Tamoxifen vs. Armidix/Aromasin??

I was 42 at diagnosis and after treatment, I was put on tamoxifen for 5 yrs and Praise GOD am a 19 yr SURVIVOR this year, msphil(idc, stage2, 3 nodes, L mast, chemo:cytoxin, adriamycin,5fu,rads and 5 yrs on tamoxifen)we are in my prayers daily.

I was still having periods at age 56 up until chemo which was Jan. 2012.  Chemo ended May, 2012.  When it was time for Tamoxifen or Arimidex decision, in Sept 2012 after rads, my Onc gave me the info on it to read.  I had no periods during or after chemo.

After I read the drug info, I knew Arimidex would be a better match for me.  Onc suggested we start on Tami and switch to Arimidex after a year.  I asked how I could go on Arimidex right away. He said we will monitor your hormones like a hawk for the first 4 months.  He gave me a blood test that he sent to the Mayo Clinic (even though I was at Univ of Michigan).  He said hormones are tricky and Mayo Clinic does the best job of determining if you are in menopause.  He didn't want my ovaries to crank back up, but said Arimidex is better as far as recurrence.

I had to go every 2 weeks for blood tests for 4 months which all got sent to Mayo Clinic.  Thankfully, I stayed in menopause and have had no problems on Arimidex except joint pain (which is getting better).  Hope this helps!   I am glad I did all of this though because in my heart, I just knew it was better for me.

Shelly56-My Onc is an expert in Her2.  He was one of the scientists that developed the test for Her2 - he's brilliant.  So he told me Arimidex lessened chance of recurrence by another 10%.   I do not have tumor marker tests.

Mine was Her 2 positive. I was diagnosed at 48 and chemos sent me into full menopause. After all the treatments I was put on Tamoxifen. During this time they too regular hormone level readings and when they were sure on the basis of these that I was post menopausal I was put on aromasin/exemestane. My oncologist ( I am in the UK) says that they have seen best non recurrence rates for women in my situation from giving 2 years of tamoxifen followed by 3 years of aromasin/exemestane. On my most recent check up he said that is is likely that by the time I get to the end of the 5 years the period of time on this drug will have been extended by a further 5 years so I will be on it for a total of 8 years. I found the side effects a bit worse, more hot flushes, sleep disturbance, painful joints and swelling of feet and hands over night. Have managed to combat this by an increase in exercise. Gym exercises on weight supplemented machines and static rowing and cycling. Running/walking is not good as it seem to make feet/hands more swollen and painful. But either way I have had to work hard at it. Not everyone will react in the same way of course and it looks to me from reading the articles that this offers the best chance of the cancer not coming back.