Life on aromasin
Comments
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Camillegal: I think you had Taxol? that is known to cause neuropathy, but it usually goes away afterward. Are you still getting Herceptin?
Mybee: 1200 calories a day is tough. How do you track your intake? I try FitDay sporadically but then fall off the wagon. Good for you getting into a bathing suit. Swimming should really help with the pectoral muscles. I haven't been on a bike in two years. Last time I used it I fell off and feel I have even more balance issues now. Maybe I could get training wheels
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I track my calories in 200 increments, as in: 200 x 6 a day or 200 x 4 with a 400 calorie dinner. The more I sleep the less times I need to break it up cuz I spend more time sleeping :0 I'm hypoglycemic so need to eat fairly frequently. Sorry you have balance issues. Could make biking tough, but remember - they say you never forget how to do it (I think they say the same thing about sex!). And I'm not a cyclist; I bike ride. Like we did as kids.
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Ill probably be back to my biking schedule like yours when it cools down out here.....september.....I am walking in the early mornings with my dog.... we have mountain lions in our area, which makes dusk/dawn biking a little treacherous on the trails.....
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I love all the enery u guys just give with u'r posts. I'm tired reading what u do. LOL
Mary I know the first chemo I had was taxol about 4 months weekly--then they started changing every few months the only other one I remember is Red Devil cuz I could wait to pee when I got home so my dgtr would frek out---only once tho she freaked, I thought it was funny. But I got chemo for a little over 2 yrs (changing chemos) and finished the last six months of herceptin which I started befor with one of the chemos? every week. Then rads like everyone else for 31 days.I'm now on Aromasin--I know everyone thinks I'm just starting cuz I know so little about everythin but I chose not to listen or I would have really been scared--I never kept a journal or asked many questions and usually went alone cuz I know my dgtrs would ask everything so they didn't know alot til almost the end of my treatments cuz I needed another operation. my brat dgtr found out to much and then tells me, I actually felt better not knowing hahahaha
Sorry didn't mean to go on and on but this has taken up so much of my lofe for all these years and a big SE is it ruined my typing (how's that for an excuse?)
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Camillegal: Until you mentioned adult daughters, I thought you were much younger and sending your posts as texts from your phone and that was why you tried to abbreviate so much. So much for assumptions. Have you found that the neuropathy has gotten better since you've been off Taxol?
I was on Red Devil (Adriamycin) too and even though I'd been told about the colored urine, the first time it took me by surprise and actually made me laugh as it was such a pretty pink color
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Onc.'s office just called today. Said I have Ostopenia (will check spelling when I start my online research in a jiff). Total amt. of time I have been on an AI is about.......9 mos. Two yrs. ago bone density was normal.
Mountain lions would definitely scare me.
Cami - you have had quite a road! Sounds like that blocking things out technique you have worked fairly well tho'. Sometimes that a great way to cope. And don't be hard on yourself re: abiity to do stuff. We're all pretty fragile beings when it comes down to it.
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my bone density was normal before starting one month ago....... Are they going to give you something?0 -
No. Once she found out I was already taking calcium supplements and exercising she said: Okay - we'll test you again in two years. Which is why I will take to the internet shortly and see if that is standard practice.
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I took fosamax for years for osteopenia way before my BC stuff happened
it inproved all but I stopped and have been relying on weight bearing exercise since, confess to not doing the dexa scan since on the aromasin but should
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Keep us posted please. Guess i should start on calcium too. Knew there was something else i needed to add to my handful of pills.......
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My Mom took/takes? Fosamax. Didn't it recently get some kind of bad press?
Yes - calcium - I take Caltrate - twice a day. That's the one my internist recommended. It's only been in the past few weeks that I upped it from once to twice a day. Thought the D3, magnesium, etc. was doing the trick.
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mybee: I have osteopenia too and it's a little worse now than it was before I started to take tamoxifen. My onc and GP both have a wait and see attitude before prescribing anything for it. Yes, fosamax has gotten some bad press. I have osteopenia in my spine while the reading for my hips was normal ... or else it was the other way around, must check and see.
