Life on aromasin
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I've been on the aromasin for about 3 weeks now and I realized tonight that my hands don't hurt. They were the problem on arrimidex and femara. I still have a bit of sticky trigger finger but nothing major. It's my legs that are killing me! Absolute torture. Whassup with these pills? So strange!
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Timbuktu--I'm glad u'r hands are better, but now u'r legs.---I know all of these meds seem to attack something. I like when zi hear Oh that one didn't make me feel bad. Ha . Well we do hear it. but not often. I'm sorry u'r still in pain of any kind. Mine are so tiny u wouldn't think u'r body would be affected at all.
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My leg pain comes and goes. For a few days last week it was bad at night, mainly. But reading Timbuktu's post made me realize I haven't felt it for two or three days. Dunno what's up with those pills.
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Dear Ladies, I am thinking that if you can hang on for a year on aromasin, the side effects diminish, but I realize that it is not the same for everyone. When I went off of it for six months, then took it again, it was so much better!! I am on it for another 3 years- 10 total!! So sorry to sound like a broken record, but I just want everyone to survive this beast! I so understand how these drugs can diminish quality of life if the side effects are unbearable!! I am hoping that in the next few years, newer aromatose inhibitors are discovered and of course a cure!!! Hugs!!!!! Kathy
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Dang side effects are annoying and come and go. I have trigger finger in both middle fingers - interestingly, it is worse in the morning and decreases as I become more hydrated. Hmm.
Last night I had left shoulder pain only when I was laying on my right side and my left shoulder was strained a bit. Didn't hurt lying flat - is that a side effect or just a coincidence? Doesn't hurt now - guess I will wait for tonight to learn more.
My knees are much, much better on Aromasin then when on Femara - still some pain but tolerable.
I think my hair is thinning - a lot, and mostly on top. That's gonna look cute. I imagine that is AI related - no other reason for it to happen. If I get bald spots I'm gonna cut my hair off and be done with it. I sort of liked my care-free bald head during chemo. I could wear winter hats and not mess up my hair or worry about static electricity. Saved on shampoo - no styling. Just think. I have no boobs and don't wear foobs - so if I cut my hair to really, really short I could shower and be out of the house in less than 10 minutes. It could be good.
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Definitely hydration and movement help with aromasin! I drink 10 glasses of water day and walk as much as I can!!! New side effect, going to the bathroom alot, he,he,he!!!!
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Yes, it is made by Kirkland and called "Allergy Medicine" pink label.
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I'm going on 2 yrs nw (Ithink) but SE still going. No fun.
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Kindergarten - I've been on Aromasin (exemestane) for over 2 years now, joint, muscle pain have mostly gotten worse, other side effects come and go (trigger finger, hot flashes, nausea...) it seems if one SE disappears, like the trigger fingers, another appears, like worsening joing pain in the fingers that had the trigger finger
Maybe I should go back and re-try the other AI's again, but do you get the same benefit if you switch the one you're taking every so often? Maybe this forum should be GRRRRR...... I hate AI's 
Ohio - I too have the aching shoulder thing at night, sometimes it's the one I sleep on and sometimes the other one, what I figured out a couple of weeks ago is that the shoulder on the up side seems to fall forward, and I thin that may cause the aching? I've been stacking pillows between my arms when I lay on my side so that it kind of props my shoulders s othe are even, like when you lie on your back - it's helping some.
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Even getting ready for bed can be an ordeal--I stil sleep on a type of recliner, I can't sleep on my back, never di nor can I sleep on my sides anymore I can for about an hr. then the shoulder starts with pain. I can figure out my comfort level better half sitting up. silly I know. Even when I'm in a hospital I have a recliner to sleep in, if there is not one in there it has a written order so it's there. hahaha--It's funny cuz my bedroom has no bed in it. hahaha I have more room.
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Tell me about nausea. Last night I was sitting in bed watching TV and feeling fine. When I reclined my bed to sleep I was suddenly nauseated to the place I almost thought about getting to the bathroom. But the nausea passed after a few (3-4) minutes. Is that a typical side effect of Aromasin?
I was totally feeling fine before/after that little bout of nausea so I don't think it is a flu bug.
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Ohio I had to laugh at the going bald and flat chested. My hair is quite thin now too, and I used to have very, very thick hair that had to be thinned every 4-5 weeks.
Being bald during chemo was so easy, I loved that I could wear a hat and not worry about "hat hair" or have a nap and not worry about "bed hair" lol
I really hope your shoulder pain resolves itself. Not sure about the nausea, I had it a little bit when I first started Aromasin, and it was within about 10 minutes of taking it, and never to the point where I thought I'd have to go to the bathroom. I hope that resolves itself too.
I must admit though, I'm one of the really lucky ones, Aromasin really agrees with me, after almost 7 months my main se's are thin hair, some tiredness and that's about it. All the aches and pains I had on Arimidex have almost disappeared. I still have twinges in my back, but that's from the Arimidex caused arthritis, and I keep it under control with a chiropractor and exercise.
Trish
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Trisha - for the most part I can find humor is most things. Flat and free is wonderful. I'm almost past caring about having hair. I think no hair may be easier than trying to figure out what to do with flat, fine, flimsy, THIN hair.
Trigger finger is no big deal. Knees are tolerable.
Nausea - that could be bad. I don't tolerate that at all. I take my med in the morning and the nausea wasn't until late in the evening. Maybe not Aromasin related? But I don't know what else it could have been.
Other than all the above - Aromasin is better than Femara for me.
