I'm in the 50% :P

Well, after less than 3 months of exemestane, I'm in the 50% of women who come off AIs due to side effects. Unlike many who have posted here, I have a very supportive oncologist, and he's actually the one who suggested I go off. I had DeQuervain's tenosynovitis, worsening of my existing carpal tunnel in my right wrist and incipient CT in my left wrist, extremely stiff and painful hands despite daily hand exercises, terrible stiffness any time I was still for more than a few moments, and knee and back pain. (And yes, I had tons of exercise- walking an average of 8500 steps a day, aquatic aerobics 2-3 times a week, 25-mile round-trip riding my bike to work 2-3 times a week, yoga once a week- I will say these helped a lot, though!) I don't think 5 years of this was tenable if the symptoms were that bad after just three months.

He's having me take a 6-week drug holiday, then most likely switching me to tamoxifen. I hope I tolerate that well! I didn't have much in the way of hot flashes during natural menopause or on the exemestane, so hopefully that won't start up.