FEMARA

marytn

hello! and hope your femara experience will be as easy as mine thus far. I've been taking it 4 months and haven't experienced any SEs. I'm on a neo-adjuvant trial of Tykerb,Herceptin and Femara (stage II,  Grade3,E+,P-,HER2+++) and can't say I feel a bit different than when this journey began. Many blessings to all of you on this site!

chrissyb

Hi Marytn!  Good to hear that there are others who aren't having a problem with Femara..........I've been on it for over 3 1/2 years now and have the odd one that pops up and then disappears the only ongoing is hot flashes and a fan usually deals with those........lol

Wow, that's the first time I've seen that combination of drugs........hope it's kicking cancers butt but not yours.

Love n hugs.    Chrissy

sgreenarch

Hi, Femara sisters, a question.

I just switched brand of lestrozole. Was using Teva, now using Haupt Pharmacy, made in Germany. I've been on it for a week and my hot flashes (which had disappeared about two months ago for good) seem to be back! Yikes! Doesn't make sense. Does anyone thing changing manufacturer can make a dif in SEs? Thanks.

Tomboy

... question. i woke up today with a weird body rash, all over my arms and legs, and chest. the only thing i have done differently, is now i am on femara since february 22nd. And my pcp prescribed me 2 weeks worth of bactrim, for my very first ever urinary tract infection. i called the triage at my treatment center, and they told me to stop the antibiotics, as it seems to have cleared up quickly, and they were surprised he gave me two weeks worth, and to take benadryl every six hours, and see if that clears it up. Because i am really hoping it isnt the femara. i am hoping femara is kinder to me than anastrazole or tamoxifen was! before i take it every day, i call it my friend, and bless it, and thank it for helping me! i know, i am a little bit of a weirdo.... but has anyone gotten a kind of scalded feeling on the tip of their tongue from the femara? if that is the worst thing it does, i can live with that!

BayouBabe

Bactrum does the exact same thing to me.  It is now on my allergy list at the doctors and pharmacy.  

Tomboy

Thank you, BayouBabe! Good to know!

GrandmaV

sgreenarch, different manufacturer, different fillers and inactive ingredients while the active drug is the same.  Not sure if any of the fillers would cause hot flashes to return though.  Many of us have noticed that se's seem to come and go on letrozole.   When I added 1000 IU of vitamin E a day hot flashes got much better, so I think diet can have an impact on hot flashes.  I've noticed that spicy foods and caffeine seems to bring on flashes, too.

SallyS70

hollyboo, if you need to switch back to Arimidex, you can get it for $40 a month directly from an AstraZeneca sponsored pharmacy ... arimidexdirect.com.

Eph3_12

kathec, I'd bet it is the antibiotic not Femara/Letrozole

Tomboy

ok, i got up this morning, and i pretty much hurt all over, but that might be from not really getting out of bed, after i took that benadryl, it kicked my butt to the bed! But, rash is still there, if anything, it is worse, and i have a raging headache. but that might be from eating very little yesterday. am supposed to go to tx center, tomorrow, so am trying to hold off until then.

chrissyb

Kathec i sure hope that headache has gone if not go to the ER.....please.  You sound like you are having a very bad reaction to something and you need to find out what ASAP.

cp418

KatheC - I have to agree with others that you are having an allergic reaction to the Bactrim.  Many people are allergic to sulfur based antibiotics and the rash is the start of hives.  This happened to me previously when I took Cefzil for bronchitis.  After a few days my legs were covered in hives.  The pharmacist told me to stop the medication.  You need to contact your doctor and inform him/her that you are having an allergic reaction.

Tomboy

ok, i just wanted to let you guys know that my head ache did mostly go away, and my man did say he thinks the rash is better than it was yesterday. i will go to the triage  at treatment center in the am to show them. i am feeling better, and thank you. i did finally look up the monograph on that drug online. and was also interested to find out that a reaction to it, can be made worse by use of narcotic analgesic's, and n-saids, both of which i have been taking, and so i am wondering if that is why it is taking so long for rash to go away. and i wonder why they don't just use penicillin for anything anymore? especially if you are pretty antibiotic naive, or what? And thank you guys for just being here, you guys arent full of sweet nothings, i do count on you. Even though, my onc nurse started sayin some crap about "those women" on online blogs....

lahela

kathec... Hope you're feeling better. No offense, but your onc nurse is talking through her butt! "Those women" here are the reason I have kept it together through all this! The loving support I get from strangers here and the clear and comprehensive information they share have been a million times more valuable than anything any doctor has said.

