FEMARA

I went to see my primary Dr. last week and very surprisingly my BP was through the roof! She put me on a water pill med and I've been monitering my bp daily. The only thing I can really contribute this to is Letrozole (besides the coffee I had in the morning that I usually have and has not caused a soar in my BP before.) I had no real symptoms except diarrhea and hot flashes for a year but right about at the 1 year point, I started having the joint soreness, muscle aches, memory problems, low energy, weight gain, major hot flashes among other things... and tenderness in my right thumb joint that was a bit debilitating.

I decided to do a "study" on myself and haven't take the drug for 11 days now. By the 4th day most of my muscle and joint pain was gone!... I was amazed. Things have been getting better every day and my BP is steadily going down but still high. Oh, and my major complaint of diarrhea (which began the day after I started taking it a year and a half ago) has subsided and I've had a couple of normal poops!!! Sorry to be graphic, but this is huge for me! I feel almost normal again!!!

Now what? I want to do the best I can to prevent reoccurance but 5 years of this sounds like prison. I'm seeing my Onc's next week. For now, I'm enjoying feeling 47 instead of 80 years old.

Thanks Chrissy,

I've also had different SE's from different manufacturer's of Femara and finally found the one that gave me the least SE's which is Apotex. Milan and another pink one are bad for me. I think I'm extra sensitive or something. Maybe Arimadex would work with me better.  I'm kind of scared right now about playing around with my BP until I get it under control. I look forward to talking with my Dr's. next week.

I appreciate the encouragement and glad you had a good experience changing meds!

Thanks Chrissy, I forgot to add that my Dr. put me on a bp med - hydro... something 25mg.. water pill and I've been taking that for 11 days. I'm thinking I may need a higher dosage and/or something else when I see her in a few days. This seems like a scary game of roulette. Sure wish there were more difinitive answers... or better yet, a CURE!!

Hi! I've lurked around a few times, so thought I would look to see if any of you had answered my question. I've been having lower extremity pain knees, ankle and feet as well as arm and finger pains. I had called my Onc on Friday and she said it was the medication. It wasn't until I started reading that everyone was having the same form of pain. My pain started about 6 wks into the meds and now that I'm 5 mos into it, it seems like its getting worse. Getting up from a seated position kills me, and then having to walk brings me to tears. I'm taking glucosemine to help with some of that. I'm thinking about having my Onc switch me to something else.

I read someone say that their dr put them on Effexor for hot flashes. I've been on it since June and it works wonders, however, one of the SE's of the Femara is excess sweating. So sometimes it works wonders and sometimes I need to go take a shower shortly after i get to work.

christy

thank you Chrissy. Do you know if any of the naturals you've listed above have any soy or estrogen products in them?

Chrisrenee, I have been on femara for about 7 months now. I get the aches when getting up from a chair, and some days my feet hurt a lot. It is really the joints in the feet, but it feels like they are just aching all over.

It helps to move. If you are sitting for work, puter etc, get up every 20 minutes and walk around the table 3 times. I also try to walk 1-2 hours a day and it really helps. The more exercise you can get, the better it is.

Chris, it may be warranted to try another AI. It is hard to assess another person's pain. For the time being, I feel this is doable, but it wouldn't have to get a whole lot worse for me to change my mind I have just been surprised at how much some exercise really does help, in my case anyway.

Chrissy, yes, that can be a major problem, very true. But if the anti-inflammatories do the job, that is good too.

yes.  sleep is my friend.  a lot of it.  I used to get by fine on 7 or 8 hours a night.  Now i NEED 10 and really really like 12.....

chrissy i take mine at night too. between that and my sleeping pills i sleep like a baby.

Yes, I have had some fatigue on and off. In part because my sleep was not continuous. Again, I find that exercise helps. The more I exercise, the better I sleep and the less fatigue I have.

Has anyone switched from Femara to another drug or come from another drug to Femara? My joints are killing me, just when I think I'm starting to do better I wake up and my arms feel like limp noodles. I can barely move them without dying in pain. I'm just curious, I don't know if by going to another drug if I'm going to have worse symptoms. I'm so confused I don't know what to do.

thank you Chrissy! I just have so many aches and pains that I don't know whether it's coming or going. When I wake up my arms kills me, it almost feels like someone has beat the hell out of me at night and I used my arms to defend myself. I don't want to come off as being whiney or anything but this is miserable.

I can relate, too.  I was doing pretty good until about a couple of weeks ago.  I had been stiff and some pain, but when my pharmacy changed to a different generic company a couple of months ago, the pain subsided some.  Then about 2 weeks ago I woke up with terrible pain in my right knee.  It also get's locked either bent or straight.  Hurts to put weight on it.  My pcp thinks I may have a torn meniscus.  If it is, I'm sure this drug contributed to it, by making my joints so stiff.  I just started waking up with numb hands, too. So it's back to the pharmacy to see if they can try another generic company.  I'm think of asking for  Roxane Laboratories version next.  It only has 6 fillers as opposed to 11 in the breckenridge one I have now.  I've only been on letrozole 7 months so I hate to switch to a different AI, yet.  From what I understand there are only 3 and I have a long ways to go, so I hate to blow through them all too soon.  I just started Acetyl L-Carnitine for the neuropathy in the hands.  I've been taking  8 grams a day of curcumin since July and plan to add Boswellia Serata this week.  My pcp put me on lortabs for the knee, and it helps some, but I try not to take it very often, because I don't want to get addicted.  Chrissy is my inspiration so I'm determined to keep taking an AI. 

Thank you Usha, my husband and I are actually contributing some of the pains to Femara and Levaquin. I have been on Levaquin for 3 weeks now. Levaquin causes some deep muscle aches and pains as well. I've got 3 more days left on the Levaquin then I'm done hopefully with it.

christy