FEMARA

The 3-4% figure she gave me was the difference between taking AIs v staying on Tamox supposed effectiveness.

Ok Ladies , Im confused. What are AL's...........I will be starting Femara { letrozoleo ) on Monday. Is this different then AL or the same thing just a different form. So confused lots to learn in a few short months and trying to wrap my head around everything .

Any help understanding would be much appreciated

You mean AI's? Aromatase Inhibitors. These are Femara, Arimidex and Aromasin (and of course their generics). They are recommended for women post menopausal v Tamoxifen as they shut down estrogen production whereas Tamoxifen blocks the receptor sites. There's a great explanation I think it's ChiSandy that gave using a donut shop visual a few pages back if even that far.

What we are trying to say here is the benefits (if any as we don't know if it even works on us individually) may not be worth the horrid side effects some of us experience for this 3% difference between Tamoxifen and whatever AI you are on. I tried Letro and a couple days in I was miserable, but stuck with it until 5 weeks when I saw my MO for the how's it going visit. Terrible se's for me, debilitating. Hair loss is huge for me as is joint issues as I have joint arthritis pre-cancer and the head stuff---- so I'm back on Tamoxifen and tolerating it well except maybe not so much my uterine fibroids. But at least with that the answer would be to just take it out which is fine by me. Tired of the cramps that come and goes whether from Tamox or not.

So of course try it, switch if you like to see if another is better, different manufacturers may be better, but don't fret if you are like some of us that quality of life is bad on these. Tamoxifen is always there that is more tolerable than AIs in general.

So I'd like to try to clarify some of these numbers.....it was stated that on placebo 7.5% had recurrence and on Femara it was 4.7%. I understand that is about a difference of 3% but isn't it actually a difference of about 40%? I mean if 4 women recurred on Femara and 7 on placebo, wouldn't that mean almost twice as many? The reason I ask this is when I was diagnosed my BS wrote out some numbers for me. One of those said endometrial cancer was about 50% greater with Tamoxifen which freaked me out. He then explained that only 1% of women overall get it and Tamoxifen increases that risk to 2%. So basically the risk was very very low but still double the average woman. He then went on to say that with diligent screening/TVUS we could watch for any problems and catch them early. When I did eventually have those problems, I had a hysterectomy. So am I thinking of these numbers the wrong way? I did ask him if I should swap to an AI after my hysterectomy and he said that the percentage improvement over Tamoxifen was only a couple of percentage points for someone with my stats and since I do well on Tamoxifen, he wouldn't rock the boat. I need to pick his brain at my next appointment!

I grew a nice beard and my eyebrows got thicker like a middle eastern guy. GL BB. I was thinking generic Aromosin for a try but I got shell shocked out of the monthly cost. Don't understand how the other 2 can be found cheap and this one not.

how weird is it that on Femera, we lose hair on ourhead but gain hair on our chin...ugh....! My mom never told me anything about chinny hairs!!!!!!

zarovka....very interesting study. It finally explains the difference between absolute and relative risk. We all need to make informed decisions about treatment options and this certainly helps! Thanks for posting....

I don't know how an MO can assure us of anything. Hopefully it won't get worse but no one can read into the future. SEs can crop up or get worse at any time while taking the med.

Well, I thought the sheer exhaustion I feel is from Ibrance. But after reading a dozen pages I realize the Femara kicks butt too.

QUESTION: Anyone please if you know - does Ibrance work slowly and reduce the cancer size. But THEN just maintain the size even though it is not gone yet?

Today I started radz on a lymph node mass that is crushing my right airway into the lung. The first two months it had reduced significantly. Then the CT showed no change after two more months. Same with the hilar node and nodes in clavicle area.

Thank you.

Good news at my hairdresser. Last Nov I was getting bad receding of my hairline at the temples and thinning on top. Every haircut it was worse. I sprung for the $3,000 laser cap from Capillus. They do a 75% refund if I think doesn't work which is a 10% chance. It worked!!!! . Hairdresser showed me before and afterward photos she took of my scalp. We are so excite don't as I was her first client for this! She took training last year on hair loss and became a fitter for the

Actually you continue to use it indefinately every other day for 1/2 hour. It helps scalp circulation. Dont know if it would receed again if i stopped using it

They have cheaper models with less lasers per sq inch, but if i was going to do it i wanted the best shot

bc library - go to your profile (top menu) and enter your diagnostic history.

you also have to go to settings (on the left menu) and make it public.

the signature line with diagnosis and treatment information is what makes this site more useful than others. discussing cancer without context is not very useful.

welcome. remember that people who are having problems with letrozol post here. the people who do not have problems are off doing other things. there are many of them. try it and assume everything will be fine. if you have issues, stop back in here and get you through it. it can take months for the symptoms to appear.

at stage III, you really need to be taking this stuff. we'll get you through it.

>Z<

How do you manage frequent hot flashes, especially at night? They seem to come on every 1.5 hours and it's hard to get a good night's sleep.

Some people take tumeric-curcumin with black pepper in it capsules, some gabapentin (an rx). I have gabapentin but haven't used it yet. I think the Sports Research tumeric-curcumin w/black pepper capsules I take are helping to where there are days I don't have warm flushes or if I do, it's not bad. It's so individual what works, if anything. The true test will be in the warmer weather.

Make sure it has black pepper in it.