Arimidex v. Femara? What is the freaking difference ? :)

SpecialK

Claire - I averaged a pound a week but had some stalls - particularly in the first couple of months.

maj2

I tried to find any research on Anastrozole (Arimidex) vs. Letrazole (Femara) vs. Aromasin (Exemastane).

There's not much out there. The drug companies all want to use Tamoxifen as benchmark. My MO said you won't know about side effects unless you try one and find out how it works in your own case. Each person is different. For me, Anastrazole was horrid. Okay at first, but about 4 weeks in developed bad bad hot flashes, night sweats and worst of all, mental confusion. Stopped taking it, and within a week felt GREAT.

MO didn't want to switch me to Letrazole because in his words, its "the same" as Anastrozole (both AI inhibitors) vs. Aromasin which works via a slightly different mechanism. But they're not exactly the same! They both work in a similar way, but their recipes are different. So, I started Letrazole, because my friend had good luck with it. None of the same side effects as Anastrazole. Really easy to tolerate (in my case), even though now noticing Blood Pressure and Cholesterol are up, even in spite of exercise program. -- I'm pretty concerned about this, as I'm sure the doctors answer will be ... take more drugs. (More on this after next week's appointment...)

Long story short, these drugs have subtle differences in compounding that affect people differently. Even within the same drug, the main ingredient might be the same, but the tablet filler might be different, a generic version made in India may have some ingredients slightly different from one made in Mexico. Big chains like CVS and Costco use different suppliers. None of them will tell you this. But you can always take your prescription elsewhere, or even buy it direct from manufacturer using cost rebate programs. In the end, the only advice is just pick one, try it, see if you can tolerate it. If not, try a different one.

Best wishes!

Manu14

Claire, when I was trying to see if there was a real difference in or reason to choose one over the other, I didn't come up with a lot. This link was the best short and somewhat readable article I came across.

http://www.researchgate.net/post/How_can_I_choose_between_Aromatase_inhibitors_in_postmenopausal_hormone_positive_breast_cancer

Although Arimidex and Femara seem to work by the same mechanisms, there does seem to be some important, if subtle, differences. Other than that, I think women's bodies don't all react the same to every medication.

I'm taking anastrozole manufactured by Teva.

Grandma3

With Femara (Letrozole) my quality of life was bad,  I could only sleep about 1.5 - 2 hours even though I stayed in bed 8  hours.  I had pain in joints and was diagnosed with carpal tunnel, arthritis, and bursitis after being on it for 5 months.  Had none of these before.  The worst part was the lack of sleep, about 1.5 - 2 hours a night(and that was was not helped with sleeping pills).  This caused my memory to go.  I went on a trip and could not remember at the end of the day where I had been.  I could read a paragraph and then not know a single word I had read, I also realized that I was confusing things, mixing two conversations, so I was afraid to say anything.  So for me femara took  from me, movement w/o pain, conversation with friends and family, unable to babysit or even llift my grandkids, unable to do crafts, unable to read, strained relationship with hubby, pretty much everything I held dear.  Now on anastrozole, my hands and feet are swollen, my stomach is bloated, but I have my mind back and can now sleep 6 hours (w/o pills).  I can craft etc if I wait until late in the day when fingers move better.  My eyesight is blurry with this. 

One year down, 4 to go. 

Anonymous

Grandma3, it sounds like your quality of life sucks. If you can't hang in there with anastrole, try Aromasin/exemestane. It's not completely lovely, and has some SE for me, but at least not as awful as arimidex, which became terrible for me after about 18 months: mood swings, rage, bloating, joint pain/trigger joints, and weight issues.

Hugs,

Claire