FEMARA

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  • Omaz
    Omaz Member Posts: 5,497
    edited April 2012
    Hi TonLee - I have been having hot flashes like crazy since chemo so the change that I do notice is that they seem a little more intense, ie more red face going on.  My favorite is at work, I am talking to one of the guys and boom, suddenly my race is red and covered in sweat.  I have to mop it.  Sheesh!   I don't think i had much estrogen left after chemopause, my two measurements were 5 and 11.  I don't know about the joint thing yet.  My right elbow and left knee hurt as well as my feet.  I am thinking they will get better, hanging on to hope, really really.......  We went to a 90th birthday part recently and I was watching how she moved - yep, I move like that sometimes now.  
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  • TonLee
    TonLee Member Posts: 2,626
    edited April 2012

    LovesChrist,

    That makes two of us.  I didn't know ANYTHING about BC.  Nadda.  It's a whole new world....lol

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  • maltomlin
    maltomlin Member Posts: 343
    edited April 2012

    Hi

    I've been on femara for three and a half years now. Yes I have the fuzzy brain and I did have painful joints in the early days, but it beats the alternative.

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  • BlueCowgirl
    BlueCowgirl Member Posts: 667
    edited April 2012

    Dkerler, glad to hear everything turned out well for you, and fingers crossed it is the same for me...Thank you for sharing your experience and helping to ease my mind.

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  • termite
    termite Member Posts: 241
    edited April 2012

    I just had a dex scan and have been told I should start taking Fosamax. I have read a lot about it and have talked with another doctor also. She agreed that I should take it. I already take vitamins, 1200 mg. calcium, 800 mg. Vitami D along with the femara. Has anyone else been taking Fosamax?

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  • termite
    termite Member Posts: 241
    edited April 2012

    you can find a coupon on the femara online sight(or Novartis sight) and it will pay around $800.00 for a year toward your prescription.

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  • hbcheryl
    hbcheryl Member Posts: 5,113
    edited April 2012

    Re the cost the Femara.  It is approximately $500.00 for a 30 day supply, Letrozole is it in generic form and it's $15.00 for a 30 day supply.  If you have insurance drug coverage unless your doctor specifies "do not substitute" on your prescription you will get the generic.  I found this out when the Letrozole became available as I was used to getting Femara and the pharmacy told me once a drug becomes generic everyone gets switched unless they have that "do not substitute" on the prescription.  I was started out on the mustard colored one but now I'm getting the pink one (Mylan is the manufacturer) and I do much better on that one.

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  • Omaz
    Omaz Member Posts: 5,497
    edited April 2012

    Here are the ingrediants for the Mylan pink letrozole tablets: Each tablet contains the following inactive ingredients: colloidal silicon dioxide, D&C Red No. 27 Aluminum Lake, FD&C Blue No. 2 Aluminum Lake, FD&C Red No. 40 Aluminum Lake, hypromellose, lactose anhydrous, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, polydextrose, polyethylene glycol, pregelatinized starch, sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium starch glycolate, titanium dioxide and triacetin.
    source:  http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?id=42129

    I am not real happy about all the coloring in these tablets. 

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  • BlueCowgirl
    BlueCowgirl Member Posts: 667
    edited April 2012

    Insomnia, anyone?

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  • artsee
    artsee Member Posts: 1,576
    edited April 2012

    Insomnia? YES!!!!!!

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  • termite
    termite Member Posts: 241
    edited April 2012

    Hi Maltomin,

    I have been on Femara for 2 1/2 yrs. How are your dex scans. They want me to take Fosomax but I am nervous about it after reading all the side effects. Have you had any problems with loss of calcium in your bones.

     Thanks

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  • gardengumby
    gardengumby Member Posts: 7,305
    edited April 2012

    termite, when did your bone loss begin?  I've been on letrozole for 6 months and just had my first dexa.  When compared with one I had 5 years ago, I've got zero bone loss, but I don't know when it begins....

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  • Omaz
    Omaz Member Posts: 5,497
    edited April 2012

    Ok, so I admit to being a complete nerd but here is a table of the ingredients for the different brands of letrozole.  The ingredients run along the left and the company runs along the top.  If there is a 1 in the cell where they intersect then that company includes that ingredient in their pill.  The key for the company abbreviations is below the table.

     

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  • Omaz
    Omaz Member Posts: 5,497
    edited April 2012

    Note: If the text is too small on your computer hold down the ctrl key and press the + key (ctrl - will make it smaller again)

    All the information comes from here:

    http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/search.cfm?startswith=letrozole&x=0&y=0 

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  • justagirl
    justagirl Member Posts: 730
    edited April 2012

    Omaz, thanks for the posting - I am so computer illerate I couldn't figure out how to do it.  Oh do I miss my 18 year old son who is away at university!

