For Arimidex (Anastrozole) users, new, past, and ongoing
Comments
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Thanks to all for your kind words regarding the FSU school shooting. Know I overreacted (I seem to do that a lot more since my surgery), but it's hard when your baby is there. RhodyMMM, I remember the Virginia Tech massacre like it was yesterday. so sorry your son was there then and you had to go through it. We now know the FSU shooter had serious mental health issues. Had he not gone to the library at 1:30 a.m. and instead gone to campus during the day and opened fire between classes, it could have been another Virginia Tech. While I am tempted to say look how bad things are now, I was at FSU during the late 70's when Ted Bundy killed and seriously injured all the sorority girls.
Regarding the hair loss issue and Anastrozole, I have noticed more hair falling out since I have been on the medication. As others have mentioned, I think it is due to the estrogen being suppressed. since I have baby fine hair anyway, I don't ever use a brush on my hair, I comb it out using a wide tooth comb when damp and style it. Try to only use a blow dryer when necessary, and only process my hair by coloring it. Loss of some hair is a small price to pay if the medication keeps the cancer away. The hair loss seems to be lessening with time.
So grateful to have found this forum and you ladies. Hugs and good health to all.
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Thanks to all for your kind words regarding the FSU school shooting. Know I overreacted (I seem to do that a lot more since my surgery), but it's hard when your baby is there. RhodyMMM, I remember the Virginia Tech massacre like it was yesterday. so sorry your son was there then and you had to go through it. We now know the FSU shooter had serious mental health issues. Had he not gone to the library at 1:30 a.m. and instead gone to campus during the day and opened fire between classes, it could have been another Virginia Tech. While I am tempted to say look how bad things are now, I was at FSU during the late 70's when Ted Bundy killed and seriously injured all the sorority girls.
Regarding the hair loss issue and Anastrozole, I have noticed more hair falling out since I have been on the medication. As others have mentioned, I think it is due to the estrogen being suppressed. since I have baby fine hair anyway, I don't ever use a brush on my hair, I comb it out using a wide tooth comb when damp and style it. Try to only use a blow dryer when necessary, and only process my hair by coloring it. Loss of some hair is a small price to pay if the medication keeps the cancer away. The hair loss seems to be lessening with time.
So grateful to have found this forum and you ladies. Hugs and good health to all.
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Pizza with fresh tomato, cheese and basil YUM… Marguerita is what they call it here.
I have no side effects from Arimidex (Anastrazole) yet and it's been 9 months. Hope those of you starting have such good luck. My MO is very pleased as you can imagine.
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Miminiemi, it IS nice to know Arimidex doesn't always cause SEs. A good friend has been on it for 2 or 3 years and has had no issues. I don't anticipate any either. Stay well!
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Blownaway do you use the men's 2X a day or one?
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My sister was on it for 5 years. Her only SE was hot flashes. I have been on it almost 6 months. So far I'm the same, just hot flashes. And now that the weather has cooled off (I'm in Texas), I'm having fewer flashes.
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Thanks for all the suggestions. Right now the Anastrozole is Teva so I guess that's a plus. I will have to watch that as the plan if he tolerates it to switch to our mail order pharmacy. My DH lost his hair when he was on AC. I wasn't sure it would come back as it was thinning and receding for a number of years prior. He had to take a long break after the AC d/t a complication and his hair started to come back at that time. They told us the Abraxane would cause him to lose it again but he didn't. It is coming back really thick with lots of little curls that stick up all over right now and drive him crazy. I tell him it's cute. He's not c/o hot flashes (yet) but maybe I am having enough for both of us.
Pontiac Peggy-I knew that the MO was going to start him on a med after radiation but I wasn't sure which one. He picked this one telling my husband the requirement for use was no or non functioning ovaries (which obviously was not a question in this case-I really just love our MO, he's been wonderful). The plan is to do a baseline bone density scan but it hasn't been scheduled yet, I think it can be an issue with a man as well as a women. As an aside, we moved to Idaho from Michigan 12 years ago so I wish you a better winter than last year. We have grown "kids" still living there (Farmington Hills and Lapeer) and I remember all the gripes about the weather last year.
