Exhausted
Comments
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It may not be the letrozole. Your body's been through a lot this year and it takes quite a while to heal. I didn't have radiation but a friend of mine who did said the fatigue lasted quite a while. I'm 2 years post surgery and I still tire much more easily but I've learned to cope with it
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I’m sorry you are so exhausted but relieved to know I am not the only one. I’ve been taking anastrozole for over 4 months and feel like I could sleep all day and night. I saw my mo today and she acted surprised when I said I’m so tired I have trouble getting up in the morning. I’m not anemic so there’s no reason for me to be tired in her opinion. Am I just be lazy?
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Joyce - I don't think it's lazy, there are a few of us who feel this way, it's frustrating when you see so many who are exercising and living life while we are napping. I take naps, I get winded just plucking vegetables from the garden, I tried to do yoga this am, lasted 10 minutes and fell to the mat for a break. There was a few weeks where I felt good, I think it was when I was off the Tamoxifen or just starting back on it. I am ready to call it quits again to see what happens with my energy level. Tired of telling my kids I need a nap or I just don't feel well (nausea is another issue I am having lately).
If anyone has the cure for tiredness please, pretty please share.
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- Vampeyes, thank you for making me feel better. You made me laugh. I can picture myself laid out on a mat instead doing yoga. Yesterday I was almost in tears vacuuming because I was just so tired. I don’t even want to say I’m tired to my doctors. I get reminded how lucky I am that it was caught early and didn’t have to go through radiation or chemo. I know I am very lucky but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m exhausted.
- I too would love to know how to be on AIs and not be tired.
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I am tired everyday and have been off Femara for a year.
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Joyce so glad I could help. Anytime you are feeling down remember the girl who laid on the mat 10 minutes into yoga, lol. I get sooooo tired of hearing how lucky I am that they caught it early and I didn't have to do chemo. No maybe I didn't, but that doesn't stop the fact that I have to tell my boys mommy needs a nap or just doesn't feel well and needs to sit or lie down. I sure hope the doctor has something for me tomorrow. I am trying everything from herbs to changing my diet and it's just getting worse. 42 and feel 92!
Marijen don't tell me that! I was looking forward to having energy in 10 years when I am allowed to quit Tamoxifen. lol
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I am so glad I am not alone, although I wish none of us felt this way. My oncologist said right off the bat that it was a tough drug and if it started effecting my quality of life we would talk. I see him Wednesday. I am able to push myself so hard to work 3 12 hour shifts in a busy level 1 trauma center ... but my days off are feeling horrible. I think the only thing I haven't tried is walking 30 minutes a day. For some reason I can pull a 12 hour shift out of my a** But laundry cooking cleaning etc feels like an impossible chore.
I have thought of leaving it in fates hands and taking nothing , but before I was an Er nurse I worked Oncology for many many years. What would i tell my patients then.
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Tkane - have you thought about switching? There are what 3 AIs avaiable or maybe try a different brand name? I switched the generic Tamoxifen to the Brand name and although I still have SE's I don't think they are quite as bad as the first prescription I received.
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Me too I echo in.
I am tired too. No motivation, no energy. I get headaches if I "overdo" it.
It is the Arimidex and everything I have been thru too. My body had 5 surgeries (2 hours + each) less than one year with one being a mastectomy. Then panic attacks which are under control, then arimidex and headaches from that and now hives from something.
I too am sick and tired of saying "i don't feel well"
On the plus side, I am happy I am thru all that.
wallan
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Looking forward to another tired day, sorry Vampeyes! No motivation is the worst.
Wallan, how did you get your panic attacks under control? Have you been tired from 2004?
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My oncologist doesn’t believe Arimidex would cause me to have any problems other than bone loss. I’m not anemic so the only thing that could be causing fatigue is sleep apnea. She also wants me to have a prolia shot in October because I’m osteopenia. Prolia shots won’t cause me any issues either in her opinion.
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My oncologist was the same, thought my symptoms were all in my head (depression and anxiety), so I fired him and got a better oncologist. Now the new onc and I have decided to let my GP deal with any issues that may come up. Seeing him today, wish me luck!!!
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Vampeyes, I just hate when a doctor is a depression/anxietypusher. Why don’t they understand what has happened to us.
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My oncologist was the same, thought my symptoms were all in my head (depression and anxiety), so I fired him and got a better oncologist. Now the new onc and I have decided to let my GP deal with any issues that may come up. Seeing him today, wish me luck!!!
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Good Luck Vampeyes! I saw my GP today and he believes AIs are rough due to side effects (he listened to me!). I am dizzy a lot so I am going to take a different blood pressure medication to see if that helps. I take nexium which effects calcium absorption so I am going to try a lower dose for GERD and will see him again in 3 weeks. He is concerned with Prolia shots due to side effects that I may have to endure for the 6 months it is in my body plus it can cause fractures (great for bones??) His wife is a year older than me, has osteoporosis and doesn't want her taking the shots. I felt so much better after talking to him. He thinks I'm doing well considering I'm taking pills that "suck" all the hormones from my body.
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My MO didn’t believe my trigger thumb was due to Femara, so I brought her an article that included trigger fingers and carpal tunnel. It only put her off. She wrote in her notes that I brought two pieces of paper from the Internet. The other was concerning the eyes. When I tried to show her a new lump under my arm she said I was feeling my rib, even though it was cherry size. But she did get me an MRI that was negative.
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Wow, marijen, I think you and I have the same MO! Or maybe they are all like that!
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Jennie, when she does a breast exam, which I hate, it’s over in 15 seconds. I ask her she can find any deep lumps when she presses so lightly, and she says it’s hard.