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Okay - Sounds like this is kind of an over-diagnosed thing, like high blood pressure, however, as osteoporosis runs in my family I think it does bear some paying attention to. Found this:
'Strontium ranelate has been approved in 27 European countries, having been found to build bone both by slowing the work of osteoclasts and stimulating osteoblasts. Phase 3 clinical trials are nearing completion in the US. Other (natural) forms of available strontium ........include food sources include spices (especially basil), seafood, whole grains, root and leafy vegetables, and legumes.'
Also recommended is weight bearing exercise like walking, hiking, biking, dancing, working out with small weights, etc. They don't say what to do if you have arthritis, (as I do). There are things that definitely exacerbate the arthritis. I feel like I became 75+ overnight. But this is doable and I guess, not worth worrying about in the big scheme.
That said, I was the only one home with my grandmother and in the room with her, when she tripped and fell over her own slipper (yes, it was on her foot at the time). Broke her rt. wrist and her lft. ankle. Talk about not being able to take care of yourself. Man, did she get irritable and short-tempered. Couldn't do anything - couldn't use the crutches, etc. I felt so bad for her. She was...I'd say early 70's at the time. She had osteoporosis. Had to have hip surgery too.
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OMG everybodies bones are being destroyed, but what are we going to do? Wehn I started everything was pretty normal for all mu tests, then after everything was a mess--my own drs. words LOLMy one kidney, but the other was good, my liver my bones are riddles with so much suff--I take some perscrption vitamin??? once a week and a few other script vitamins I take whatever they tell me to.
And Mary I LOLing what u said---I got a comp. about 2 yrs ago--never had one , never was in the internet so what I know (very little) I tauht myself and my typing is awful and spelling just as bad now. I used to be good, it has nothing to do with cancer it's just me--I can barely use my phone--I can't open it most of the time or charge it-my dgtr does. When I worked we used an in-house (state) computer so yea I could find anyone who lived in the state but I couldn't e-mail them hahaha My girlfriends chipped in and bought me a super good computer, totally wasted on me and I told them that. I barely get around--so just bare with me when I tey to spell and type. Oh BTW I did work for the the state and I did the progress reports , letters sent out---I actually typed alot, now I can't at all. LOL
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I quit Fosamax recently. It had been 3 years (the recommended time) and I was getting jaw pain which is a bad sign. I talked to a pharmacist and she agreed with my stopping it.
Also I have read that Fosamax builds bone on TOP of the existing bone (which of course is not the natural way) this causes the bones to become more brittle and in danger of breaking. As I broke my hip 3 years ago I'm wondering now if the Fosamax was to blame. It seems to cause breaks in the femoral head, which is what I had.
So I just take calcium with D, jog, power walk with 2lb weights, and attend a very intense exercise class twice a week. I do have arthritis in my right hand, neck and both knees, but only the knees give me trouble (when going down stairs I usually have to go sideways and when I'm sitting on the grass and then get up I can only do it by getting on all fours---but my friend who is 50 has trouble too so since in 76 I guess I can't complain---
Since joining the exercise class I am more flexible and the knees hurt less--
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Oh wow dogsandjogs where do u get the energy I try so hard just to walk and in no time I'm defeated with pain. Good for u---I know I shoukd try harder.
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Mybee, how lucky you were there when your grandma fell. When I broke my wrist by falling on a busy street nobody even noticed---I had to go in a store and ask to use their restroom to wash off the blood. Thank God I didn't break my hip at that time. That happened the FOLLOWING year and I didn't even fall-I've heard that you don't fall and then break a hip. You break it and THEN you fall. I was lucky I stayed on my feet; only felt intense pain, had to quit running (was running in a half marathon at the time)
I think I've told this story before - sorry--
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I've always been pretty active. Ballet and acrobatics as a child, then nothing while raising my kids. Then got interested in running in my mid 40s. Have been active ever since. It's just part of my daily life--my parents were very active too. My mother was a ballet dancer, my dad did rowing, they both played tennis, rode horses, etc. So we kids were brought up to be very active too; swimming, skiiing, etc. My brother, however, is a complete couch potato and seriously overweight. I tried to get him interested in jogging, but he soon gave it up. Luckily he did quit smoking--
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Wow u sound like u really had a fun childhood and it went well with being adult. Wonderful
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Camille, too bad you don't live in So.Ca; I would drag you to my exercise class. It is so motivating. The trainer is 50 and for her birthday she did 50
"men" pushups (without stopping) She is my inspiration0 -
Well - everything was fine until my parents got divorced - then my whole world changed---but we all stayed fit, and my Mom scraped enough money to continue my ballet lessons. Which I'm grateful for now - I can,t do the deep knee bends or the jumps anymore, but I'm still very flexible thank God.