I know it is important to take care of myself. This past year has been rough. I just focus on now and try to take it one day at a time, sometimes it has been one minute at a time. After watching my DH and reading many stories on these boards-well, when I get angry I curse this evil disease with a silent scream.
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OddDuckLady, don't you wonder IF DH can have hot flashes? That would really be strange
Glad you like his hair. Tell him I do, too! A good MO is priceless. Glad you have one that you feel so comfortable with. I'm sure you'll be shocked to know I live in Pontiac! Your kids were right to gripe last year. I spent most of last winter homebound since DH has Parkinson's and heart issues. With mobility a huge issue, we didn't dare venture out much. Now he just went into a nursing home - I can no longer manage caring for him.
I wouldn't think Idaho has much better weather in the winter than we do. #2 son lives in Spokane and we've wandered into Coeur d'Alene which is lovely.
BTW, we allow screaming, ranting, pity parties and all other forms of "I'm overwhelmed and can't cope." We've all been there. It is hard. Extremely hard. Many hugs to you.
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oddducklady I am so sorry to learn your DH has breast cancer. I was curious why you have to go out of state for treatment? Having to travel and deal with the cancer has to be so difficult. I am really sorry you are going through all of this. I promise that over time it does get easier. I remember how overwhelming everything seemed early on. So many doctors and tests and procedures and treatments...yikes! Now we are at the 'coasting' stage where life can resume at a much more normal pace. The stress and worry definitely gets easier with the passage of time.
msqueen my hair sounds similar to yours. It is super fine and every strand I lose upsets me. I used to wash my hair every day and now can only do it every other day. I too use a wide tooth comb but still far too much comes out. I hope this improves for both of us!
Big hugs to everyone here, I hope you are having a great weekend.
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I've been on anastrozole for about 16 months now and my hair is really thinning... when it returned after chemo it was so thick - I loved it.. now its falling out and turning thinner... sad but I guess all these side effects mean the meds are working..
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I was just wondering about the hair thinning. Does it matter how far you are from menopause? I'm 25 years out from it. After 5 weeks of anastrozole nothing noticeable with my hair. Are those of you experiencing problems closer to menopause or just going through it now?
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I never knew when I hit meno, only found out from blood test. Many years ago. When my hair started to come back, it wasn't as thick as it had been. Or coarse. I blamed the Taxotere. Now I think it's the arimadex
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I have been on anastrazole (TEVA) for 2 1/2 years. After the first few months, my joints were achey. However, that S/E has gone away (except now I have knee issues). Hot flashes occurred nightly around 8:45(Yes, I could time it within 5 minutes). I take it in the morning. Insomnia...Had it before all this mess. Now it's not so bad. Hot flashes are few and/or between. My hair is very, very thick and has to be thinned out every three weeks when I get my hair cut. We all react different to drugs; If the S/E's are not manageable, don't be afraid to have a discussion with his MO, as there are other AI's he can take. Don't "settle" for the S/E's.
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Karen, I have only been on the Teva Anastrazole since June, but your symptoms and mine mesh--My Hot flashes were always between8:45 and 9pm. I took mine at bedtime. Had insomnia before, and it got worse, but now I am past that. Had mild skeletal pain, but not enough to complain about. And I have thick hair---so if it thins, it would still be more than enough I think......
One of the Judges I worked with (a man) had breast cancer. And he takes anastrazole too. We laughed about the same treatments.
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Redheaded1, that gives you and the judge a unique opportunity to share and learn, doesn't it? I've had no hot flashes. Really didn't expect any after 25 years post-menopause.
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Hot Flashes: mine are always between 2-5 am, even when I got them on Chemo. They are not bad though. Just warm flashes. Worse on chemo but still not sweaty ones. I don't get that cold spell after like I did on chemo.
oddducklady Did your DH also test positive for the BRCA gene?
