Starting Arimidex tomorrow

I have been taking Arimidex for about 45 days now and find that I have some side effects, but not terrible.  I am having some breast swelling and pain, some hot flashes and have gained about 5 pounds.  My bones are somewhat stiff, but they were before the Arimidex as well.  I go to my Oncologist on Friday to see how my lab tests are, and I am sure she is going to recommend a mammogram for me.  I am scared to have one...that will be a difficult day to go through that again and hope and pray that it comes back normal.  Colonoscopy came back normal last week, which made me very happy.  My Oncotype score was 19 and didn't have chemo, just radiation.  

The other thing I recently discovered is that every time you go for the Arimidex it may be made by a different manufacturer.  Therefore, there may be different binders in the pill....the second month of pills was different from the first and seemed to be slightly different.  The hot flashes have started to worsen and I am having breast pain.  I see my doctor on Friday and I am waiting for the results of my blood work.  Also, my joints seem to be getting stiffer....

I took Tamoxifen for three years and had another cancer diagnosis. Switched to Arimedex at the first of this month and so far, no SE. My MO prescribed Effexor to help with hot flashes and mood swings after a few months of Tamoxifen, and I'm still taking the Effexor with the Arimedex with no problems. I highly recommend an antidepressant if your MO suggests it. Not only does it helps with hot flashes it really helps with focus and improves my attitude .

Aloha Ladies,

I started on Arimidex 30 days ago, have follow up appointment with MO today. Hot flashes came back with a vengence, I had been taking effexor  since menopause, I doubled the effexor dose and hot flashes are gone. The other SE i had was a decrease in cognitive function....fuzzy brain, unable to complete tasks, worried i could not retun to work as my job requires me to focus. I saw a psychiatrist (as i thought I was going crazy) and he placed me on a psycho stimulant. I now feel normal and confident to go back to work. The bad thing is I have to take more meds to counteract side effects on a med, and of course everything has side effects. My Oncotype score was 0. Three Oncologist said they never saw a score of 0. So with the adjunct thearpy I have a 3% chance of reoccurence, however all three oncologist could not tell me what my chances of reoccurence are without therapy. I got educated guesses from 6% to 30%. I really do not want to take any of these meds. I am still up in the air about taking the arimidex.I also had a bilateral mastectomy with one being prophylactic. My breast surgeon said i would not need further treatment, so I was quite stunned when 3 MO's said I needed to take arimidex. Has anyone heard of Oncotype of 0?

Never trust what a surgeon tells you about future treatments....their specialty is surgery. Period!

I'm also starting Arimidex The beginning of August after I have my ovaries out. Have all of the same fears. Joint pain is what I'm fearful of the most.

Question to ruthbru: Did you take generic or name brand? I have the generic from Teva but I'm feeling like I should start on name brand and then if I have problems switch to the generic. I know it's different for everyone. Just curious.

My first three years I was on name brand because generic was not yet available, once it was I switched (at the time, generic was hundreds of dollars cheaper each MONTH). I never had problems with either so didn't bother to check out where they came from.