FEMARA

Texas357

Each time I get up, I walk like I'm 90 years old. My feet hurt a lot, especially first thing in the morning. And I have almost no strength in my hands because my fingers hurt to grip anything.

Three years, 4-1/2 months to go!  

lindajbar

OMG, I am a mess. Supposed to start Femera monday, but after reading all these posts I am soooo nervous. Had ovaries out 3 weeks ago because the Tamoxifen caused a blood clot to develop. I am 53 years old, high blood pressure but other than that in pretty good shape. Is it better to take it at night? 

mom2westies

Many have recommended taking it at night, especially when the side effects were bad during the day.I have always taken it at night. Understanding your anxiety about starting Femara I have had no extreme side effects and the various aches go away quicky as I go about my morning routine.Hoping that you will have good results!

Jane(xgolfer)

emegram

KittyDog & others with trigger thumb:  I saw an orthopedic doc who specializes in hands today.  He gave me an injection of corticosteroid in the joint at the base of my thumb.  It instantly numbed my thumb & stung, but pain was tolerable.  I am scheduled to get another injection in 4 weeks if this one does not cure the trigger thumb.  He said I can have a maximum of 3 injections a month apart, and if the problem still persists, he will do a minor outpatient surgery where he cuts open the base of the thumb & makes a small snip to loosen the tendon.  Hope this shot works!! 

walker2222

lindajbar - just take a few deep breaths, pray.  I have been on it for 5 months now with minimal SE and I am usally the kind of person who gets hit with all the SE.  Taking it at night has helped so much.  Same as xgolfer, hoping that you have good results.

slousha

Dear ladies, I'm so happy to find this site!

I'm on Femara  for 5 years. I found it the heaviest therapy of all before because of this long duration. It's my eleventh mounts, I started Femara in April 2010. The first two months I felt nothing special, than I got terrible knee join pain, but my ONC. Was satisfied and said "its works". I was taking ibuprofen for six weeks, then I took Vitamin D3, for a while it was better, later I also have so much bone and muscle pain, stiffness, depression too. Now I'm taking my pill before sleeping. It's better!  As painkiller I take ibuprofen and not to destroy my digestive tract a pill of 30% tramadol with 70% paracetamol.

I see we all have the same SE's that cherries mi up.

Joint pain from taking an aromatase inhibitor can be troubling. But a 2008 British study suggests that women who experienced joint pain while taking hormonal therapy medicine were less likely to have the breast cancer come back (recur). Knowing that this side effect might indicate a reduced risk of the cancer coming back may help some people stick with treatment despite the side effects

Best wishes to all! Usha

lindajbar

Thank you all for answering. I just found this site, and I am so glad I did. I don't have friends going through this with me and sometimes feel alone. Try to make good decisions with Oncologist, but still scary. I will start Monday on the Femara, and take it at night. Keeping my fingers crossed for good results. God bless all of you.

KristyAnn

I just got my scrip filled with the coupon and it took my copay down to 10.00 - before the coupon it was 176.00 because I took it to a local pharmacy. My insurance makes an incentive to do this type of prescription by mail BUT the mail order program wont honor the coupon- so I will take it locally until it expires or I use up the allotted amount and then convert to mail order which costs me 50.00/month requiring three months per order (so 150.00 total).

Kristy

ainemw

Thanks sincerely for all the replies. After extensive reading (amateur, non-medical background) of websites and also medical texts I have concluded that taking Femara is just not worth it considering the side effects and the relatively minimal advantages that taking the drug offers. See, for example: http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=20726&name=FEMARA

Susan Love's material would also suggest that we should seriously consider the relative advantage of taking Femara in light of the side effects.

See the following relating to the actual advantage of taking Femara: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4070/is_200403/ai_n9396921/

Does anyone have a link to other trials that show that Femara gives an advantage:  

4cm tumor, lumpectomy, HER2+, PR+, ER+, 7 lypmh nodes removed, no metastatis, I've had chemo (TCH), Herceptin for a year and  now undergoing radiation therapy.

InTwoPlaces

My Onc told me that I will have Femara, but yesterday when I brought it up with him, he said that Aromasin is now the drug they suggest because of the high cost of Femara.

I had a very hard time to make a decision if I wanted to take Femara or not. It sounds good with the 50 % benefit, but in reality it's more like 10 % benefits (for me)

Now when I read about Aromasin and realize that this one has even more SE than Femara, (i.e Hair-loss) I don't know what to do.

I think QOL is very important and I don't know if I will risk that.....

KittyDog

Femara will  be available in generic this summer. 

If you live in the USA you can print the coupon and get it for $10 a month or a total of $800 off the cost which ever comes first.

I personally think the side effects are worth it for me.  My main complaint is knee pain, trigger finger and a few hot flashes.  Of course my NP said that knee pain and trigger finger were not side effects of the drug.  hahaha We all know that is not so.  Yeah my weight may not be helping it but to many on here have that same side effect.

nanna

My onc said femara would be generic in may.

