Femara, Arimidex or Aromasin- oh my- which one?

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Desmonds1
Desmonds1 Member Posts: 54 Member
in Breast Cancer #1

Hi

looking for thoughts on these- I am two weeks out from my hysterectomy, ER +, 46 yrs- have been on tamoxifen for 7 months and now will be switching to one of these AIs-

Any recommendations appreciated !

Ty, Susan

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  • Josie21
    Josie21 Member Posts: 382 Member
    #2
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    AI's

    Hi Susan.

    I was on tamoxifen for two and a half years. Then at about your age I had a hysterectomy and was switched to Arimidex. I had a lot of side effects, so within four months I switched to Aromasin and did much better with that. The main side effects were joint pain. Try one and if you feel like it is giving you side effects, you can try another.  The new protocol for these drugs is 10 years, so since I never had side effects with the tamoxifen my doctor put me back on that for five more years. So I did tamoxifen (2 and a 1/2 yrs) , Arimidex (4 months), Aromasin (2 years and 2 months) and now tamoxifen for 5 years (3 and a half years left to go).  I don't care if I have to take it forever as long as the cancer doesn't come back!

    I hope you do great on the AI's.  

    Ginny

  • TraciInLA
    TraciInLA Member Posts: 1,994 Member
    #3
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    My oncologist's take on this

    My oncologist gave a presentation for the public on breast cancer treatment at our hospital last year, and was asked this same question.  His response was, "I start with whichever one the patient's insurance will cover at the cheapest copay." 

    His answer was met with horrified gasps from the audience, which clearly surprised him, and he went on to explain that the research data does not show a difference in effectiveness between the 3 drugs, and that you can't predict which drugs may cause which side effects in a particular woman until you try -- every patient is different.

    So you have to start somewhere, so why not start with whichever one will cost the patient less?  Then, if there are side effects, you can move on to trying one of the others.

    I'm nowhere near menopause, so am on Tamoxifen for now and am not a candidate for the AIs -- but someday, when the time comes, I'm sure I'll follow my oncologist's practical advice on this.

    Hope this helps?

    Traci

  • Desmonds1
    Desmonds1 Member Posts: 54 Member
    #4
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    TraciInLA said:

    My oncologist's take on this

    My oncologist gave a presentation for the public on breast cancer treatment at our hospital last year, and was asked this same question.  His response was, "I start with whichever one the patient's insurance will cover at the cheapest copay." 

    His answer was met with horrified gasps from the audience, which clearly surprised him, and he went on to explain that the research data does not show a difference in effectiveness between the 3 drugs, and that you can't predict which drugs may cause which side effects in a particular woman until you try -- every patient is different.

    So you have to start somewhere, so why not start with whichever one will cost the patient less?  Then, if there are side effects, you can move on to trying one of the others.

    I'm nowhere near menopause, so am on Tamoxifen for now and am not a candidate for the AIs -- but someday, when the time comes, I'm sure I'll follow my oncologist's practical advice on this.

    Hope this helps?

    Traci

    Thank you Ginny and

    Thank you Ginny and Traci-

    yup- we need to start with one drug and see how it goes-

    i also saw a new drug that Dana Farber was using with an AI-palbociclib-

    just approved this Feb. By FDA- keep the research coming!

    Susan

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