Need encouragement - anyone tolerating hormone therapy well??

I've been on Aromasin since February. I do have hot flashes and had some moodiness, but Celexa took care of the latter. I was pre-menopausal but I'm taking Zoladex (it's like Lupron) to suppress ovulation. Overall, life on an AI is OK. I don't have any joint pain and haven't had any weight gain. My hair hasn't thinned, and I've been sleeping well. If the SEs remain stable, I don't think I'll have a problem doing this for 10 years. Best wishes to you!

Zoladex and Tamoxifen here, since October of last year. Have some moments of being too warm suddenly. Other than that, no really bad side effects, and I actually lost weight after going on hormonal tx. It's not bad for everyone. However, I have a theory that this is easier if one is older and closer to natural menopause.

I did 5 years and was fine. I was a little hot flashy at first (changed my wardrobe....no turtlenecks, wore layers, zip down the front sweaters, got a tower fan for my desk at work & a couple others for home), and a little stiff & achy (a friend who had started before me said, 'Keep moving" and so I did....kept up with my exercise routine and made sure I got lots of movement during my regular day too). I'd say it took about 6 months for my body to adjust (I was never that bad but all of the sudden I realized I wasn't achy from sitting on the bleachers at a basketball game.....that kind of thing). Go in thinking everything will go well, and deal with any SEs as they arise. DON'T spend a lot of time on the internet (including here) reading about people's horrible experiences or you will drive yourself crazy. Remember that they are the minority, the people who are doing well are mostly just out living their lives.

hi shelleym,

I am 47 and about 2 months into Tamoxifen with little SEs. I was premeno before chemo.

I feel hot sometimes, but not bad. Also i am in Fla. and it is blistering out here now, so I just crank down my extra window unit at night and chill

I read too much about Tamoxifen prior to starting and it flipped me out, all for no reason. Hopefully you will not have any extreme SE either! Oh, did have some insomnia at first but it is resolved.

How ya doin otherwise?

I have been on Arimidex for 5 years and I will be on it for 10 years. At first I really had a hard time but after 3 or 4 months, everything cleared up. No problems with it now....so glad I stayed on it.

I'm 38 and even though it's not great I will be doing this for 10 years if necessary. Sometimes I wish I had stocks in lubricants since the long lasting lubricants can be expensive. You can switch between different types of AIs also or just do tamoxifen.

Hi all, I have been on Arimidex for just over 5 months and was petrified of theSE's. Fortunately I have only had some hot flashes and insomnia now and then, no joint pain or weight gain. Have dry lips though. I am vey active, walk and exercise every day. Also have VitD3 of 116 so maybe a combination of these which is helpful. Good luck

Cowgirl, that sounds like an excellent plan. Also the threads "Surgery: It went pretty well," "Chemo: Side effects are manageable," and "Radiation: Not that bad."

Do NOT spend time on those sites or threads....when I first started I stayed away from them like the plague because they scared me so much (now I just go over once and awhile and try to be 'the voice of reason'). Be grateful that this is an option for us (people with other types of cancer, including our triple negative sisters, would be thrilled if there was something they could take on a long term basis that would reduce their chance of recurrence!). Just take it and then go out and live your life. If you have side effects, deal with them as they arise.

Cowgirl,

that would be great as reading about the SEs before starting arimidex scared the shit out of me. I've been on my arrimdex now for 3 days so far so good

Ruthbru,

I wish I'd seen this thread a couple of weeks ago, it would have saved me a lot of grief. I'm not a newbie to cancer, but my last tangle was back in 1990, TN in my 30's. They gave me a poor prognosis, and chemo but no hormones. So this time around Triple positive, chemo I was familiar with MX I was familiar with, herceptin's kind like chemo so okay, the scariest thing for me this time was the AIs as most everything I read here was about people being crippled by it, horrible SEs, really scarey stuff. I was almost not going to take it, as my MOs have said I'm low risk this time around, and have done chemo and herceptin, I figure why not do everything I can to avoid having to do this again in 25 yrs, or less. So glad I found this!

Just started Tamoxifen 3 days ago! Fingers crossed!

Suladog.....you won't know until you try. I am the only one with breast cancer, but one of my 2 sisters took HRT because she had hot flashes 23 out of 24 hours of the day. I had minimal hot flashes even during Arimidex.

Just finished my 5 years of Arimidex a month ago. Yes, I do feel a bit different now, but my side effects were mostly additional achiness which I am glad to be rid of. Unfortunately, my right knee still gives me grief, which was true before all this started. I have an active, and full life. I do endurance cycling, running, hiking and skiing. My guy says (not exactly in these words!) that my libido is just fine. I am doing the best work of my life and career. I did not gain weight.

I did not think that the medical evidence is strong enough to continue for 10 years.

I am suspecting you will be just fine. Good luck! - Claire