative patients, I will use anthracyclines in most cases.
    3. I will recommend the continuation of aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapy for at least an additional 5 years in high-risk postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer. Many of these women have been reluctant to stop their AI at 5 years; I have generally made recommendations case by case, but mentioned that we will have data to help guide our decisions, once we had the results from the MA.17R and B42 studies. The initial results from MA17.R were presented at the Plenary Session (Abstract LBA1) by Dr. Goss. In patients treated with 5 years of AI, as initial therapy or preceded by up to 5 years of tamoxifen, extended AI treatment to 10 years (as opposed to placebo) significantly improved disease-free survival. The gains were modest, and there was an increased risk of osteoporosis; so, I don't plan on this approach in all of these women, but I will have the discussion, considering the risks and benefits, and probably recommend continuation in women at high risk of late recurrence. Data presented in Abstract 505 by Pan et al was an analysis of predictive factors for late recurrences in ER-positive patients (over 46,000 British women followed for up to 14 years), and its findings will help in advising our patients.
  • Galsal
    Galsal Member Posts: 754
    edited June 2016

    Just great...now I have a 2cm-3cm multi-cyst on the Cervix and had biopsies of the cervix and endometrium done this week. Hopeful it's not another round of cancer!

  • zjrosenthal
    zjrosenthal Member Posts: 1,541
    edited June 2016

    Oh Galsal, I hope not. How long till you find out? I will pray for you. Love, Jean

  • Galsal
    Galsal Member Posts: 754
    edited June 2016

    Hopefully will know next week, maybe. Thank you.

  • feelingfeline
    feelingfeline Member Posts: 5,145
    edited June 2016

    Best wishes Galsal.

  • Galsal
    Galsal Member Posts: 754
    edited June 2016

    Hooray....there is NO new cancer!!!

  • elainetherese
    elainetherese Member Posts: 1,635
    edited June 2016

    Good news, Galsal! Happy dance for you!

  • zjrosenthal
    zjrosenthal Member Posts: 1,541
    edited June 2016

    Yay Galsal!Happy So happy for you. Love, Jean

  • Molly50
    Molly50 Member Posts: 3,008
    edited June 2016

    Great news, Galsal!

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