Life on aromasin
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Hi y'all
Just completed week 5! Ooo who...feeling ok. Have faithfully been pounding my bones...walking, dancing, weightlifting, tai chi, yoga, Pilates. Zumba...yeah moving.
There are more hairs in the tub, sink, bathroom floor, but I can always take my hair ha!
Cancer math showed only a 6 mo diff...but I don't want to gamble on mets...so I'll gulp down my tiny pill and keep moving forward ...:). Yes, the devil I know v the devil I don't.
Hope y'all are tolerating Aromasin well or asking your RO for another...
(((Hugs)))
Cindy0 -
Cindy it's so good to hear that' u'r doing so well, cuz it gives so many newbies a good feeling. Good for u and keep it up.
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Cindy I'm so happy for you and hope the next 59 months go as well. I'm calling my MO to try and get in early to discuss treating the depression I experienced while taking aromasin. I have an appointment with the spine doctor the 7/16 and hopefully can get into the MO on the same day as I'm driving in from OK City where I'm staying while my husband is working here. It's 9 hours each way from OKC to Taos and another 1 1/2 hours to Santa Fe where the doctors are. I envy you (and happy for you) that you can pound the bones, my degenerative disc has gotten so much worse that without pain meds and frequent rest it's hard to get through minimal activities. This is enough to depress me as I've always been active and pride myself for my good health until I had my dx which has turned life upside down.
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Seabeal OH I can't believe it--I have 2 dgenerative discs and lower spine degenerating, scoliosis, and severe arthritis all in a couple of months. Te pain is awful and I went to a back Dr. and I have to start PT this week and they gave me excercises to do--when I get done I'm in so much pain. Their theory is I strenthen up the muscles around all this but I asked does that mean this will HEAL--no of course not so just put me in more pain--I don't get it. I have LE in my arms and I do ezcercises for that, that hurt like crazy, now this. So I know how u feel--I thought I was going to get relief instead I got this. Then I have yet another bladder infection which causes pain from my right side all the way down, I'm not writing to complain, I just don't understand all this chit--within 3 months all of this so I stopped the aromasin now, something is doing all this that fast--it did start slow so it was no big thing, then wham it just rushed along--oh and this is funny--I have a hernia and I forgot to tell them and I was doubled u with pain from some excersizes so they told me not to do certain ones. So where does this go from here? hahahaha Please tell me how u r treated for this cuz there has to be another way.
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Hello Ladies, just an update...so far so good on the switch from Arimidex to Aromasin. Hope no S/E's continues😀
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Mainegirl---good to hear.
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Hi Mainegirl
That's great to hear - I made the switch from Arimidex to Aromasin almost 12 months ago now, and still doing great on it. Some very minor joint stiffness and some tiredness, but that's about it.
Hope it continues to treat you gently.
Trish0 -
Congrats Mainegirl! Nice to hear good news on this thread. I've been on Aromasin for 1 1/2 years and so far so good, just some relatively minor issues, easily lived with.
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Yorkie
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Hi all,
I am new to this site and could really use some support! i have been on aromasin for about 2+ months and finished 3 weeks of rads on May 14th. Recently I have been feeling so tired and almost sick to my stomach. I wake up not feeling well rested and by 1 or 2:00 I need to rest or nap. I've read that this could be the rads and or the AL but I'm so worried it's cancer somewhere else. My fatigue seems too much and so unlike me. I also feel a little headachy or fatigue in the head. Am i crazy?
Yesterday I ran a few east errands in the morning and at 2:30 I was volunteering in a nursing home. By only 4:30 I was almost too tired to give out the mail. I wanted to go home nd lay down but wouldn't give in to it and stayed. Fortuneately when I got home my dd had dinner made or I would have not eaten anything.
This morning I awoke kind of tired after a good night's sleep and by 1:00 am now in bed resting again and typing this with tears in my eyes. This just stinks.
This whole thing just make me want to cry and just wish I knew what is going on? I'm not sure that the drs. even know themselves but I will discuss this with my MO on the 26th at my first appt. with her since starting the AL.
Sorry to be such a downer. It seems most of you are doing so well and I am so happy for you guys! I don't really feel any other SE except a little stiffness upon just getting up after sitting awhile.
Any support would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
beachwalker54
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beachwalker, I would guess that the exhaustion is primarily from rads. I would work for 5 hrs, drive to rads, come home to eat, then fall asleep for an hour at 7 pm. Stayed up another hour, then go to bed for the best sleep ever for someone with insomnia.
