FEMARA

Artsee: I was on arimidex for one month - the only issue I had was a headache...unfortunately for me the headache was getting worse so my ONC took me off of it and giving me a 3 week break before trying, Probably femara generic... I have found through my reading, that if one gives you SEs, the other probably won't.... Praise God we have more that one med to try... My friend I walk with has been on Arimidex without one SE, so it is just finding the right plan, the right med for the right person... Don't be afraid to try it..... I will come back and take arimidex if the other meds SEs are worse than the headache... Just trying all my options before staying on it...

Artsee - I asked costco that question when I looked into femara - the femara was going to be $1527.00 without insurance but could also get the generic for $22.47...

Edit: I found out my other pharmacy - BiMart will price match with costco!!!

Ducky I used that coupon till it expired.  Here's how it worked - it was up to the value I think of $800.  I pay $45.00 for my co-pay for name drug, then they would apply the coupon $35.00 each month and I paid $10.00 THEN the generic came out and when I went to pharmacy my $45.00 jumped to I think $180.00 so I used up my total Novartis coupon that month, then I called my insurance office to ask them why the big difference in charges and the reaso they gave me (which I think they made up on the fly) is that your doctor has to write on the script that they must not substitute for generic, anyways I just took my prescription over to Costco where I got a 3 month supply of the generic for $25.00, so those of you transferring to Costco, check out the 90 day supply costs.

Cheryl

Thanks ladies.................Aetna warehouse told me that the Femara would cost me $90.00 for a 3 months supply............the generic would be $60.00 for the same 90 days.............so far I have done very well on the brand, so I don't want to take the generic..................I paid a $45.00 co pay today for a 30 day supply.................that was CVS...............will call my MO tomorrow and get my script for the Aetna warehouse..................for the brand drug................I only got the CVS bottle because I am out..........otherwise I would have told them to shove it......Its ridiculous

Thanks hbcheryl. But I won't have the Novartis coupon anymore, so I think it would cost me $70 a month or so. Once I start the generic, if I have issues, I may have to try it though.

Yes, MBoss, you can have thinning of hair. At least Femara. I can'y speak for the other 3.

My hair is shoulder length and I noticed when pulling it back the sides are much thinner that normally. I also have hair all over the place and it drives me crazy. Maybe I should just cut it.

I am going to try switching the drug to evenings. Going to my pill box right now.

Three years after chemo only now I am starting to see my hair half decent. But from what you are all saying looks like it won't last long. I was taking such good care by applying coconut oil two or three times a month and socking it for few hours or sometimes overnight (I put towel so pillow won't get oil stain). Oh well I will wait for two years and start all over again. One good thing with this femara, I am going to say it without shame, is that I am not as constipated as with Tamox

Artsee-try taking it in the evening. Though you may be kind of crippled in the morning, as the day goes by most of the aches and pains fade away . I take plenty of water with the med and try to flush away bad SE as quickly as possible, atleast that is what I am thinking. Good Luck.

Hi All,

In July my prescription insurance switched me to the generic Femara.  Within two weeks all the old SE's - joint and muscle pains - came back with an angry pain I didn't get on the Femara.  I perservered until this past week thinking the SEs would subside.  They simply got worse and worse.

My body told me that the generic is not the same as the Femara.  So, I called my prescription insurance company, talked with the pharmacist and for $10 more a month, I'm back on my Femara.  As I told the pharmacist, the generic has turned my age backwards - instead of 58, I'm feeling 85. They are shipping me the Femara express so I'll get it by Wednesday, Thursday at the latest.

For those of you on a prescription plan experiencing the SEs of the generic worse than the Femara - call and explain.   This way, I didn't have to go back to the oncologist, get a new prescription that says don't substitute.  And now my file says "do not substitute."

Hope this helps.

Pat

Hey "belly".............how about Femara ankles, feet, hair, or lack of...................this drug is horrible.............just on it one month and I can see myself growing.............gonna try Medifast, a location just opened in my town......................can't deal with this weight gain..............nothing helps either.....................I'd go off it now, but my kids will go nuts...........

Hi Debbie and other Femara girls,

At 6-months check-up my Onco seeing thicker finger joints of my hands, proposed switching from Femara to Aromasin (exemestane). Because being on Femara for 17 months with all possible SE's (belly fat too!) I'm asking myself what difference in SE's should be with this new medicine. Should I try? Coping with Femara I was so innovatory to find out what did and could help to maintain going on. So in the last months I was convincing myself the matter is tolerable.