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Ohio, is this the first time you've had nausea? I take my tablet at night with dinner. I find if I take it in the morning I have trouble with fatigue during the day, so taking it at night means I sleep through most of it. Have you tried taking it at night? Might help, might not, and maybe the nausea was just something else, at least I hope so :-)
Trisha
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I will never remember to take the med at night. My handful of pills goes down in the AM in one swallow. Gonna 'monitor' the nausea thing and see what happens. I should be used to strange things by now. If it persists then I'll figure it out and deal with it - but of all side effects I could ever have nausea is the very worst.
Well, maybe not the worst but is the one I dislike the most of the side effects I have had
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Ohio - Re:Nausea - it feels like morning sickness, only I've only thrown up a couple of times, I had a little when I started the AI's, then it went away, when I change pain meds, it came back, they gave me compazine and said it would probably go away, it did, then they started my on one of the tryptilines and nausea again, went away, the other tryptiline, same thing, changed it to effexor, no nausea - but I've been having problems with it again now that I'm trying to wean off of the effexor (I started weaning off of it about 6 weeks ago, and had a little nausea - when I got to the 1 day on - one day off part of weaning the nausea hit hot and heavy, so I started taking the compazine again when it was the worst - first couple of days I did throw up, but as long as I take a 1/2 of compazine when it hits it keeps it under control. As soon as I was one day on and one off I had nausea every day, so now I'm 5 days out with NO effexor and still having the daily nausea, I see my PCP tomorrow. I don't want to take the effexor again, ever, so will see how my appt goes tomorrow. I'm taking 1/2 compazine a day for the nausea and up to one ativan a day for the panic and/or crying attacks I've been having the last couple of weeks from this weaning process too - I guess I'm self medicating - I'm just glad that I had a few of these pills left!
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Linda, that is such a good question, regarding if you switch AI's, will you still get the same benefits? I would definitely discuss this with my onc!!!
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Oh my! I am so glad to read all this...I'm sorry to hear of everyone's pain but it is a relief to me to know that nausea can be part of this. It has been ongoing for me since before Christmas. I even went to my family doctor thinking the nausea and my lower back pain which had just started must be kidney infection. The nurse practioner said her mom takes aromasin and she felt like the pain was from that. She suggested I take an anti-inflammatory as her mom does. I really didn't want to add to the toxicity I was already putting my body through but I am keeping that in mind.
I've been on it since June and would have thought I would start out with the nausea. This seems to be really unpredictable as to what side effects you can have. I have also learned after hip pain that the pain travels.
Kindergarten, it is good to see you here my sweet friend! I have been drinking more since you mentioned it to me the other day and I think it's helping! My nausea is somewhat better today.
Also, I had been forgetting to take mine during the day (I try around 5) and was taking it before I went to bed and was not able to sleep again. I have been working on remembering to carry it with me if I'm away. I can tell that helps.
Hope everyone rests well tonight!
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It does help the nausea to stay hydrated. I've also started having a lot of headaches, figured it was another "coming off the effexor" SE!!!
So - you guys will love this, I went to a local osteopath to see if he could help with my pain issues, first thing he said to me is - oh you're taking an AI, my mom was just diagnosed with Stage IV BC, her doctor put her on Aromasin and she said the pain was so bad she would rather die sooner and quit taking it, now she is in her 70's, but ........ At least it validated my pain issues, both with me and the doc. Also, the manipulation he did was no help.
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Interesting. Definitely would not take an AI if i were 70 and stage 4.
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Here's what I realized today: it makes you more menopausal than menopause. Menopause and ovary removal takes you down as low as normally possible in you life. However, the AIs drain you of every drop of estrogen, such as from your adrenal gland. That would not have gone away normally. So it kind of makes you older faster and farther (at least joints wise) than you would ever have been. Sound right??
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Exactly Lisa!!!!
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Yes, Lisa - I've had that same thought.
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No shoulder pain or nausea yesterday. Must have been a freak thing and not an SE. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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yep lisa - thats why when the SEs are bad.....they are REALLY bad!
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So true Lisa! And for me, just turned 77, Aromasin was really debilitating. As I've said before, it is not natural to be drained of every drop of Estrogen and I think my body actually went into a kind of shock; with the horrible bone and muscle pains, depression, constant diarrhea, dizziness, increased atrial fibrillation, etc. So after reading the study about women over 70 not needing an AI, I was convinced to drop it. Since then, I have broken another bone, my arm! I'm not saying the AI I was on for half a year caused the bone weakening, but it certainly didn't help! As some of you know, I have very severe osteoporosis and have broken many bones, before, during and now after the Aromasin. This scares me more than anything---
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Oh dogs and jogs - sorry about your arm. The AI's are like menopause on steroids that goes on forever and ever. My PCP laughingly tells me that in a woman without a BC history, she would normally put you on estrogen to eleminate the symptoms
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Yeah--LOL When I DID go thru menopause the only thing I had was hot flashes - and they weren't that bad. I was 60 and didn't have any other symptoms except an occasional Afib episode, which wasn't diagnosed until years later before it was so infrequent.
Menopause on steroids - I like that!
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Dear Lisa, yes, that makes so much sense. I also had a complete hysterectomy, yikes!!!!! As I said before my first two oncs took me off the aromasin after 7 years, but the new onc here wants me on it for another 3 years. I am still questioning this!!!! Not sure what to do, no joint or muscle pain anymore, but I do still get anxious and have weight gain!!!
Hi, Fondak, so good to see you here!!!! I sure hope we can all figure this out and survive this beast for a long, long time!!!!
DogsandJogs, I love your saying:Menopause on steroids!!!! Says it perfectly!!!!!
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Kathy: That was Lisa's saying - about menopause on steroids. So can't take credit for that LOL
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