Arimidex......where do you ache and creak??

I'm on Femara, but I did go to physical therapy recently for the shoulder on side my surgery was on.  I didn't realize I had been favoring that arm, it did help.

Where don't you ache, might be a good question.  Even my pinky joints ache sometimes.  After the 5 years i guess we all have a big celebration!

good luck,

Yvonne

may i say EVERYWHERE?? ok- that may be a slight exaggeration however i do have pain from head to toe- i have a stiff right shoulder that travels all the way down my arm to my trigger thumb ( haven't been able to bend it for almost a year now) my hands are like claws- the joints on my fingers are inflamed and gnarly and downright ugly- my hips ache constantly and my knees creak and stiffen up even if i only sit for a short while- my feet throb and when i first wake up in the morning i need to give them a few minutes before i dare stand up on them - i have mentioned all of these maladies to my oncologist who denies any connection to the arimidex- hmmmm?but i take it everyday trying very hard to convince myself it will keep the cancer away- most ladies recommend exercise ( i do yoga and pilates along with weight training ) and that has helped alot- but it's still there - only good news- i reach my 5 year mark in 2009!!!

Dear CayenneBlue: 

Thanks for asking the specific question (where we hurt) and addressing the nagging worry regarding  what is making us hurt.   I posted arimidex se versus mets as I frankly wondered if my pain was actually caused by arimidex and not something more awful.  I can tell you understand! 

My pain was in my shins and it was very constant.  The onc said cancer very rarely spreads below the elbows or the knees.  He said to take Alleve for one week and then go off and to come back if the legs still hurt.  The pain  cleared up.  YEAH!

Now my hip hurts,.   so I am doing the Alleve thing on my own and following  the two week rule.  IF it hurts after two weeks, I will go to the doctor!  That rule gives me a sense of being in control. The pain is never awful;  just annoying (as you mentioned). To be honest, I would never had gone to a doctor in the past for this sort of pain, but the BC diagnosis haunts me and so.....I wonder..........  

I have been on arimidex for 10 mos and I am 59 and my pain started about

6 mos. ago.  I am very active and work fulltime as an English teacher.  The pain does not impact my work.

Thanks again for posing the questions!  Please let us know what you learn.

Susan 

Was on Arimidex and now on Femara.  I have stiffness and some pain throughout my body; however, most of my annoying pain is in my upper body.  My both upper arms, both shoulders and neck.  I am undergoing physcial therapy and have been told I am EXTREMELY TIGHT in my muscles in those areas.  I had a bi-lateral with implants and rads so I'm sure that has been a contributing factor.

My pain has been in my shins the longest, and then just of late in my upper arms. Weird.



I just started ibuprofen too, (with food to limit the stomach effect) and will gradually up to a decent anti-inflammatory dose (probably 800mg per day (?)) and take it for 2 weeks too and then move forward.



I've never been mentally bothered by the shin pain, as it started pretty much right away 4.8 years ago. But this upper arms mentally stresses me. My lower back pain has pretty much resolved.


Darya, great news your under arm lesion is shrinking!





Go figure, and Zap, sorry I didn't understand your question as clearly as I do now.



Tender

Thanks, Tender.



Yes, this whole recurrence thing has been super stressful. Now that the tumour's shrinking I feel I can breathe a little bit better!



Being new to this, it's obvious that arimidex is the cause, and not bone mets. I can imagine the stress when new areas of pain emerge down the road.

I have been on all of the drugs available so far and the side effects have been horrible. Femara, after 9 months left me unable to get up off the couch, my knees just stiffened right up. l had been on aromosa (?) first but the headaches were on top of my already bad migraines were unbearable. I was then switched to Tamoxifen, i felt great no problems at all until i went for my gyn appointment and they found lots of uternine fibroids (sorry if my spelling is off). I ended up having to have day surgery to remove them and was then put on arimidex in 2012

I thought everything was fine until a few ago. My left upper arm started hurting really bad. At first i thought maybe it was from the strength training class i go to but even when i lowered the weights and even missed some classes the pain remained. then the pain moved around to the back of my shoulder and i could had problems hooking my bra. I didnt say anything to my oncologist until my back started hurting so bad that i was in tears. 

Right now i am on an arimidex 'holiday' for 3 weeks to see if the pain goes away. I hope it does because i am not due to stop taking these drugs until Oct of 2015. 

Good Luck everyone!!!

Elaine