Talk to me about aromatase inhibitors

Rague said:

I've never looked into the
I've never looked into the differences as the only one we discussed was Femara/letrozole. I do know that it is used for post menopausal. Women only. I was 18 yrs post natural menopause when DX'd.

I've been on Femara/letrozole for 2 1/2 yrs now and when I saw Chemo Dr about 9 mths ago, he said that the newest reseazrch says that for IBC it wson't be stopped at 5 yrs but rather will be 'forever'. I started Femara a week after starting rads (which started a week after last Taxol) and was on it for 1 1/2 yrs, then a bit over a year ago it became available as a generic and I switched to generic (letrozole). SE's have not been a problem for me.

That's all I know.

Winyan - The Power Within

Susan

SIROD said:

Aromatase Inhibitors
Hi NancyJac,

I began Arimidex back when it was fairly new drug in 1999. It was the only aromatase inhibitor on the market at the time. Shortly after, Femara was introduced and they are fairly similar in make up. I often think of them sort of in the manner of kissing cousins.

I used Femara and though my oncologist didn't believe it would work, it did for 24 more months making me stable. When progression on Femara happened I stopped the drug in hope to reboot. I did have 10 more months before learning that it didn't work. Now I am doing the same with another hormonal drug called Faslodex, a second time around.

Aromasin which is similar but a steroid came out last. I have not use this one. In due time, I hope to use Aromasin in combo with Afinitor, a new drug that was used for another cancer. This combo has ben very successful in trials for breast cancer. It is still waiting for approval from the FDA.

If you are ER or PR positive and post menopausal well these are great drugs. I can honestly say, I am still here because they have worked for me. It will be 18 years for me since I was diagnose with breast cancer in August and 17+ using just hormonal therapies. I can't praise them enough. I am not saying that I never cursed them because that would be a lie especially with bone & joint pain. In the early years, they didn't know the effects aromatase inhibitors had on bones. I fell, a very minor fall and suffered 3 vertebra fractures. I went on a bisphosphonate and then developed uveitis. However, I have no regrets.

However, I would ask your oncologist to prescribe some sort of bisphosphonate (Fosamax, Boniva, zometa, aredia and etc.) to strength your bones. Being estrogen deprived does cause brittle bones just like osteoporosis. I do recommend this.

There different but mostly the same.

Good luck to you,

Doris

Rague said:

IDC and IBC DX's
From reading NancyJak's posts and profile she says that her original DX was IDC but her new DX is IBC. If I read right then her new DX is a different cancer, so not a recurrance.