For Arimidex (Anastrozole) users, new, past, and ongoing
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Gin is a LOt better mixed with tonic on a hot afternoon. Remember those? LOL
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Welcome Terri. Hang in there. Lots to learn at first but you are getting treated! I had small girls but it's still an adjustment. I did reconstruction and ended up with big girls! I had IDC in one breast and LCIS in the other. The LCIS was found on the MRI only. The lobular stuff can be tricky that way.
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Re: thinning hair
After taking generic arimidex for a year and a half, mostly Teva brand, with no hair problem my hair suddenly started to shed early this fall. I can see that it has thinned out in the past four months or so and it is distressing. Others don't notice, but I can see the difference. I wonder if it will keep on shedding now that it has started, or will it stop as suddenly as it started?
Does anyone have any experience with this?
I have been taking 5000mg of Biotin daily, plus BioSil liquid silica. The only change I have made was to drop the amount of BioSil from 5 drops twice a day to five drops once a day, simply out of laziness. Five drops twice a day is the recommended dosage, and I have recently returned to it, but I know that it takes many months to see a difference in hair growth. This is frustrating as my hair had been so full and healthy looking.
And, yes, I have the usual fun arimidex aches and pains, also.
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Welcome Teri--sorry you've joined the Pink Sisterhood, but you will meet many folks here that will support you like nobody else can. What was our surgeon and MO's recommendations? I too am a busty gal, and I thought If this ever happened, off it would come. But all of my doc's (4) talked me into lumpectomy, and said they could always take away more later if needed, but they couldn't put it back---that being said, the surgeon told me if I had the offending breast (left) off, that he'd have to reduce the other one significantly, so I did the lumpectomy. ( my left sounds like your right showed on mamo 1/2 size of pencil eraser and nobody could find it manually cause it was near the chest wall). Some of the gals on the Spring 2014 Radiation thread had reconstruction and posted pictures, and I think I missed the boat in not getting a new perky pair.....Just a thought. But I told my MO that he didn't suggest this and now it was the plan if it came back...He about choked on his coffee....
Seriously, exhaust all your options on reconstruction---it's amazing what they can do now.... BIG HUG FROM ILLINOIS ((((((((((( ))))))))))))))))))
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Hi! I am trying to figure out if I should start Aromasin. I have been on Tamoxifen plus Lupron injections for 2 1/2 years. I am premenopausal and was ER+, lymph node negative, stage 1. My oncologist said a study was just done that indicated Aromasin plus Lupron is more effective than Tamoxifen plus Lupron in premenopausal women. She said the difference isn't huge, but suggested that I consider switching to Armidex. I have been doing very well on Tamoxifen. I am scared to switch. This is very vain, but my biggest fear is the potential of hair loss. After my breast cancer situation 2 1/2 years ago I have let my hair grow very long. I am wondering if many women experience hair loss with Aromasin. My long hair is kind of my way of saying f.u. to breast cancer.
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i know this post is old, but I could have written it! Had my BMx with rec on Sept 25,2014. I started Arimidex on oct 15, 2014. Taking at dinnertime. After three weeks felt joint pain in hip and thighs. And I felt 90 yrs old when getting out of car or after sitting awhile. I asked to switch to Aromesin and tried another few weeks, but this time along with hip pain, joints in thumb and wrists was unbearable. I couldn't even open a ziplock bag! The pain was all day and night. Saw my onc yesterday after stopping all meds for 10 days. I asked to tryTomoxifen instead of another AI. He said alright and starting next week. Wants Aromasin to be out of system. He said he wasn't convinced the meds caused it!! Are you serious?? Just listen to these posts! I hope tomox treats me right. By the way my hands still hurt and I too have a trigger thumb.
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bja_homer My onc said the same.. I was due to start Tamoxifen but he said because of the new study he was putting me on Amiridex and Lupron shots instead.
Not started on the shot yet as I had to get blood clotting disorder tests done first...but been on the Arimidex three weeks now and so far not too bad by my knees and hips ache.
No hair loss for me but my hair is only just now starting to grow after chemo and it's very very slow.
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Chloesmom, just curious where in PA you are?
Martha
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1/2 way between Baltimore and Harrisburg near I-83. How about you RhodyMMM?
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20 miles east of Pittsburgh
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EXCUSE ME----I DIDN"T THINK YOU COULD DO ANY OF THE AI-S---ARIMIDEX< FEMARA OR
AROMASIN UNELSS YOU WERE POST MENOPAUSAL?????0 -
they give you injections to put you into menopause so then you can take the ALs, very common and done by many docs who feel ALs are better than Tamoxifin
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well I got the teva brand. I decided to try it in the morning. Got a little sick to my stomach so I started at night. I ended up with intestinal cramps so bad it was worse than my surgery. I stopped taking all my meds and went on a clear liquid diet. I think it might be diverticulitis so I called my colon doctor. Next morning it is much better but I've been off meds for three days and no solid food except oatmeal this morning. How in then world is anyone supposed to figure out what is causing problems!!!!!! Allege helps the bone pain but hurts my diverticulosis. LetrAzole helps cancer but may make me so cramp my I can't stand it. I'm clueless! Have an appt with onc for Monday. Probably try letrazole tonight and see what happens but I have a business trip for the next two weeks and can't afford to be feeling bad. I hate this diseases
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My mail order prescription won't be here for 2 weeks and i wondered would happen to me if i missed the Arimidex for 2 week
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why not call your doc and maybe she has some samples she can give you?
then again, likely nothing bad will occur as many women take vacations from the drug, one of the reasons I do not do mail order~~
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probably nothing but you could ask your doctor. I went off mine when I went out of town for a week because I was having terrible hip pain and I told my doctor and she didn't seem bothered. But you could get a script for generic and take that until the real one gets here.