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Pontiac Peggy-I believe men can get hot flashes with tx. My DH before all this was the type that was never cold-he became anemic with the chemo and it has been hard to watch him be wrapped up in a blanket. My husband worked in Pontiac for over 31 years. The winters can be a pain out here. Biggest issue is they don't really plow the streets like they do in Michigan and other places. The preferred method out here seems to be only high planing the drifts and packing it down and then it is just ice. Fun. We try to get away somewhere warm during the winter, last year that didn't work out. I am sorry about your husband. That must have been very tough. Parkinson's is a cruel disease and can be hard to watch the progression.
Justmejanis- We live in IF. I have to say that both myself and my DH are registered nurses and when we moved to Idaho and started working we had a lot of concerns over the health care out here. We both worked in long term care facilities and it was really shocking to us how behind Idaho is on care issues (at least in our area). Last January when he became concerned over his left breast changes we went to our family Dr who immediately sent us to a general surgeon the next day. Both Dr's did mention breast cancer as a possibility. Problem was that just a few months before this while helping our youngest son move from Boise back to Michigan my husband had a large splinter run into his left nipple. With BC being rare in men, I think the surgeon felt it was more likely that it was some kind of absess or infection. When the surgeon did the first surgery Feb 10th, I think I was expecting him to came and tell me/us that it was cancer. I really was. But instead after the surgery he said he wasn't sure what it was but it was definitely NOT CANCER. Well, crap, two days later he calls and says it is cancer, and he wants to go back in to surgery right away because he doesn't have clean margins, etc. My DH asked about another opinion and we were told "You won't find anyone around here that's seen male BC". Now I don't know if that was true or not, but we really felt we needed to go elsewhere. I looked at MD Anderson, Dana Farber in Boston; with our kids in Michigan we looked at going back there to U of M in Ann Arbor (in fact the son we had just moved was working at the hospital there at the time-I also had him call a Dr he had worked with in Boise about care out there), but I contacted the Huntsman in Salt Lake City and was very pleased with what I heard. Nobody sees a lot of male BC-too rare (1%), but good grief. I wouldn't want to have a surgeon who had never operated on a women cut on me and I wanted a surgeon who HAD operated on men before for my DH. We have been very pleased with the care and our Drs there and feel we made the right decision, especially when we found out how advanced his cancer was. This cancer was way ahead of us, like it is for many men. It was scary. It has not been easy to have to travel but at least going there we can be home too. If we had gone far away we would have maybe never been back home. At one point my DH was in the hospital in SLC for over a week with a unexpected complication and that was a real low point for me as I was alone and out of state with no where to go but the parking garage to cry a little and then put my big girl face back on.
I feel somewhat relieved that we have finally made it to this point (and believe me there was a couple times I wasn't sure we would get here), but it's scary too. I know it will never be "over: in that sense but it's nice to hear that time will help.
I will talk with the MO about SE's. Today it seems to be much better. As I mentioned my DH is just getting his appetite back and I noticed he ate a HUGE amount of spaghetti the night before the symptoms started. I don't think I will mention to him the chance that his hair might thin. I am not sure the hair on his head is an issue, but his beard is filling in again very nicely and I know he is glad about that. Unlike most of the women seem to do, he never cut his hair when it was falling out in handfuls (and he had close to shoulder length hair) so I just cut the couple dozen or so stragglers on his head and watched him live with a handful of beard hair that was left on his face. If he was OK with it, I was OK with it.
I have teased my DH that I am his guard dog in the corner. The one that does all the growling at the Drs and other staff if need be. Well I am in all of your corners! Only good wishes and hugs to all of you.
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What a journey you and DH have had OddDuckLady. From what my daughter-in-law has told me, chemo can change your body quite a bit. She had colon cancer (all clear now). And I believe you mentioned DH had lost weight. My DH has lost weight, and along with poor circulation, is cold all the time.