    I really think the different fillers can affect some of you.  Then there is the havoc played by the active ingredient!

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  • Omaz
    Omaz Member Posts: 5,497
    edited April 2012
    justagirl - I put together the table for myself and just wanted to share it.  I am not liking the mylan pill, it makes my stomach upset so I am going to talk to the pharmacy and see if they can try another one.  Plus it has all those dyes in it which doesn't seem great either.
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  • TonLee
    TonLee Member Posts: 2,626
    edited April 2012

    Omaz,

    I am on the mustard one made by Stason Pharm ....doesn't seem to be causing me any issues at this point :)  I don't see it on the list...will have to check the bottle again.

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  • Omaz
    Omaz Member Posts: 5,497
    edited April 2012

    There appears to be a bunch more companies making it....I don't see Stason Pharm but it might be new.  I'll have to see what my pharm says today.

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  • gardengumby
    gardengumby Member Posts: 7,305
    edited April 2012

    I thought mine was by cara - but I dont see that one on the list either.  I get it at Costco.... (used to take the one by mylan)

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  • Omaz
    Omaz Member Posts: 5,497
    edited April 2012
    garden - I guess letrozole must be easy to make - LOL!  Did you notice any difference between the mylan and the cara?
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  • gardengumby
    gardengumby Member Posts: 7,305
    edited April 2012

    I had more aches with the mylan, but they went away, then when Costco changed brands and I started taking the Cara version, my aches started over.  Then they went away, but about a month later they came back again.  I have no idea if the same would have happened with the Mylan version, as I wasn't on it as long.

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  • TonLee
    TonLee Member Posts: 2,626
    edited April 2012

    It's Qualitest pharmacy that distributes mine....

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  • Omaz
    Omaz Member Posts: 5,497
    edited April 2012
    That might be a good one TonLee since it doesn't have all those dyes in it.
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  • termite
    termite Member Posts: 241
    edited April 2012

    Hi Gardengumby,

    I had a dex scan in 2010 when diagnosed and it was okay from the one 2 years before that. I have been on femara for about 2 1/2 years and this last scan in March showed a loss of calcium in my spin but my hips and arms and legs are okay. I will probably go on the Fosomax that they want me to take considering I went to another doctor and she agrees with my oncologist. Hope everything goes well for you.

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  • Omaz
    Omaz Member Posts: 5,497
    edited April 2012
    TonLee - The pharmacist can order Accord for me so I am going to try that.
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  • gardengumby
    gardengumby Member Posts: 7,305
    edited April 2012

    Good luck termite. These medications we have to take SUCK!!! But, I keep telling myself that they beat the alternative. :)

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  • TonLee
    TonLee Member Posts: 2,626
    edited April 2012

    Omaz,

    Let me know how that works for you.

    On another note:  have you noticed any side effects with Femara?  Another reason I'm sure the Tamox was not working for me....my mind, which I brought up yesterday...and went out and bought L-Carn.....but something else, something that is freaking me out.  ...Something is seriously going on with my emotions....I feel dead inside, but at the same time I can hear that still small voice inside me weeping, wailing.   WT?   

    Is this menopause?  If so, will this craziness pass?  I have to be silent and keep my mouth shut because I don't know what might come out of my mouth....I am so disturbed I drove to the gym today and didn't get out of the car!  I just turned around and left!  THAT IS NOT ME. 

    Please tell me this is "normal" and will go away soon?? 

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  • gardengumby
    gardengumby Member Posts: 7,305
    edited April 2012

    I am much more emotional on one level - I cry easily and am more needy in general than I've ever been.  On the other hand, my anger level has dropped through the floor.  I always had a fairly easily triggered temper but it just seems to be - gone. 

    I'm post menopausal, and didn't experience anything like this during menopause - in fact during menopause things were more or less reversed from what I just described.  

    I'm certainly no expert on this drug as I've only been on it for 6 months, but have heard from others the same description of "dead inside".  I am hoping against hope that it doesn't happen with me.  Good luck TonLee.

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  • Omaz
    Omaz Member Posts: 5,497
    edited April 2012

    TonLee I sent you a PM

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  • TonLee
    TonLee Member Posts: 2,626
    edited April 2012

    Thanks Omaz.  Got it.

    Garden, I always wondered why the women in my family got so "hard" after menopause.  Now I know.

    Dead, desert, barren, blasted wasteland...nothing to get excited about.

    Here's hoping it's just a bad day and not the beginning of life in the WASTE.  lol

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