InTwoPlaces

I read online that the generic brand will be available at the earliest in July. My onc said that even so will the cost be pretty high, he estimated it to be about $100 a month in copay if the insurance company cover it.

KittyDog

I don't know about the copay.  My copay now for Femara is only $30 and then I use the coupon from the Femara web site and get it for $10. 

InTwoPlaces

I need to ask my onc to clarify for me why he will change me from Femara to Aromasin....

beergirl

My onc also told me that femara will be generic this summer. BTW, I have almost no SE's from Femara. My onc told me I should post this news to encourage others. She said it was all because of my positive attitude. Don't know about that.

chrissyb

The only SE I have is a little fatigue but by taking the pill at night that is not bad at all.  I changes from Arimidex to Femara in October partly because of the debilitating SeE of Arimidex and partly because of a small progression which has now been resolved.  Good luck to you girls still making the descision whether to take or not to take.

Eph3_12

youlooklikeyouneedabeergirl-----Love your screen name!

Texas357

ainemw: The important thing is that you are making a well researched,informed decision. I knew about the absolute percentage info, as well as all of the potential side effects, before I agreed to take Femara. My thinking is that I will throw everything at this disease, not leaving anything to chance. But I also told my oncologist that I reserve the right to switch drugs if the side effects become too severe.

As with chemo, I've had every side effect on the list. It's just how my body reacts to this stuff. Some days I'm feeling like I'm hanging on by my fingernails, other days I feel just fine. It's been 20 months, so I've got a long stretch ahead.

Femara may only help 2% of the women who take it. But if you're one of those 2%, it could make all the difference in the world.

InTwoPlaces

Texas357,

from where did you get the info about that Femara may help only 2 % ?

Texas357

Actually my comments were a little skewed. The 2% is the absolute difference in the study comparing the women taking Femara vs. the women using Tamoxifen. It was 2% fewer women who had a recurrence using Femara.

stefie

I am switching from tamoxifen to femara as soon as I pick it up from the drugstore with much hesitation. I have had a real bad time with the night sweaats and hot flashes. My onc gave me a month between and I am not sure that was a good idea because now I have very few flashes but from what I am reading from you guys I will be back in hell soon..  My bones are already all to pieces so I don't know where that will go and my hair is thin so I am hoping for the best but expecting the worse. Thanks

Texas357

Stefie, my hot flashes are sporadic. They were really bad to start with, but then tapered off dramatically. I noticed that if I indulge in a cocktail, I can almost guarantee having a personal summer a little later.

walker2222

Stefie taking it at night has sure helped me, my SE have dimished some

ainemw

Thanks all and Texas357, I've decided not to take it. Really, how can taking Femara be justified considering the side effects and that it BARELY improves chances of recurrence?  Why are oncologists prescribing this drug? If anyone out there can convince me otherwise after reading the following links, I'd be grateful to hear from you:http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4070/is_200403/ai_n9396921/http://www.dslrf.org/breastcancer/content.asp?CATID=0&L2=3&L3=5&L4=0&PID=&sid=130&cid=1393http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=20726&name=FEMARA 

cd1234

ainemw -

 I felt the same way. I was very set on not taking Femara, especially after Tamoxifen caused me to develop a new disease. Then my good friend who I met in chemo was diagnosed Stage 4, mets to liver. We have only been out of chemo 18 months. I started popping that little yellow pill every night. I decided that if it was horrible I would stop, but I had to try. It has been fine. Actually, I feel great! My hip hurts, but I also run about 30 miles a week.

Take Care!

lindajbar

Been on it only 1 week. Terrible headache and nausea which started yesterday. I have high blood pressure and take medication. Just took my bp, 132/94. Concerned that the femara is causing this. Going t call oncologist in morning. Just not sure what to do? 

ainemw

A key question for oncologists is - how does femara improve my chances. Look for facts, figures and references to the publications that have printed the facts and figures. 

Monty

I went for my regular 6 month check up yesterday and we have decided I will take a 2 week vaca from Femara.  Over the last few months I have suffered extreme fatigue, by 10:30am I am utterly exhausted, my arms and head literally are falling.  It's like a wave passes over me and my hands literally fall from the keyboard at work and my head just doesn't want to function anymore, that lasts for about 1 hour then I am ok again for a few hours.  It's not so bad if I am real busy but if not then it's chaos.  Luckily I have an understanding boss otherwise I don't know what I would do.  The flashes and night sweats have also amped up significantly recently which was a surprise as they seemed to have got under control for a while.  I am having problems with my left knee and upper thigh also so I am hoping the vacation will take care of all that stuff.  I also found out that my recent bone density scan shows a drop in my lower back also, my hip remained at the same level as last year so at least no further decrease there.  The nurse practitioner I saw yesterday will talk to the onc about these changes and get back to me about what they want to do once they have had their discussion.  I think I am about done with the Femara now but then ..... well you know what it's like.

Eph3_12

Gaynor1 are you taking Femara in the AM or before bed?  Because what you are describing is what I had when I took it in the morning; almost all of it went away when I started taking it bedtime!