Take a break from Aromasin??

nextstepsfromhere

Hi.  I have been on aromasin 13 months.  I am in pain everywhere!  Shoulders, one elbow, one ankle, entire back, lower back, hips - very bad, and knees...  I also went from chemo bald, to growing back hair that was full and nice, as it was before chemo...took tamoxafin until i had hysterectomy, and then aromasin...so I am pretty sure that the aromasin has something to do with the hair loss, though the hysterectomy could too....has anyone just taken a break from everything for 6 months or so?  has anyone switched from an AI back to tamoxifen?  if so, did you feel any better?  I also have "degenerative" bone loss at every scan--I contribute to aromasin...gawd I wish there was a big book of answers for this cancer crap!  I think that is the hardest part, just not having concrete answers... anyway, if you have something to add, i would love to hear your experiences. Age 44, BRCA II +, stage IIb,

REKoz

Wondering if you had a hysterectomy for hormonal reasons due to your bc? Were you previously premenopausal? Not knowing your age or cancer staging/stats makes it difficult to predict if the experiences of others could relate to your situation. Of course you have every right to keep that private, but I think that a lot of posters respond when they can immediately relate to both the issue itself and similarity to their own stats. I know that I am hesitant to tell my story as it may not be an option for someone with different circumstances.

That said, I was diagnosed a year to the month of my last period. Celebrating that I was finally done with periods, until I learned that I was also about to be done with breasts! Anyway, Aromasin was on the menu after chemo. Along with that came every symptom you have described and some you didn't- I was beyond miserable. My ER (and PR) was 90% so I felt a strong need for anti hormonals. Though post menopausal, my Onc had me try Tamoxifen and a year later, I have a quality of life that was not possible on AL's. So to answer your question about feeling better after making that switch, my experience is a resounding YES!

Keep in mind that I still have my ovaries, had early stage node negative cancer and a bilateral mastectomy. Having excellent odds for remaining cancer free to begin was the deciding factor for me to go with Tamoxifen over the very slightly better odds that AL's provide. I'm grateful that my situation allowed me to make that decision with agonizing difficulty. I hope that you can find a solution that works out as well as it has for me.

Wishing you the best. Ellen

nextstepsfromhere

Thanks for the information.  I went to onc today and will take a 3 week break from AI's, then he wants me to try armidex.  I saw the patient information sheet and oh geesh, that's not looking good either.  I had a hysterectomy as preventative.  I had stage IIb or III...turmor size over 4cm, ER and PR+ (90% and I can't recall the PR).  I guess I will give this a try, but will consider going back to the tamoxafin...trying to cope with this new kind of 'normal'.  I miss the old 'normal'.  Thanks for sharing.

iodine

Hi, I struggled thru 2 years of Tamox and 6 mos Aromasin and finally took a "holiday".  My symptoms not only went away, but my daughter welcomed me back from whereever "that other woman" had kidnapped me to.  LOL

I had an onc who worked with me on every level to address my side effects in any and every way I wanted, and some he thought of.  We agreed that quality of life at 61 years old was Way more important than extending life and being a completely miserable person (who was likely really tough to be around!)  Now, I didn't have your tumor size, mine was 1.9 and I was stage 1 with neg SNB, and pos ER and PR.

You will have to make your choices, but my onc and I agreed that most recurrances were discovered in the first 2 years and we were well past that.  Of course, I had had a mastectomy to avoid rads and was also able to decline chemo due to my dx, but it was offered.  (he backed me on that choice as well).  Oh, and my cholesterol did a dive bomb after I quit the meds as well.  I have never had lots of bone loss, but my arthritis was the pits on the meds.  I feel that my time on them did contribute to my need for a multilevel back fusion and recent hip replacement.  But the neurosurg said I had really hard bones.  (I also have a very hard head!)