Aromasin/AIs and sleep disturbances

Anonymous

Dear all,

My wakeful periods in the middle of the night were pretty bad on Arimidex. When I finally said enough to the drug last Sept and my MO switched me to Aromasin my sleep improved--for a while. Now, nearly 9 months later, I see the problem rearing its ugly head again.

I decided to experiment with the time of day I took the med. In the beginning, I took any/all AIs in the morning with my thyroid med--because I could remember that.

I quickly realized that hot flashes were worse when I took it in the AM, which wouldn't work for me, because I'm a univ. lecturer, and am as such "on display" in front of students most of the weekdays when I teach. I hate sweating in front of anyone--shows through on clothes, terribly distracting from the task at hand, and I'm self-conscious about it all.

So I switched times and took it at night--around 9--for some years. Guess what? Hot flashes at night woke me up. Aromasin didn't do that at first, but is beginning to now. So finally I've changed to taking it around 2-4 p.m.-when I'm done with most of my day and don't care who knows I'm flashing.

This latest, newest time to take my AI seems to be working. If I go to bed at 9/9:30 p.m (I have a sleep hygiene regime I have to stick to or I don't sleep at all), I'm finding that I am not being woken up with pounding heart and hot flashes in the night half as much.

I'll keep you posted, but if you're having sleep problems because of these damned AIs, try taking it at different times of the day and see what happens.

Finally, I read somewhere that taking Aromasin with a bit of fat (cheese, nuts, or even spoonful of coconut oil for me) helps with absorption. I can't verify, but I want that stuff to absorb in my system completely, so I'm making sure I do that too.

Namaste,

Claire

BethL

I've been taking half a dose of Benadryl before bed due to sleep issues since starting arimidex. So far it's working.

Pessa

I also have sleep problems since starting anastrazole. thanks for the suggestions

Denise-G

I always took Arimidex before bed because in the early days I got dizzy from it.  After a recent bout with bronichitis, I switched to morning because I was too sick to take it at night.  What a difference!  I am sleeping much better.  And for some reason I do not notice the hot flashes in the morning like I did when I took it before bed.