For Arimidex (Anastrozole) users, new, past, and ongoing
Comments
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Spookie, I sure wish that everything didn't have aloe in it. I am very sensitive to it. I'm so glad you found something innocuous to help with the pain. Who'd have thought it would be sunburn relief? Smart you!
HUGS!
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Have you looked at Solarcaine spray? Not sure if that has aloe in it. I look for stuff with Caine in it. Numbing agents are good! I have aloe growing in my yard, has a pretty orange spike flower. Too bad you can use it. What happens?
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I break out, Spookie. And really, I have no need of it. Just want to avoid it. Luckily I'm not having any issues with Arimidex. Glad it works for you!!HUGS!!!
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How do you decide between Arimidex or Femera? Are they the same? One any better than another
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Generally, YOU don't, MySunshine48. You start with whichever one your MO likes best. Mine chose Arimidex because it is older and cheaper but he said that it and femera are about the same and he'd give me whichever I wanted. I went with his recommendation. If you have SEs with one, you can always try another. And sometimes changing the manufacturer of your AI helps. Before I started, I read most of the posts on this thread and the ladies said they had fewest problems with Anastrozole made by Teva. Sometimes fillers can cause issues. So I requested that one from my Walgreen's. I've had no problems.
HUGS!
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Gaye-Doreen, I have been taking Arimidex since Christmas with very few SE's, some hot flashes and insomnia. No joint pain whatsoever and that is what I was most afraid of since I had terrible joint, bone and muscle pain during chemo. I am very active and take calcium, magnesium and VitD3. Good luck and hopefully you will be one of the many who don't suffer too much.
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AussieElaine, That is good to hear since I am still in chemo and have terrible bone pain. I am already strewing over having to take Arimidex.
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No worries mysunshine48, even my MO was surprised that I have had no joint pain. When I told her she said she thought I would have it but it hasn't reared its ugly head
Good luck and my tip is to keep active if you can. I started off by just walking as I had a PICC line during chemo which severely limited activity. Now I swim 3x a week, do Pilates, gym, fitness class and walking.0 -
I will have to up my walking, and add some weights to the regime. Had issues with fozamax so be careful of gerd. I have to say I think the chemotherapy also helped my reflux, have not had to take my meds for this for awhile. Have not noticed dry lips but the other extremities are flaking. Upping the lotions daily, but I think this comes from within.
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My biggest fear is everything female in me will be wiped out as soon as I start the Arimidex. I have only been married for 3 and a half years and I am terrified that my husband is going to look at me and wonder where the heck I went. I have already had a mastectomy on the left and fear what might come next if I don't take this. My vagina will be a perfect Tomb for King Tut and Bruce Jenner will be more feminine than me. How can someone live like this? And this is on top of all the other side effects that make it nearly impossible to function as a mobile human being. UGH! That bottle is sitting on my counter unopened and I just want to toss it out the window and say screw it.
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Thank you AussieElaine for just even responding. I feel so alone in all of this and it's nice to talk to other women going through this. ♥
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Gaye-Doreen, I've been on anastrozole for over a year, Tamox for 6 years, had a BMX, and a hysterectomy & I don't feel any less female than I ever did. I don't know what your diagnosis is, but you could try the drug for a month, see if you have any issues, lots of women don't. As a matter of fact, TMI, but your worry about King Tut's tomb is completely opposite of my experience.
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Gaye-Doreen you husband didn't marry you for sex. It would be cheaper to just hire a whore. If he had the choice of sex or no sex and your company what do you really think he would choose. Granted if there is an issue there are other things you can do besides vaginal penetration. But not everyone has this issue. I've been on some kind of AI for 4+ years now. Sure I need to use lube but the only time I had pain issues was after surgery/chemo (because I hadn't had sex in a while). Some Rephresh and activity and the pain eventually went away.
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Gaye-Doreen, No one looks as feminine as Bruce Jenner!