Just had my eyes checked because my vision has become markedly worse since starting Femara... the optometrist has referred me to an ophthalmologist for urgent assessment because it's only worse in one eye and there's very significant deterioration. The roller coaster continues!

cp418

lahela - LOL!!  Yes - I've also encountered those nurses as well.  They assume the general public is ignorant so they under estimate that some of us also have professional clinical degrees and have worked in hospitals, clinical research and the big pharmaceutical companies.  There are several BC  ladies here who could run circles around these nurses and could teach biostatistics as well.   

Tomboy

...Thank you! And, i think that we are pretty much looking for the answers that they refuse to give us, and also stayed for the company! Sheesh. i have learned more on this one single site, than double handfuls of others. i cannot tell you how many times i've heard, hmmm, we've never heard of/seen THAT before. 

lahela, i do hope your eyes are ok, i hope the femara will be nice to us! i meant to get mine checked before starting femara, but ran out of time.

lahela

Cataracts    The ophthalmologist is pretty sure they were caused by the meds... We're trying eye drops for a month, but the next step if they don't work will be surgery. Breast cancer, the disease that just keeps on giving!

chrissyb

Lahela I hear you.........I am also developing cataracts

lahela

This rollercoaster really sucks! Chrissy, will you be having surgery? I wonder if they'll recur because of the Femara? I really don't know anything much about them!

chrissyb

Lehela, I will eventually have surgery to replace the lens but right now they are more of a nuisance than anything else.  Cataracts can be hereditary and both my parents had so the odds were that I would also develop them but according to my ophthalmologist I am way too young for that type to have begun to occur.  He was saying that more than likely the Femara has speeded up a process that would have occurred naturally in about ten years time for me.

I have heard of a lot of women developing cataracts while taking Tamoxifen as well.  It seems to be something that can come with these types of meds.

Love n hugs.    Chrissy

lassie11

Oh dear. Now I wonder if the change in one eye that necessitated new glasses earlier than expected is from Femara - or from getting older. The new glasses work so nothing to be done about it anyway.

chrissyb

lassie that's how I found out that I had the cataract........I was having trouble seeing and thought that my glasses needed to be updated.  Long story short, the glasses were okay even though there has been a small change the optho thought it too small to change the glasses but comment on the cataract......grrrr. I do so much fine crochet and needle work and my eyes are very important so I was not very happy when I first heard.  I now wear a second strong magnification pair of glasses on the end of my nose when I'm working on those things.......and yes, I do get some very funny comments but where there is a will there will surely be a way and I usually find it.

lassie11

Chrissy - the extra magnification glasses are used by all sorts of professionals (like doctors etc) so I think you are just getting more professional with your needlework.

chrissyb

Lol Lassie........professional?......maybe but without those magnifiers I can't see diddly squat to save my life!.....hahahaha!

dventi

Hello Ladies:

anyone know if there is a difference in SE's with Femara vs Letrazole? Have been on Letrazole since Nov 2013.. just recently developed an intermittent perception of movement (vertigo) ... that comes and goes...   Anyone ever experience this?  Can you all of a sudden develop SE's 5 months later?? Im thinking maybe cumulative...

Thank you...!!!

Vicks1960

devinte,

I have been on Letrozole since November 2011 and find that the SEs can come and go.  From all I have been able to find out, other than a possible reaction to the filler used in the pills (depending on mfg), they should be the same, but vary from one person to another.  I have also heard of other people who have had changing side effects through the treatments, a few people who have had none to few SEs.

I have had some vertigo, when first standing up, have had joint pain and the past 3 or so months some trigger finger in both thumbs and middle fingers. 

lassie11

dventi - I would say yes, you certainly can develop different side effects at different times over the spell of taking Femara. I've been on it almost five years. As Vicks said, SEs come and go. It's better when they go.

chrissyb

Dventi yes, unfortunately a lot of the SE can be cyclical and vertigo is one of them.  I had this problem that lasted for about two months and I had been taking Femara for about two years when it happened.  It really threw me to start as I was thinking other things but the good news is that it did right it self.

Hopefully yours won't last so long.  Good luck!

Love n hugs.    Chrissy

Tomboy

almost one month, so far, so good...

dventi

vicks1960, lassie11 and chrissyb:  thanks for the sanity check!!!   Just curious if your MO's agreed that the SE's are cyclical and can come and go?  

Love n hugs back at ya.... Diane