Arimidex caused sleepiness for me. I started it after rads, had chemo first. Aromasin first did the opposite, causing me to feel slightly buzzed. I liked that. Now I too am feeling tired.
Do you take the Aromasin with food? If not this could be the problem. Otherwise I don't know. Try drinking something with ginger. That helped me with nausea during chemo.
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I had crazy insomnia, depression and fatigue on aromasin (amoung other SEs) it was debilitating! I think the only thing that really gave me energy was the dietary changes I had made when i finished rads. I was also drinking green smoothies every day which helped. But by 6 month mark, it got so much worse, i was so fatigued, i couldnt get off the couch, let alone exercise. I hope it gets better for you. I ended up going off it, and my health, well being and energy levels are all back to where i was..... Good luck to you !
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Doxie- I do take the al after breakfast which is usually a very healthy organic green drink with some fruit, flax seed, chia seed and various other stuff i throw in. I also have junk food probably more than I should, but I am getting better at avoiding them
It sounds like your fatigue was during rads, mine is 4 weeks later. also I am curious as to why you had chemo with your dx? I wonder this with a lot of women when their dx seems similar to mine, unless they might have a high oncotype score.
Shayne- my fatique is becoming debilitating too. It seems that the fatigue was not too bad if I rested for a day but if I do a lot one I would crash the next. Now it seems constant
, the last 3 days have been bad. I hope it isn't going to continue to worsen and that by 6 months out I am worse, can't imagine it. I am scared to even think of going off this stuff. I also make healthy green drinks in a "nutribullet" at least 4-6 times a week.I did ask before if you are now on a Al? if not did you try others and also had bad reactions? I don't know your dx but I feel you are so brave if you aren't taking an AL! thanks so much for your input.
Hugs to you all!!!
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Welcome beachwalker, but sorry u have to be here. I think (my opinion) that we all get different SE from all this crap==u are only 2 months out of rads which isn't that long and then u add Aromasin to me that a mixture of who knows. Talk to u'r onc when u go--but we've all had some crazy Se's tired being among them--don't forget this is a chemo drug and u micht want to change after a while sometimes the SE's start going down, sometimes they don't they just stay and I see my Onc. in 2 weeks and asking for another type. Alot of women say they do well after a few months so maybe u'll be one of them, but not sleeping is sure on a high list of how we feel.
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beachwalker, I had chemo because my Oncotype score was 30. One point from high risk. I had high Ki67 and very low PR+%. Put me very solidly as a Luminal B cancer requiring chemo.
You might ask your MO to change to either arimidex or femara. These are somewhat different from aromasin. I'm doing well on aromasin, but you may do better on one of the other AIs.
Another cause of fatigue can be depression. It can be particularly debilitating. The whole BC experience can trigger that at any time.
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Whats luminal B mean, my Onco score was 34 and I choose to not have radiation or chemo, but I do take Tamoxifen, and yes I'm very tired all the time, probably alittle depressed too. I just feel like my get up and go got up and left. I also have really bad hip/thigh/groin pain which keeps me from exercising like I should. BC sucks...
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Luminal A and B are two catagories for ER+ cancer. While there are different cut offs, generally the tumor is Luminal B if it is > 14-20% Ki-67 and low or negative PR. Luminal B is usually treated with chemo.
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I am not on an AI. I didnt try others after my 7mos of severe SEs on Aromasin. For me, depleting all the estrogen from my body did not bode well for me. Instead, I have changed my diet, and I do yoga every day. Im not brave, I have just listened to my body. I think everyone has to do what is right for them, for their body - not out of fear, but out of instincts. This is what mine tell me for sure, loud and clear. Everyone is different.
Good luck - maybe youll be one of the lucky ones and the SEs will subside.
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I am almost at the end of my 5 years on aromasin and can not pin point any side effects really, not in terms of pain or aches
but I have been going to the gym religiously all through rads and increased in the last 5 years. Actually increased my gym time and changed up what I do
now am I crankie? likely, definitly counting the months till Dec 31 and the end
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Its strange how it goes, some people have little or no SEs, some do. Wonder if it has anything to do with age and if youve gone thru menopause? Im 55, went thru meno at 48
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I'm 51 went through menopause at 49...
