Aromasin and joint stiffness

The only thing that helped me was to stop taking it. After 4 years I completely gave it up. Like you I was exercising everyday, I switched to exemestane still had joint pain and developed other issues.

Most of it disappeared. You might want to change to another drug and see if it helps. For me each had their issues but anastrozole had the worse joint pain for me.

Hi Hip, I've discovered that temporarily lowering my dose of exemestane to 1/4 pill for about a week relieved me of my trigger thumbs. When I slowly increased my dose back to normal, that SE never returned. I am currently back on a lower dose for a different set of SEs and after only 3 days they are greatly relieved. In a couple of days I will resume upping my dose. Can't promise it will work for you, but lowering my dose for a few days sure works for me!

hiphiphray,

I had immediate side effects on arimidex (tired all the time) that went away upon stopping. I switched to aromasin with much better results. Some joint pain (knees, shoulders and hands/knuckles) but manageable. Worse on the right but everyone says that isn’t a true side effect - must be bilateral to be due to the AI. whatever. I run 3x and swim 2x per week. Strength train 2x. I take Loratadine 10mg (Claritin), Caltrate 600mg calcium, 800 IU vitamin D3 (2xday), Magnesium 400mg, and Tumeric 500 mg (2x day) all with the blessing of my oncologist.

Talk to your oncologist about trying another AI if you haven’t already and also about supplements. Hopefully you can find some combination that balances quality of life with recurrence prevention.

Newy - the magnesium and caltrate support bone health. The body can only take in so much calcium at a time so I take it morning and night to get the full recommended dose. The D is in the caltrate, supporting absorption. I also eat yogurt most days.

https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-Health...

There is less evidence on tumeric for joint pain but it's not hurting me so I'm trying it.

https://nccih.nih.gov/health/turmeric/ataglance.ht...

Despite regular exercise and targeted strengthening for the alleged root cause of knee pain on the right, it hasn't gone away so I will attribute it to aromasin although everyone says AI-caused joint pain would be bilateral and everywhere. I rarely take pain med (ibuprofen, etc) choosing to ignore/live with the low level (2-3 on the 1-10 scale).

I find that regular exercise helps with all breast cancer issues - recovery from procedures, side effects of meds, emotional health, etc.

(The claritin is for general allergies - been taking that for 5+ years)

Marim - do you mean Femara? Also referred to as letrozole, the chemical name? If so, it's one of three primary aromatase inhibitors (https://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/hormonal/ar...) - read this article as it might help you connect the dots for its purpose.

None of us can advise you on taking it less often than prescribed. I can advise you to talk to your oncologist if the side effects are making it hard for you take it as prescribed. He/she may switch you to one of the other two aromatase inhibitors (AI) in hopes of finding you one that you can tolerate. This was how I ended up on aromasin - the arimidex that I started on made me feel tired and lethargic. Switching was a game changer.