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Gaye,
you may have no problems whatsoever. I had an MX and chemo 25 yrs ago (in my 30s) which put me into instant chemo pause. I was triple negative then so hormones were not an issue. I never took them and so never really had much after that. I was unable to have kids because of the chemo, back in those days no one talked about egg freezing. The chemo back then and the way I was after never impacted my libido or our sex life. My MO back then said just "use it or lose it" so being in my 30's I kept on using it. My husband and I have been able to have a great sex life. Then when I was told to take arimidex I was terrified that now finally the boom would be lowered on the good times. I now have no breasts (always small anyway so not much difference there) but I really didn't want to see everything poop out. My MO said she didn't think I'd have any problems as I'd gotten to this point with minimal hormones, and I have to say she was right. Some of the ladies here also reassured me that my experience didn't have to be terrible and Catlin Jenner ( Yes, I was afraid she'd be more of a woman than me) was not going to have it better than I was. My MO and they were right. I've been fine so far on arimidex, everything seems to be working as well as it always has. I do have a mild sort of rolling nausea off and on sometimes, but it's no biggie compared to what I've had in the past. My sis in law in NYC had a bad reaction to arimidex and warned me not to take it (her Dr switched her to Tamoxifin which she had no problems with) but as I said I've been just fine. Anyway, I know all this is anecdotal as it's purely my situation, there are plenty of people it doesn't agree with otherwise we wouldn't all get so scared when it's prescribed. We're all different but I'm putting in my two cents that there are people out there who manage just fine on arimidex. You won't know unless you try it.
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Sweet-Hope,
Hahahaha!!! You made my day! I was always told I had the body of an English schoolboy, so I think Catlin when she was still Bruce always looked better than me.
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I'm raising my hand, too. I'm oh so much flatter than Caitlin Jenner. I'm not sure you can even tell where my lx was. I've been on Arimidex for 9 months with no problems. Can't speak to the sex life since DH has Parkinson's and it's been many years since we managed it and now he's in a nursing home. But I still feel the juices flowing at times! So assume I'm not dead
No hot flashes either. Didn't have many when I went through menopause - it was mostly a non-issue. HUGS!
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You make me laugh ladies. I was also told 'use it or lose it' and buy a really good lube (Tmi sorry). Pjur is great but I found out the hard way that it tastes good when my dog ate a full bottle
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Oh, Kyliet, that's funny. Not sure if that's better than the bag of onions my collie ate years ago then came to wake me up by breathing in my face. Yes, I did wake up.
HUGS!
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I have been on Arimidex for 2 1/2 months. My arthritis was terrible to start with. But, I went back to taking Omega 3 ( Nordic Naturals Algae Omega), and the joint pain is getting better. I am also back on a multivitamin, B12 shots, green tea, vitamin e, all things I had to quit during chemo, and never went back on during radiation. I am also on a vegan/no sugar diet.
I am going to stick it out with the Arimidex. I also have had hot flashes, but just a few nights, so I think that is manageable. I also have Crohns', taking hormones can really screw that up. I don't want to try something else now that my body is getting used to the Arimidex. I am going to live with the side effects.
I also went back to claritin for the bone pain, which has totally stopped.
Good luck.
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Claritin for bone pain, Peggy? Interesting. It sure does nothing for my allergies. I'm a Benadryl gal. I'm also not vegan and not no sugar. But I'm glad that you are doing well with everything you're taking. That's all that matters!
HUGS!!!
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I've seen some of the ladies around here say they use NONdrowsy Claratin for bone pain from the Nulasta shot during chemo. I had it ready to use, but didn't need it.
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Doesn't it seem peculiar that an ALLERGY med would help with bone pain? Then again, anti-depressants seems to help too. The wonder of medicine and our bodies.
HUGS!!
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It does seem strange, but the ladies all say it helps. Plus, I guess it helps with chemo nose.
And why should Effexor help with hot flashes?
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Beats me, Spookie. I'm surprised that someone figured all these things out!
HUGS!
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kyliet,
Props to the dog!!! Wow, our dog hasn't gotten into that yet
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I starting using claritin during chemo, but they told me to try it when taking Arimidex. I had switched to Allegra for my allergies, which I like much better. Now I take the claritin, and take benadryl if I need it. It's fine to take them together, as long as you don't take too much benadryl and get dehydrated.
Hugs Pontiac Peggy!
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PeggyG, I really prefer pyribenzamine but it's no longer made. I took it for over 60 years (from the time I was a toddler) and it was great. Never made me sleepy. Benadryl is almost as good but if I'm tired, it really does help me sleep. My PCP even tried me on Singulair. Nothing helpful there. And I like being able to take a Benadryl whenever I need one - every 4 hours, or 6 or 8. But nice to know that Claritin can help. I will tuck that into my mental filing cabinet.
HUGS to you, too, Peggy!
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I am still in chemo treatments and take Clariton for the bone pain that comes after the Neulasta shot. I still hsve bad bone pain, so I don't know if it works so well for me, but am afraid not to take it! I hope this is not an indication of how I will do on Arimidex!
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Mysunshine48, when Claritin didn't work on bone pain from Neulasta shot, I was told to try Zyrtec. Either way, be sure you start taking it at least one day before the shot.
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