Arimidex and Insomnia Anyone?

Katszr

4am seems to be my "magic wake up time". Read most of your posts. I am very lucky I do not work. This is only day 2 for me but both nights I am wide awake at 4 am and tonight I had trouble going to sleep even though I was tired. So far no other bad side effects. Some change in my hot flashes...but bearable.

mollymiller

Arimidex for 2 weeks after 32 radiation treatments....I am dedicated to finishing this drug! 5 years! However I am working on dealing with foggy thinking, insomnia and joint pain. I get spells of fatigue but am working on using exercise and mindfulness exercises. I am a TOTAL hypochondriac, over the edge worrier but am not ready to let this get to me....And I am surprised to learn that I am able to find more joy in my day to day living. 67 years old, 2 wonderful grandchildren, great daughter and son-in-law and the best husband in the world.

mollymiller

YES! Except my wake-up time is closer to 2:00 AM. I have been taking 2 mg of Ativan for sleep for LONG before I was diagnosed in 12/16. Also, Neurontin as needed for just about any kind of pain.....I am not used to being WIDE AWAKE 24/7!!!!

dtad

nervousnelly...I don't take any anti hormones and never did. Please feel free to PM if you want to discuss any further.

PS just realized this was an old post

kira1234

I started my first pill last night. I am dealing with a local recurrence of the same breast cancer I had 7 years ago. My oncologist said no ALS because of my problems with the ALS 7 years ago. I convinced him to let me try for 3 months. I was on tamoxafin for 4 years which obviously haven't protected me. Any ideasfor coughing and nausea greatly appreciated.

LoveLau

sent you a pm. Tonight thinking of getting off them. Kathy

dakrock

I take a lorazepam at night about 8 PM.   By 10 PM I am so ready for bed and sleep all through the night until 6:30 or 7 AM.  That does the trick for me .  Before that I could not sleep at all.

Bird-In-Flight

I began Anastrozole a couple months ago. Lack of sleep definitely became an issue. I'm very active and I exercise at least 4 to 5 days a week for at least 40 minutes each workout. I've always used Benedryl to sleep better but now it doesn't work. I was recently prescribed Gabapentin by a primary care physician (not a controlled substance), and it worked well initially (one capsule at bedtime). Even lessened the frequency of hot flashes. Now a week later the sleep issue has returned. I tried one Gabapentin with one Benedryl and I slept mostly but didn't have sound deep sleep. I may try more than one Gabapentin capsule. I can take up to 3 capsules per day but I am afraid to try other than nighttime. I haven't really tried Melatonin. Breast Dr said it takes up to two weeks to take affect and best to take at dinnertime because it takes up to 7 hours to really kick in. I was prescribed Ambien also but afraid to take it. I have also noticed some possible depression and increased joint pain with Anastrozole, but the depression could also be from 2 surgeries in 3 months (May/Aug 2018) and lack of support and social interactions. Seeing my breast Dr tomorrow to discuss this and other concerns.

Moderators

Hi Bird-in-Flight and welcome to Breastcancer.org!

We appreciate your posting and hopefully others here will have some insight for you soon. In the meantime, you may want to check out the main Breastcancer.org site's side effect page on Insomnia (Trouble Sleeping) for some helpful tips on managing this unfortunate side effect.

We hope this helps and we look forward to hearing more from you soon!

--The Mods

macmomma

I'm similar to you. Very active, exercise a lot. Arimidex caused huge problems sleeping as well as (for me) severe depression. I tried benadryl, melatonin, camomile, and everything else I could think of outside of prescription medication. I was on it about 3 months, then went off for 2 weeks for phase 2 of my DIEP reconstruction. Within 2 days of discontinuing it, I was sleeping very well, and my mood was normal, so I know it wasn't other factors causing the insomnia and depression, but it was the armidex (perfect A/B study). I'm supposed to go back on next Thursday, and I'm not sure what I'll do. I have the option of another AI, but of course, there's no guarantee with any of them.

Anonymous

Hi there, I take 75 mg. of trazadone--it's an older SSRI, but has the side effect of making many people drowsy, so it's used as a sleep aid. I don't use it for depression but just to help me sleep. It works most of the time, been taking it for years, and it hasn't given me any side effects so far.

Sometimes I do feel like all of us are running a marathon and the finish line keeps getting moved. With all the side effects from tx, and then AIs, we have to take more stuff to help us deal with the side effects, etc etc ad nauseam.

I make sure that I exercise a lot -- walking, hot yoga, weights etc as much as possible because it helps me sleep better at night.

I figure sleep is as beneficial to my health as taking AIs are--so I don't have a problem taking things to help me sleep at night.

Good luck!

Claire in AZ