femara users please reply

rmap59

First off I have to comment on the beautiful words you ladies offer each other. I have been reading the posts. My Mom just had a mastectomy 3 weeks ago, she is doing well. We went to see the oncologist and he put her on femara. Please reply on any side effects or what experiences you all had with this drug. My Mom is 77 and in relatively good health. Thanks for your time
Robin

cruf

Hi! First off, not everybody gets side effects from these drugs. We all tolerate things differently. On that note, I was on Femara for 8 mos. and had a progressively hard time with joint pain(w 2 trigger fingers), high cholesterol, wt. gain and dry eyes, and hot flashes.I was on Tamoxifen for 5 years and really didn't notice too many things other than the hot flashes and vaginal discharge. The symptoms didn't start immediately but did progress thru time. I did stop the femara after 8 mos. and went to aromasin which was no better for me. Still had the same issues. I stayed on that for 15 mos. and have been off all meds since end of Sept. I'm slowly weaning off all meds for cholesterol and dry eyes. My joint pain is still there but not as diffuse. I'm 56 so some of this could now be some arthritis.Don't get too worried. Wait and see. As I said, she may not have all these side effects and if she gets any, they may be mild . Take care and let us know how she's doing. You're a very caring daughter and I'm sure your Mom appreciates all you're doing to help her. HUGS!! Cathy

mgm42

I will be starting arimidex within the next few months, which carries many of the side effects of femara - they are similar -- and standard drugs for us post-menopausal women. As Cathy said, not everyone gets the side effects. My sister-in-law only had leg cramps which she treated by drinking tonic water every night before bedtime. I know this is scary for you and for your mom. You don't want to see her suffer. I'm almost 66 and in fairly good health, too. I'm taking a wait and see approach because I experienced chemo differently from what many other of my sisters here at CSN did. So, be watchful, be sensitive and stay in touch here. You'll get a lot of answer from "real" life people, not just the femara.com website. Hang in there with your mom, sweetie. Hugs, Marilynn

cabbott

Femara, also known as letrozole, is one of three aromatase inhibitors. You can't go on any of them if you are ovulating (like pre-manapausal women), but the statistics show they are all better than tamoxifen for prolonging disease-free survival and preventing reoccurance. If one of the three doesn't suit, sometimes switching to another works and sometimes not. I am on femara's cousin, exemestane, after being tamoxifen for 2 1/2 years. I had a few hot flashes and weird cycles with tamoxifen. The docs feared ovarian cancer, but it was the tamoxifen. After surgery to discover that everything was normal, I went on the exemestane. The hot flashes were MUCH more noticeable, but that might have been from surgical menapause at the same time. I definately enjoyed summer heat spells about every hour or two the first few months. I learned to dress for it and keep lots of cold glasses of water or green tea around to sip (even at night). I don't have major joint pain, but I heal very slowly now from joint stress. I never carry a shoulder bag anymore and I needed orthodics and toe splints in my shoes for toe joint inflamation for the last year. They worked and I'm still on the exemestane. Ibruprofin and lots of exercise, especially strength building work, really helped as well. My nurse practitioner at the breast center noted that vitamin D deficiency contributes to joint pain and had me tested. I was a bit low and she put me on prescription strength vitamin D. It was a surprise: I drink 3 glasses of milk a day with vitamin D, take a calcium supplement with vitamin D, and take a multivitamin and I was still low. If you get joint pain, you might check it the vitamin D lead. (If you check it out now, you might protect your mom's bone health too. About 70 % of the women test low or deficit.)

Texylin

Hi Robin. I'd like to say, like everyone else, that different people react to drugs in different ways. I have had quite a few side effects from the femara that I didn't from the tomoxifen. I do have a lot of joint pain and have had a lot of problems with feet. My hands and shoulders hurt and I have muscle pain as well. If I have been on my feet for awhile and sit down to rest, it's painful when I get up. I'm 60 yrs old but feel like I'm 90. I looked up femara online and found a site for "ratings on femara" from people who take it and was relieved to find out it wasn't just me. I've only been on it for six months and the doctor keeps reminding me to look at the big picture. I'll put your mom in my prayers and hope she's one of the lucky ones who doesn't have these side effects.

Linda

toninasky

Hi, I agree with everyone here that not everyone has the same side effects, and some may have none. The odds are in favor of some side effect from Femara, and any of the other Inhibitor drugs. I took Femara for 6 months and developed painful calf muscles, had to use a cane. Then I got 4 trigger fingers that I had to have injected. I stopped the Femara, and the oncologist wanted me to try Arimidex. After 5 days, I could not move my shoulders. I am 65 and I stopped it all. I would rather have quality in whatever life I have left. The big picture for me is "LIVE EACH DAY TO THE FULLEST"
I can't do that feeling like a cripple. I too will pray for your mom, and hope that she can tolerate the drug. Remember though, that it is not a for sure thing that it will prevent re occurence. So if she has to stop it does not mean the cancer will come back.
If you want to see more comments on the drug, go to www.askapatient.com and type in Femara.
Blessings to you both.

skipper54

toninasky said:

Hi, I agree with everyone here that not everyone has the same side effects, and some may have none. The odds are in favor of some side effect from Femara, and any of the other Inhibitor drugs. I took Femara for 6 months and developed painful calf muscles, had to use a cane. Then I got 4 trigger fingers that I had to have injected. I stopped the Femara, and the oncologist wanted me to try Arimidex. After 5 days, I could not move my shoulders. I am 65 and I stopped it all. I would rather have quality in whatever life I have left. The big picture for me is "LIVE EACH DAY TO THE FULLEST"
I can't do that feeling like a cripple. I too will pray for your mom, and hope that she can tolerate the drug. Remember though, that it is not a for sure thing that it will prevent re occurence. So if she has to stop it does not mean the cancer will come back.
If you want to see more comments on the drug, go to www.askapatient.com and type in Femara.
Blessings to you both.

Not much trouble
I"ve been on Femara for 4 1/2 months and so far so good. My hot flashes have gone nuclear but I'm not having the problems with joint or muscle pain that some have reported. If anything I have less trouble with my "weather knees" than I did before the chemo, surgery, rads, and meds. What's with that? I can live with the hot flashes if that's all there is. I guess time will tell about other SEs but for now it's okay. Hope your mom does as well!

SIROD

SPAM
One has to look at the dates of post - lots of spam. How does this person do this. One old post at a time?

I have always wondered.