Thank heavens we know how to clear snow. I find it strange that Idaho hasn't caught on to that. Very scary.
You were damned wise to find a center that has treated male BC. Glad it was reasonably close to home. There is nothing lonelier than coping with awful health issues all by yourself. I so get that. I think that is what has made this site and Facebook so invaluable to me. I hope it has helped you.
I do hope that DH is on the road to recovery and is starting to feel rather normal again (whatever "normal" is). Are you breathing yet?
Have you considered moving back here where you have family? Would that be helpful? My sons are in Spokane and San Diego and that's awfully far away.
At least the spaghetti tasted good to DH.
Maybe it was worth it to overindulge. You HAVE to be DH's advocate. It's too hard for him. And no one else is going to do it nearly as well as you.
Many hugs and take care.
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Peggy - I am passed menopause (64) and I get hot-flashes as a SE- funny thing is I seldom had them when I was going through menopause! all SE do not happen all at once and some SE are just a phase -they come and go... at least that has been my experience - but now I have joint pain, achy knees, dry skin, thinning hair and am fatter than I ever have been...
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Hello all,
Was just switched to Exemestame, today is day 3. Reason for change is I'm overweight (40 lbs to lose) and it is my onc's opinion that this AI is better. She stated a study and a recent seminar she just returned from in Atlanta where several papers were published (I will get names, I just forgot) and if you are overweight Anastrozole is not as effective.
I ache especially after being still for a bit, but once I get going it is better. But I had this before. I hope this helps and if weight can come off easier, I shall be ecstatic.
V
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IAmNancy. Interesting to know. I was never bothered and had few hot flashes when I went through menopause either. It was a non-issue. Hopefully SEs from this will be the same.
Vivian, I hope the switch to Exemestame works wonders for you! Good luck!
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naiviv I put on at least 10lbs on Anastrozole. After 6 months of switching to Exemestane (generic Aromasin) I lost all that I gained!
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That's great, Lago! Good going!
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naiviv - please keep me informed about the weight - my next appointment with my MO is in January and I might think about switching to Exemestane...
Lago - its encouraging to hear about your 10 pounds too..
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I've lost 50 pounds while taking Anastrozole during 9 out of 12 months since my cancer diagnosis. I credit it to the shock of my MO explaining that the extra fat I carry contains estrogen. I had been through menopause 15 years ago and thought I had no more estrogen in my system. I asked for a pedometer last Christmas, stopped eating anything sweet, cut portions to the minimum and slowly began losing pounds and finally needed smaller clothes. It's amazing where a tall person can stash away fat! I've never been able to diet before. Cancer is a huge motivator
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Good for you, GrammaKathy! That's wonderful. Cancer does motivate.
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I started counting calories after I started putting on so much weight after anastrazole. I think it is working and I'm feeling a bit encouraged by it. I use the Lose It app. I really had lost awareness of portion size. Hopefully I lose the 15 I gained before Spring.
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PontiacPeggy Don't be impressed. It was the drug that made me gain. I'm eating just the same. But even at 10 lbs over my MO had no issues. I don't have a weight problem. My PCP was concerned when I lost it though because this was the 2nd time I saw her. She didn't know what was normal for me. I had to explain I still weighted a few pounds more than before diagnosis. LOL
BTW what works for me is:
- Staying away from as many processed foods as possible.
- Keeping carbs to the good carbs like whole wheat bread and brown rice instead of the white stuff (but still keep to a minimum.
- Bring your lunch to work.
- Watch your portions.
- Reduce high fat food and sugar intake.
I cheat on weekends.0 -
I'm still impressed Lago! Keep it up!
Dunesleeper, good work!
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hello! I need some advice please?? I have been arimidex for 2 years. I have always had minimal pains however now my low back pain is extreme especially to touch around L4-5. It radiates to each side of hips and pain off/on front/side of thighs. This is only when sitting or bending. I also have heartburn and some constipation! Pain off/on left side stomach from gas, nausea. Is this all from arimidex?
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