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Blood work and ultrasound to be done. I think it's the Tamoxifen, maybe a break to prove it is.
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Just wanted to give you all some hope. I have been on Arimidex for 6 years. First, for a lot of women chemo fatigue lasts for at least 2 years, sometimes longer. Those first two years were tough dealing with the chemo fatigue and the severe joint pain. I would stand at the top of my steps and cry. I came so close to buying a one-story home.
But I made up my mind I was going to suffer it out as I had a lot of strikes against me. After year 2, all of my SEs got better. Plus, the chemo fatigue left. I am so glad I made it through.
My sister is also on Arimidex and is now 2.5 years out from chemo and treatment. Just these last few months she started to get a lot more energy back. Also, she has been on Arimidex for 2 years, and her SEs are subsiding as well.
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Thanks Denise G! Hope is a good thing!!
Marijen: Panic attacks are wicked and incapacitating. They were for me. I had my DH attend with me to my GP and he told him how incapacitated I am from them. I was having panic at his office that day as well.
So he put me on 150 mg Effexor XR per day and 0.5 mg clonazapem up to 2x per day if needed. I only needed the clonazapem for one day. Just knowing I could take something calmed me down. I have only used it one more time when I was having an MRI to check for brain mets.
I still take the effexor XR. I must say, if I get weird symptoms I cannot explain, I get a panic attack. So they are linked to having BC diagnosis twice. I don't get them otherwise.
wallan
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Joyce - my internist suggested Prolia infusions instead of taking Boniva 1x a month. I said no. Taking Boniva + calcium supplements and Vit D is fine with me. I have osteoporosis. A few months ago it was brutal but since then no issues at all. I’m a pretty active person too which helps.
I had zero SEs from Arimidex but Tamoxifen caused joint pain and difficulty concentrating. Why my MO prescribed Arimidex to begin with is beyond me given I had osteopenia at the time and Arimidex attacks the bones.
I also take Prozac to keep my anxiety to a minimum.
Some doctors are so insensitive to the physical and emotional roller coaster we are all on dealing with this insidious disease. How would they feel if it was a family member of theirs?
Good luck ladies. So far, so good for me. 7 years out this month.
Diane
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Wallan, that's the problem. Anxiety and pain are the hardest things to prove. You shouldn't have had to take your DH with you so that your doctor would believe you.
I don't think there's anywhere to report these inept insensitive doctors. They don't seem to have bosses or superiors.
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Fatigue is another thing hard to prove. My GP believes me and feels SEs will improve.
Thank you Diane. I'm going to ask him about Boniva if he feels I need anything for my bones
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I thought of another thing hard to prove - insomnia.
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I forgot how terrible insomnia can be. Not sure which is worse sleeping too much or being awake all night. Maybe I should think of anastrozole as a sleeping pill.
Vampeyes, do you have an appointment for your ultrasound?
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Marijen:
You are so right. I am often angry at my doctor for not listening. I had been to him a few weeks prior to taking my DH with me and told him I was having "episodes" which I did not know were panic attacks or not at that point. You know how panic attacks trick into thinking you are dying. Anyways, he told me then it sounded like panic attacks and that everyone gets one now and then. Sent me home.
But as the panic attacks worsened because I didn't believe for sure it was panic, which made me more panicky, my DH said to go back to the GP because I was a mess. I asked him to come to tell the doctor so he could tell the doctor how bad I was. He believed me then.
I have had discussions with him about insomnia too and he told me he will not prescribe anything and to try sleep hygiene and make sure I get 6 hrs a night. He said most "postmenopausal" women have trouble sleeping. Its expected. And that was that.
Thank God my original MO moved on and a new one came aboard with a wonderful nurse practitioner. She helped me with my sleep/insomnia. I no longer have insomnia most nights. She told me to take melatonin a few hours before bed, get up if I can't sleep and don't sleep during the day. She said if it gets bad, take a clonazapem at bedtime. So, just her listening and being taken seriously helped me. She told me to change the time I take Arimidex. I started taking it at suppertime with food. I must say, most SE have disappeared after this. If my SE had not abated, the NP said they would switch me to something else. She even calls me home to see how I am doing after two or three weeks after seeing her. Feeling cared for makes a difference.
wallan
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Wow wallan, I would love to have an NP like that. Actually I had one and she recently left so now I'm stuck with someone that wants to make a mountain out of molehill on everything instead of just helping me. I don't think everyone gets panic attacks from time to time. I don't think I get them but I do come close - the last time was when I thought I threw my password list into the dumpster! haha, thought I would have a heart attack and I did get sweaty with heart pounding. I told my heart doctor about that one. I tried melatonin, small dose, big dose, it doesn't work good for me, I get nightmares. Can't take benedryl either it keeps me awake all night. A muscle relaxer puts me to sleep but doesn't keep me asleep.
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Not yet, I honestly think the nausea is somehow related to the Tamoxifen and Hormones. Didn't get that last period and now I am spotting almost two weeks later. I don't feel nauseous today, which is mainly why I think it is the hormones that were causing it. Maybe my fatigue will improve now too. lol. I use to get super exhausted right before a period, and once it came I was "normal" again. Here I was hoping Tamoxifen would get rid of all those awful SE's I had the week before PMS! Darn. lol
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Hi everyone. OMG really? Why on earth would we have to prove our symptoms? Why isn't just reporting them enough? Why do so many MOs deny the side effects of anti hormones? They can wreak havoc on our bodies! IMO if they were more open about SE issues and would work with us to fix them, more of us would stay on them. Forty percent completion rate is just not good enough!
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