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Shayne I'm almost 56 and started menopause in my early 40's due to having had a hysterectomy when I was 28. I'm finding Aromasin very easy to deal with, been on it just on a year now and minimal se's.
Trish0 -
hmmmm........no correlation I guess.......
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Shayne I really don't think anything has to do with anything , it all just happens and each one differently whatever we take.
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Shayne, My dates are almost the same as yours. My SEs have all been manageable, though initially quite troubling.
Though your experience is different, I think women reporting the worst SEs are those who had to go through instant menopause and put on AIs. This has to be a huge shock to their bodies, on top of having no previous reference to how menopause changes your body. The gradual move into menopause is usually easier to handle. I feel for these women. I'm sorry that you had such a difficult experience with AIs also.
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I went through menopause at 49 also and have had few se's from Aromasin. There is a possible correlation I've wondered about though. I totally breezed through menopause. I actually don't remember ever having a true hot flash (maybe just the feeling of warmth a time or two), and I took no hormones or even natural supplements. I've thought for awhile now that perhaps this correlates to my relatively easy time on Aromasin. Maybe some people are not terribly sensitive to fluctuations/depletions in their hormone levels.
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Interesting point - i did NOT breeze thru menopause - perimeno started after the birth of my daughter at 42-ish, maybe a little before the pregnancy now that i think of it. Mood swings, depression, crying, hot flashes, cold flashes....lots of mental anguish. I did 2 years of bio-identical hormones - then my sister got dx with breast cancer and I weaned myself off of them without problems. 5 years later I was dx. Ive talked to my sister, who was on Tamox and had to go off due to severe SEs after 6mos. -For us, depleting estrogen/progestrogen is not what works for us......but a balance of hormones, instead of inbalance. In my opinion, they, the medical community, really dont know what will keep us from having recurrences - this is just what they are doing now. 10, 20 years down the line, thanks to us, they'll know more and have better solutions. Finding the CAUSE will lead to the cure. Sadly, my Onc had no interest in my SEs. She was not going to report what happened to me. She never called me - i talked with her nurse. They only offered to put me on another AI - and discounted every single SE as a pre-exisiting ailment or my age. I dont see how this helps other women down the line, but I did go online and report it to the FDA site. Im feeling really great these days....
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Thx srblegal and doxie. Less Se's on aromosin, but not by much - or maybe I'm getting used to it. I heard sometimes the aches and stiffness goes away in 3-4 monhts, but not sure if I should wait it out or try a third kind.
Also have night sweats enoght to change nighties and put a towel down and some flashes in day - went through menopause while on the pill, so didn't feel it until chemo started last fall. 54 now. Anyone know if night sweats will they last all through the hormone blockers? Or go away as a SE?
Ohio, the focus isssue is likely from chemo still. I'm a writer and am finally thinking better despite the Aromosin. But bone densiity doc (waiting to start those meds once SE's settle from Aromosin) said it's still really soon after chemo and rads (finished chemo late Feb, rads early May) and to chill, essentially. Tales a year to feel hug diff, two years to really be out of system.
Hard when hair is growing back so people think you're fine! I still have Herceptin through port every three weeks...
I've been really exhausted lately, too, seems like regular activity is still too much, have to pace myself. Aromosin or chemo/rads? Exercising 3 times a week and work has lessened (had novel released in May so big launch is over, big blog essays done, just book club visits etc). Torn about essay about cancer in NYT Modern Love on 6/23 - to use it to take a break or to capitalize on all the response it got.
Cami, so sorry about all your pains.
Maines - how long have you been on Aromosin?
Does anyone know if knitting would help the swollen stiff fingers or just be more painful?
This is officially my new go to forum, so helpful. Feel good, ladies, thanks for being there.
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Hi y'all!
My MO gave me a 1 month vacation after rads before Aromasin, which was wise. In his office I had a meltdown and tod him I would take the RX, but NOT fill. A month gave me time to feel tester get into a routine and win some perspective out of the trenches of treatment
2 mints in and SEs are minimal at best. However, I do pound my bones 5 days a week...walk, weightlifting, Zumba, dancing, yoga, tai chi...
Sickofpink - some activities inflame joints like too much typing at least for me...I would ask MO. Night sweats hot flashes ...do they ever really go away ha!
Aromasin is doable fr me at ths time...if ever I have problems will discuss with MO, but so far so good
. The devil you know and the devil you don't. I take my tiny white pill with lunch...gulp0
