Aromatase Inhibitor and just walking away.

I bought Loratidine last week and it seems to be working as well as Claritin did.

Not sure how active this is, but I have a call in to my oncologist about walking away from my AI. I can't go on tamoxifen due to a blood clotting issue, so I am getting a Lupron shot every month to put me into menopause and then taking Arimidex. I hate it. It has only been two months and I have lost all vaginal sensation and I am so fatigued that my quality of life sucks.

I did my time sort of 4 years total. I am never going back as long as cancer does not return. It takes a long time to feel better.

Hi,

I just found this site and this is my first post. I'm on exemestane. I had stage 2B ER PR positive. Finished chemo and radiation treatment in November 2014. And then began taking exemestane. It made the bones in my hands and feet feel stiff but not unbearable. I was wicked, wicked tired and depressed, but it's always really hard to tell whether it's the cancer and other negative situations in your life or the medicine. I was so depressed and tired I stop taking it. I think I felt a little less fatigued but it didn't help the depression go away (even though I'm on an antidepressant, which I was on anyway before I ever even had cancer).

But here's my question;

Rather than going off it completely, I have been taking it for two months on, then two months off, then two months on, then two months off for year. I just didn't want to think about cancer anymore. And I could not get the words "estrogen BLOCKER" out of my mind in terms of thinking that an estrogen blocker is going to SUCK the life out of me. Started taking it when I was 53. Isn't the "estrogen BLOCKER", in a sense, just accelerating a woman's age and doing damage anyway in terms of sucking her dry of her womanly hormones? That was supposed to keep us vital? I can't understand why people are not freaked out when they are told they are going to take a pill for five years that's going to BLOCK their estrogen! Am I out of my mind… Does anybody have any similar thoughts or information contrary to my logic? I'm really worried about not taking the pill. Katie

I gave up on the inhibitors after my 10 time in hospital in 2 years, most of them due to one complication or another. The straw was this last one, I had an infusion for osteoperosis due to the femara. After I came out of hospital I went and saw my Onc and told him I was pulling the plug and to my surprise he said he didn't blame me.

Some of the side effects I have had through my treament have been life threatening. My thoughts are no point in stopping the cancer from returning if I die before hand. I will deal if it comes back.

I am now going down the natural road, keeping my body alkaline and tring to look after myself as best5 as possible.

KarenAus

I completed 5years on Tamoxifen a couple of months ago. I walked away, opted out, just plain decided not to go for another 5years. Tamoxifen caused me quite a few problems. Growing uterine polyps(at least 1 per year) that had to be surgically removed was one of them. I'm post meno now & could switch to an AI. The benefit is small for me. It was presented as an option but not strongly recommended.

Thank you KatieMarie!

"I can't understand why people are not freaked out when they are told they are going to take a pill for five years that's going to BLOCK their estrogen! Am I out of my mind… Does anybody have any similar thoughts or information contrary to my logic? I'm really worried about not taking the pill."

I could not have articulated my fear of changing who I am as a woman to prevent BC from returning better than your earlier post! I am absolutely terrified of starting down this road!!!

Will arimidex? Benefit an 80 year old woman...Who does not have much estrogen anyway....I do not want to take it....And decided not to have radiation either.....Just lumpectomy....Surgeon said he removed all the cancer!!

Hi Hope1201 I am on anastrozole after trying letrozole and one other. Because I had a blood clot these are my only options. Your right I did have terrible bone pain and was able to handle it for maybe 8 months then I was onto the next pill. Anastrozole is my last chance at taking some kind of estrogen blocker. So needless to say I will stay on this pill for as long as I can. I was at my oncologist office yesterday to go over a ct scan because they have found nodules in my lung. I guess what Im trying to say is that after all that I have been through I will put up with the pain because thinking your cancer might have metastasized is a terrible feeling. You could always try the pills and see how you feel everyone is different, maybe it won't bother you as much as you think. You can alway stop taking them. Again its a personal choice only you can make.

