Letrozol - side effects

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Moag
Moag Member Posts: 12
edited February 2019 in Hormonal Therapy - Before, During, and After

Hi lovely warriors,

I have been on Letrozol for three months now and I have some pain in my back. This worries me of course. I do have a lot of muscle tension in my back and I get treatment for this now. It is better for a while, but then the pain comes back.

Is this a common side effect? Would really appreciate to hear from others what your side effects of AI are, and especially if you have back pain. When to worry about back pain? I finished treatment in september.

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  • softness1
    softness1 Member Posts: 217
    edited February 2019

    I've been on it for only a week and had horrific back pains. I took myself off. I refuse to deal with that. I have already completed the 5 yrs of Tamoxifen with all of the side effects. I can't do it again. I'm so mad. I figure removing both breast, doing 6 months of chemo and 5 years of hormone therapy should be enough. I'm so tired of feeling out of it. Neuropathy, extreme exhaustion, aches and pains.. It's been over 6 years of this.. I need a break

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  • LoveFromPhilly
    LoveFromPhilly Member Posts: 1,308
    edited February 2019

    it is an exhausting process. I am on letrozole and some days are worse than others. I def have developed arthritis in my joints and spine. And I crack and pop and ache like a 90 year old! Today was a rougher day trying to get out of bed. Everything felt achy and sorta flu-like. Went for a walk (about 3 miles) and now back in bed resting. Some days are much better than orhers

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  • Polly413
    Polly413 Member Posts: 124
    edited February 2019

    I have been on letrozole for a year. I had stiffness/ache in hands and joints for a few months when I first started but most went away. Now I have no pain and am just stiff when I first stand up. Once I move around I am okay. Biggest issue for me is after all this time with minimal side effects, my hair is falling out. Have not had back pain at all. I hope yours goes away like my early joint pain did. Polly

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  • FarAwayToo
    FarAwayToo Member Posts: 255
    edited February 2019

    I have back pain on and off, I've been on letrozole since April of 2018, so about 10 months now. I also had oophorectomy in August of 2018.

    My pain moves around: different sides, different locations. It also goes away completely for several weeks or more. I was completely pain free since the end of November, and just started hurting again two days ago. Most of the time I can pinpoint the cause of my pain: this week I was working for long stretches of time and caught myself sitting tightly crossed -legged, and this puts lots of pressure on my lower back. I was warned not to do that by chiropractors, but I still do it when I concentrate on work and forget about it. I've had this issue since before BC and letrozole, but now I feel like I don't have as much leeway in doing things wrong. I used to be hard on my body, and would recover quickly, but now I'm learning to treat it as if it is, in fact, a menopausal body of a 60 year old (I'm 42).

    If your pain is always in one spot and doesn't get better with rest, gentle massage or exercise, I'd get it checked out. Otherwise I think joint and muscle pain is a pretty common side effect of AIs.

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  • Moag
    Moag Member Posts: 12
    edited February 2019

    Thank you all so much for taking the time to answer.

    Softness, did your pain go away immediately after quitting the AIs?

    And LoveFromPhilly, I am so sorry to read you have mets to bones. Do you know they are not what is causing your back pain? Can they see it is somewhere else in your bones? This is exactly what I fear I have, you see...

    I am only 42 and mother to young kids, I am so scared...The doctors here are so sure this is nothing to worry about, that I might have Fibromyalgia, but how can I not worry when I have these aches and pain all the time. 

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  • sweetp6217
    sweetp6217 Member Posts: 365
    edited February 2019

    I've been taking Letrozole for 7 months now. As for SE, I really can't tell what they're from. I was experiencing lower back, neck, knee, ribcage, hip, hand and foot pain and/or neuropathy before treatments. The pain level is low for the most part and some are quite brief. The one side effect I really don't care for is that I can't seem to resist foods and sodas. I went off of soda pops for 5 days and that's the longest I've been able to do. When I did, I lost 5 pounds. That ended and I gained back the 5 pounds.

    They had me try PT for a few weeks and that was O.K. up until the last session. Almost a total waste of time since I haven't continued any of the exercises. I feel that something that won't go away is on my back, so to speak. I just can't break my bad habits and I want to blame in on this drug.

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