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ok, I'll call Monday morning. I didnt know mail order took that long to get here. Lesson learned......
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I love these boards, you learn something all the time. Thanks Proud for explaining he Lupron with the AI's. I knew they used it to help shrink some tumors and my dad was on it after his Prostate cancer for 3 years. So glad I had my hysterectomy years before I had this C stuff happen.
Tobyholic , you should check with your doctor's office to see what they say, I started mine in June and I was off it for two weeks (Dec 19-Jan 2) to determine if a symptom I was having might be the drug and my MO told me it was ok to take a break, that this is my "prevention" drug. and missing a dose doesn't screw things up, and that sometimes people go off for a month even. He had told me in August to go off it, and I didn't, and he kind of put his foot down in a kind way to make sure my fears weren't driving my not doing what he suggested (They Were) . And the drug wasn't the culprit after all.
The sun came out today for a while in IL and I decided I don't care how cold it gets or how much snow we have, if the sun is shining, I feel so much better.......
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Gee, i didnt know we could be off the drug at all.I have bad joint pains and its hard to get up the steps in my house. I'm blaming the Arimidex, but the doctor says it isnt from the drug......w h a t e v e r........😠
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Deb, my MO is switching me from tamoxifen to anastrazole and she said it was perfectly fine to take a 2-3 week "vacation" in between while waiting for the new pills to arrive. They actually already did arrive but I'm taking the whole 3 weeks! lol
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I had pretty bad joint pain too, I was almost ready for a cane. I asked for, and got permission to stop for 30 days. The joint pain went away, I switched to the TEVA brand. Things are much better for me now.
If my ankles give me too much grief, I'll "forget" to take it for a day or two, then start again.
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Because the half life of arimidex is about two days, it takes roughly two weeks for the drug to clear your system. If your joint pain is from arimidex, you should start feeling a little relief. For me, a month-long drug holiday did the trick. Also, when I'd whined sufficiently about my hip pain, my onc sent me to PT. Turns out the culprit was bursitis, which my PT lady fixed lickedy split.
I also switched from arimidex to exemestane (aromasin) for a brief time. Some of the ladies here have done exactly that and have found their symptoms melt away. I found it much worse and am now back where I started.
I think the way the oncs look at it (and most of us, as well) is that AI's are important, and whatever it takes to help us stay on them is what they want us to do.
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as a former person in the mailing industry, all the junk happening in the postal industry means delivery is taking much longer than in the past as the keep cutting back on personnel
keep that in mine if you use the mail order stuff
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I will have to remember that, but its so much cheaper than from the pharmacy
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My mailorder pharmacy has an automatic renewal option and those pills just keep coming. Maybe you could set up routine deliveries for the future?
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Some insurance plans will allow you to get 3 month supply for price of 2 at local pharm. I won't do the mail thing. Don't want my meds exposed to the air temp.
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I am with Spookie on that, have used the 3 for 2 thing at my corner Walgreens. I also like that the pharmacist knows me and all about my allergies to meds so she questions if I get a script from a new doc if she thinks I may have a reaction, love that!
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Hi ladies, I'm jumping in to this discussion on Arimidex. I've been on it for about 2 weeks and I have a long history of osteo-arthritis and take Celebrex. I have not had any extra joint pain so far and hope that I won't. My onc added Vit D and Ca to my list of pills. It's distressing to hear about the hair thinning. Is there anything that really helps with that? I now take the Arimidex right before bed and I have less wakefulness and less light headedness than I had when I took it with breakfast. Glad to "meet" you all, though wish it was for some other reason xo.
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I filled out the bio information page but it didn't show up here... not sure what to do about that.. I had bi-lat mastectomy in Nov. 2014; invasive ductal and lobular on the R side; stage 2 because of the tumor size; lymph node neg; her2 neg; estrogen and progesterone positive; reconstruction with tissue expanders, allograph; implants in February. Had the OncotypeDX test done which determined my hormone therapy and no need for chemo.
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Kayaklover, WELCOME! You need to make your information PUBLIC. And then we'll see everything that you've experienced. What a rough few months you've had. We're glad you found us and sorry you had to. Glad chemo wasn't necessary. I assume that since you're in the Arimidex forum, that you'll be on Arimidex soon, if not already. I've been on it for 3 months with no issues. My MO put me on Fosamax. I'm 69 if that helps. HUGS!!!
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