I am so amazed and jealous of women who have no side effects! On Arimidex first 5 mos could not walk at night because of the Achilles tendon pain. On Femara last month, only slight, bearable Achilles tendon pain, but raised my cholesterol too high and have to take statins. I wonder if anyone have alternating drugs and how often with what results? I am thinking alternating them frequently would somehow disrupt the SE? Any thoughts, experience? This is my first year of hormone therapy and already I am not happy, wanting to quit every day.

Welcome Bright55!

I'm still hanging in there on Exemestane now for 10 months after a nightmare time with Letrozole last year. I am EXTREMELY tired and have gained WAY too much weight - both are depressing...but not as depressing as cancer returning! )

I have found that taking L-Theanine everyday is helping me to level the emotions and cope better. I feel for me it is safer than taking antidepressants.

Just 4 more years to go. :oD

Hang in there, girls!

Ade

Must correct a misconception—aromatase isn’t converted to estrogen. Instead, it’s the enzyme the liver makes, which converts the androgens made by fat (especially belly fat) cells and adrenal glands into estrogen. So long as we have fat cells (which can be reduced in volume but eliminated only by surgery) and adrenal glands (which we can’t live without), we ER+ patients need to chemically inhibit the aromatase our livers produce. Androgen is converted to estrogen by aromatase.

Those hives may be caused by an allergy to one or more inactive ingredients in your AI—dyes, metal salts, lactose, talc, etc. Before giving up the drug, try switching manufacturers to a version that contains the fewest inactive ingredients you can find. In my case, the letrozole made by Roxane has fewer inactive ingredients than brand name Femara, which in turn has fewer than Teva, which most patients report they can best tolerate.

Letro has increased my LDL almost to the point I may have to start a statin (only my very high HDL keeps the ratio in the “okay” level). But my a1c is creeping up, and statins do increase both that and blood glucose. So I may also have to go on metformin. It’s a bitch to realize you’ve reached the age where when one thing “breaks,” “fixing” it breaks something else, then fixing that breaks yet another thing, ad nauseam.

We are so often exhorted to “do all that we can do” to “kill cancer” and prevent mets that we lose sight of the difference between “all that we can do” and all that we should do. That’s one reason I like my MO. She “gets it."

My PCP is very conservative about most meds, especially statins (unlike my DH, a cardiologist). He is monitoring my total cholesterol-to-LDL ratio and CRP, and advising lifestyle measures so long as my ratio remains in the desirable range and my CRP not elevated. Practicing an anti-inflammatory lifestyle & diet sounds like the key. But avoiding all sources of inflammation is easier said than done, especially when it makes life extremely boring and unpleasant for many of us. I try to stay away from refined carbs & sugar, but stress and AIs make it very difficult (especially when I had to take a steroid to combat severe laryngitis & asthmatic bronchitis in Dec. & Jan.). I do take CoQ10, low-dose aspirin and krill oil for heart health, though. Testing to determine extent of plaque is either invasive (angiography) or high in radiation (ultrafast CT) or both. And neither can determine whether those plaques are stable or friable.

This might sound funny, but what I don't get about hormone therapy is, is it supposed to only protect you only whilst on it or is it supposed to protect into the future when you are not on it anymore..whether that's in 5 or 10 years? Because when people come off it, obviously estrogen is going to start to circulating again..whether that's from your ovaries or what goes in your body in general..so if you're ER/PR positive, does that mean any amount of estrogen can now set off recurrence or is it only when estrogen dominant? Excuse the ignorance 😀

hi beach kate

Consider starting the AI ..this seems to be recommened protocol world wide

Did you have lymph node involvement?

Tocombat osteoporisis keep fit follow info from this site lots of fitness and nutrition info

Loose weight reduce carbs and alcohol

Im 9 months on letrozole still active no side effects

For me it is reducing the size of my lung mets

Good luck