FEMARA ORAL

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drenna
drenna Member Posts: 8
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
Could someone taking Femara oral, please tell me how it is working for them. I had a severe reaction to tamoxen and am a bit afraid to take this Femara but also not real comfortable not taking it. Any info would be helpful! Thanks Drenna

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  • cruf
    cruf Member Posts: 908
    #2
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    Hi Drenna! I took Femara for 8 months and had joint and muscle pain. It also dried out my eyes so badly that I had dry spots on my cornea. I decided I didn't like the side effects so switched to armoisen and still have dry eyes and lots of joint pain. I'm like an old lady when I get up after sleeping or sitting. Once I move around, I do better but still have discomfort. I did have Tamoxifen for 5 years and only had hot flashes. I,too, am afraid to stop taking this drug but not sure how much more time I want to be so uncomfortable.It's becomming a quality of life thing. I'm a physical therapist and finding it difficult to do my job comfortably. Good luck . I'm sure you'll do the best thing for yourself. HUGS!! Cathy
  • krkath
    krkath Member Posts: 72
    #3
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    Hi Drenna,
    I'm probably not much help in the ant-estrogen area yet. I am still going thru bone, joint and nerve pain from combo dense chemo (taxotere, A/C all at each session). At first the chemo side affects weren't that bad when I finished my rads, came back to work. So, my Onc. started me on Tamoxifen. Well, that really got the joint and bone pain going. I could NOT deal with it. Then, I tried Arimidex, THAT was worse! I was practically crippled. After a while I tried Femara and it seemed to be OK for a while, then the pain started in again. But it just seemed like once my body was ready, I would be able to tolerate the Femara.
    At 1 year and 2 months (after my last rad) I am going to a Pain Specialist every Fri. to try and control the pain I have to this day. I don't know if I will ever be able to take those ant-est. pills. We are all so different and it just seems that you have to find the right one for your body. If you're sensative, like many others, most just deal with their "Level" of comfort and/or pain and either deal with it or switch. I hope you find your happy medium. Sorry for not enough info, but maybe others can tell you what worked for them. Although, I have heard the "New" Arimidex has caused considerable pain for quite a few women. And of course there are those that, their bodies can Handle it. Tough isn't it? Hang in there and HUGS to you and you ARE tough!
    Kathy
  • Susan956
    Susan956 Member Posts: 510
    #4
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    I am not on Femara, but I am on Arimidex. While I will be happy when my next 4 years is over and I can stop the drug, it is tolerable.... and it helps make sure that the beast never returns. My biggest two problems are not sleeping (resorted to taking sleeping pills) and hot flashes... my mini vacations in the tropics.. they are pretty severe (I take 1000 IE Vitamin E)..but again.. I try to ignore them as much as possible...

    As for joint pain... mine has gotten much better since I got off chemo, however on my surgery side, I still have substantial stiffness and soreness in my left arm, shoulder and neck. I have resorted there to a Chiropractor, who does both adjustments... but the real deal is that he does deep tissue massages.. It has been a life saver in dealing with pain management.

    Also even though it seem counter intuitive, exercise. The more you move the more your joints can lubricate themselves. Make sure the exercise you do is low impact on your joints.. (ie walk, don't run, use an elipical trainer,etc) You will find out that you will typically feel better when you exercise rather than worse. And over time it will pay big benefits. I know this sounds really hard... but I have tried to take each problem and try to find adjustments so they become little more than an irritant to my normal happy life.

    Take care... If you start taking Femera and have side effects, keep pushing your onc for solutions to make the side effects manageable for you.

    God bless...

    Susan
  • jbeardslee
    jbeardslee Member Posts: 75
    #5
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    I see this post is a few days old so don't know if my reply is in time. However I started on Femara in June. I too am extremely lame and stiff when I first get up mornings but once I'm going, I'm ok. Except of course for some knee stiffness if I stand for a long time. But like everyone else, I'm afraid to not take something so I'm going to try to deal with the effects. Mine seem mild compared to some of the others so I'm Blessed to be comfortable most of the time. Good luck. judy

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