Now, I'm afraid what this turn to the new medicine will bring to me!

I would like to ask experienced ladies or ladies on Aromasin how it's about state of health, how they are feeling, how effective this treatment is or was?

Thanking in advance!

Greetings!

Usha 

I am currently on a 6-week break from Femara. The joint pain in my fingers has almost completely disappeared. I've been off the Femara for 6 nights.

I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis by a rheumatologist, but I think the pain is from the Femara. I think I will be trying something else when I go back on an aromitase inhibitor in October. I didn't realize that Femara caused belly fat, too. I definitely have that, and I had a free-TRAM reconstruction, so after that surgery my belly was totally flat. I hate having it stick out again.

Someone on here helped me and recomended 'Costco'. It will cost $23.00 for 30 days. Far cry from $565.00 for 30 days agreed? I hope you have a store near you. They ship as well.

Thanks artsee. We do have membership for Costco. Next time when I go I will ask them to see how much it is going to cost me with my insurance.

I have just been told to go on AI therapy (after lumpectomy and brachytherapy, glad those are done with!) and my oncologist has had best results with femara, so I read a lot of this thread to learn more. Here's what I'm thinking...

Seems like some posters are pre-menopausal or still peri-menopausal (still going through it, as it takes YEARS -- who knew!) and I think you would be dealing with some of these symptoms of estrogen deprivation anyway, maybe just less intensely. I truly hope they ease off for all of you (and for me, if I get them).

If you are younger than me (I'm 58), you may be just getting accustomed to being middle-aged. Your joint pain and stiffness may actually be in part ordinary osteo-arthritis that just hasn't been diagnosed yet. I was diagnosed three years ago and my regular doctor told me almost everyone has some osteo-arthritis by the mid-50s. I didn't believe I had it but special Xrays proved it to me.

Here's the sure cure, like it or not: "vitamin I", ibuprofen. It prevents the inflammation of the joint and doesn't just prevent the pain, it makes the joint better. Take it with food and you may have no problems at all from it (I don't). I like Aleve (naproxen) for headaches but for joint pain, vitamin I is IT. My oncologist suggested that if I take it at bedtime, it will have the strongest effect on how I feel when I wake up. All I know is that in the past few winters, taking it at breakfast, lunch, and dinner on a ski day (and some on the next day) makes an enormous difference in my knees!

 I've been unhappy about going on AI therapy because eliminating my remaining estrogen is not good for my prospects of osteoporosis (my mom and grandmother suffered a lot from it), but I'm going to do it and hope for what someone in this thread said... basically, don't borrow trouble by expecting side effects that you don't yet have. And, like xgolfer with her foot pain, realize that breast cancer and its meds are not the only things that could be going wrong in your body!

While I'm rattling on about stuff, I have a comment for MBoss. The breastcancer.org goddesses have just started a thread about new research confirming the strong benefit of taking a couple years of tamoxifen and then a couple of years of AI (or vice-versa). Your doctor is not jerking you around, he/she is following current evidence of the best possible treatment.

Seems like these oncologists don't always have the best "bedside manner"... We can all be grateful to websites like this one (and Dr Susan Love's) that give us great scientific info in a loving way. And I am grateful to all of you for sharing your info about femara and how to treat its side effects (if I get them... knock on wood!!). Feel the love, ladies.

Artsee,

Good to know I'm not the only one terrified of osteoporosis! My grandmother had the hump, and my mom died in pain from compressed vertebra fractures (not the cause of death, but can't you die of not wanting to be in agony any more??). 

I guess if I were in your shoes I'd talk to the doc about switching to tamoxifen, which does not eliminate your estrogen (just blocks it) so it doesn't affect your bones. 

If you want to try ibuprofen for the joint pain, here's my experience. If I take it 3x per day, 2 tablets (400 mg total, the regular adult dose) does the job for me. When I was in more pain after lumpectomy but couldn't tolerate the narcotics, I was taking 600 mg, the equivalent of 3 tabs. Even that little difference made the difference. I could tell when it wore off.

Most people I know who take it have no stomach irritation as long as it's (a) not on an empty stomach and (b) taken with a full glass of water. My understanding is liver damage is not a concern unless a person takes an excessive dose over a long enough period of time. 

Good luck! I really hate to think of you in pain...