FEMARA

jrnld28-FYI, until you hit 50 posts, you can only post on various threads 5 times in one day (or so I've been told) you can private message as much as you want.  click on the person you want to "talk" and there will be a place to click that says something like "send private message" and then it's just like you are e-mailing that person.

EPH - 3 

Thanks for the good thoughts. Today is second day. I changed patch this morning. Was able to even blow dry hair, still some pain. This better work, Femara has not affected me in any other way.

Hugs,

no hormonal products is best, from what I've been told. A good high quality vitamin E oil can help with dryness and pose no risk.

I use Vagifem, a vaginal suppository. It has recently been reformulated so that there is even less estrogen in it.  I had my blood tested for estrogen levels before taking the heavy, initial "loading dose" of vagifem. Then I had my blood tested again, and my estrogen levels had gone down.

In fact, there was a gynecologist on Dr. Oz recently talking about the safety of this for breast cancer patients:

http://www.doctoroz.com/blog/lauren-streicher-md/vaginal-estrogen-women-breast-cancer

She said (in part): One study which was published in a medical journal (Climacteric 2003; 6:45-52) followed 1,472 breast cancer patients who routinely used vaginal estrogen and were found to have a LOWER recurrence rate than women who did not use vaginal estrogen.

Yes, thanks so much for posting that article.  I will be showing my onc, too.  I am so tired of being so dry down there.  Sometimes it even hurts when I am just walking normally!  I don't know if it is my underwear  rubbing against dry spots, or if it is skin rubbing against skin ( lol--this is probably TMI!) but all I know is that it hurts!

I have to add that I also have frequent UTI's now. I never had one in my life till the Femara, so know for sure that's whats causing it.

I will be bringing the article to my next visit with my Onc. We will have lots to talk about.

I do have a question, have anyone of you had neck pain and trouble chewing? These SE's have been rather bad this past week.

mjb-I take Femara @ night-I feel so much better during than day than when I took it in the AM-When I took it in the AM-I had to take power naps pretty much daily to get through my work week.  I hurt like crazy in my joints.  Taking it at night has lessened the fatigue by major leaps & bounds, joint pain is somewhat better & it helps me sleep at night (sort of)

Hello all,

Not many people mention my second worst reaction to femara which was nausea.  (Mental fog is the worst!)  But several have mentioned antidepressants.  I was so sick to my stomach for the first five months of femara, I thought I would not be able to continue.  Then I started taking a little cocktail of low-dose antidepressants including wellbutrin, prozac and elavil.  I mean really low doses.  The lowest they make.  And I am feeling much better.  I think it makes sense because nausea is a central nervous system problem and these drugs go to the CNS.  It's been three months now and I have almost forgotten about the "morning sickness" feeling.    I think these meds may help the bone/joint problems a little too. I haven't gotten smarter though.

Thanks for all the information. 

Hi Everyone,

Just went to my Onc last Friday. I mentioned before how much bone pain I was experiencing since taking Femara over a year ago. Last Oct., it progressively got worse and my fingers were curled in the morning with pain and stiffness. So....he took me off the Femara until April, then I will try taking it every other day. If that doesn't work, he said we will try the Generic Arimedex. He said, it is all about finding that right balance that works for you. I also have to up my Vit D. Maybe, if you are having the pain level I was experiencing, you can ask your Onc about taking it every other day. I did ask about the Natural Estrogen Blocker, Myomin and he said there is not enough studies on it and he would not take it. Good luck in finding what makes this drug work for you. Be incharge and try anything to make your quality of life manageable during this part of your journey.

Hi Ladies,

I took into consideration your helpful comments and decided to change to taking my meds at nighttime.  I am not feeling the exhaustion till later in the day, say around 1 - 2pm rather than 10 or 11am, an improvement although work is still affected.  However I have also noticed that the hot flashes are more intensified and the aches and pains more noticeable, but I think this may be because these are happening earlier in the day now instead of when I am sleeping.  Seems we are all stuck between a rock and a hard stone trying to figure out which SEs we can deal with and which we prefer not to.

I will talk to my onc when I have my next check late March.  I am glad I will only have to take these orange pills for another 3 years, I have more or less decided not to take them past the 5 years as they have already affected my bone density adversely.  My next bone desnity scan is early in March, last year I was early stage osteopenia, if it has declined further I am not sure what I will decide to do.  My Mom took alendronic acid (bi-phosphonate for bone degenration) and had bad experiences taking this stuff orally so I am not sure I want to go that way, we did discuss Zometa last year but that is not covered by OHIP here in Ontario and is expensive, it is also not covered by our health insurance as it is not considered "standard of care" of Stage 3B here.  I do not wish for the C to return however I am concerned that having osteoporosis is not a place I want to go either.  I guess only I can decide whether the chance of recurrence is something I can deal with.

Well thanks for listening.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Gaynor

Hi Sheila

Wow your side effects sound just like me! I also am not a complainer and have a high tolerance for pain. I have been on Femara for 17 mo. After a year the pain got worse and my fingers were curled in the morning with pain. I would have to take Vicodin at night for the pain and Ambein to sleep. Then it got so bad I started to take Vicodin during the day. By Dec I said forget this and I went off everything until Jan. I felt like my old self within 5days and it got better each day being off it. It was difficult to start back in Jan but I figured I would gut it up until my Onc appt in Feb. I went last Fri and he took me off unit April then I will start again but....only one pill every other day. He said it should eliminate the majority of the bone pain. He also told me to up my Vit D to 2000mg. This will help too. So I am willing to try anything at this point but I was not about to live with this level of pain for the next 4 years. Ask your Onc to try something different like maybe every other day or 1/2 pill each day so it is not so strong. Who would have thought these little yellow/orange pills would cause so much grief. I am loving being pill free right now. Do you have an Onco Score? That is a huge factor in reoccurrence . Mine is 18....right on the border of low to intermediate. Please let me know how you are doing. This is a great website with amazing women to vent to and help get through this time. Hugs to you!

Chevyboy: sorry to see you hear...hearing loss-Gemine Criminey Crickets!!!! I take Femara at night-helps me best.  Have joint pain, but so far livable.  I'm almost 57 so I'm not sure what you may be facing, but hopefully it will be ok.

Hi Chevyboy, I'm post menopausal and have been on Femara for 4 months after taking Arimidex for 18 months.  At Ephs suggestion, I started taking the Femara at night and have found that other that a few hot flashes and a bit of minor tiredness, I have no other SE's at all......for this I'm am very gratefull.  I do hope that your hearing loss is not permanent.  Good luck!

Chrissyb