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Oh divorce is so so hard on everybody--sorry for that.
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Camillegal: I do NOT think the computer your friends bought is wasted on you. Even if you only use it to read and post on this forum, it's of great benefit.
Dogsandjogs: I agree with you that exercise can be very motivating. Have a look at this video of Mabes Morrill who was a guest a few weeks ago on NBC's Today Show. Doesn't that just make you want to go off and strike a downward facing dog?
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I have gained weight! Right around my stomach - and I have NEVER had a flabby tummy. I can't tell if it is the medicine or being thrown into menapause, but I noticed it after I started taking the Aromasin????
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Just wanted to let everybody know that I haven't worn my hand braces for 2 nights and have had NO symptoms of carpal tunnel! YAY! I'm going to leave them off unless I start getting symptoms again. Wore them for about 2 months.
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I was already menopausal when I began the Aromasin and was still very trim with no fat in the tummy area or around the waist.
That is certainly not the case now. Even though I've quit the Aromasin and jog every day as well as go to an intense exercise class twice a week, I STILL have the fat. It is very discouraging and looks awful.
So I'm blaming the Aromasin. For sure
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Great news Yorkiemom. That is wonderful!
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I think it is the lack of estrogen and our bodies frantically trying to make some by accumulating fat around our mid sections.
I read the book 'French Women Don't Get Fat'. It has some nice tips. I lost another two lbs. by following her tips.
I am definitely noticing a depression sinking in about 6-7 hrs. after my dose. I start to feel life is not worth living; I have no actual reason to feel so hopeless. Yes, I have some troubles, but I've had troubles before and never felt this down.
New plan: I am going to try taking this in divided doses. I have a pill cutter. It doesn't split evenly but if I take it in one day I get the full pill anyway. Two doses, 12 hrs. apart. First one with breakfast. We'll see how that goes. I can't take this depression.
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Oh Mybee. . . I really do feel your pain, I feel the same pain. I've followed your posts on the "singles" page too even though I haven't posted there for a long time as I decided to just give up on the on-line dating thing. With the way I feel, (fatigue, loneliness and pain), I just don't have the energy to try and "woo" any man. My DH died 2 years ago, DD is having big emotional problems, mom got injured. . .Etc, etc, etc. It just goes on and on and there are times I just want to leave all this sadness and just say goodbye to all of it. I get it.
Wish we could sit on a big sofa together and let out all this crap. Talking to friends (without ca), just doesn't make it.
My MO upped my antidepressants and that sure has helped. And hoping the Aromasin keeps my stage 4 ca stable. . . and if it doesn't, on to chemo #4???? I hate cancer as it's on my mind all the time. How do you deal with that?
Lynda0 -
I think the way I have coped with it is by obsessing about other things, like the ex- Bf, or other petty disagreements with others. In an effort to have healthier relationships, unmarred by people 'bullying' me or pushing me around or whatever, I have succeeded in alienating or eliminating most everyone, except a couple of close friends. I have no confidants, aside from my daughter, who I feel badly for, so try to limit what I talk about; we are trying to send her away to school in a happy frame of mind
I believe you have much reason to feel down. Stage IV is a heavy duty diagnosis, there is no doubt. I think sometimes I see women on these threads who expect so much of themselves as far as being cheerful warriors. I believe that is a societal expectation that is unrealistic - helpful if you can pull it off or find it helpful to be positive - but an additional burden if you can't or are just not there yet. Your husbands death is recent too.........As far as men go - I don't feel I have much to offer with my current state of mind. I read today that the average adult laughs 15 times a day. I don't know when I out and out laughed, truly laughed, last was. Hoping for a change in this at some point..........I heard from a woman this week who told me her mood improved at about the 18 month point of taking her Ai. Hope that is true for so many of us here.You are brave girl!
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