Femara (letrozole) for breast cancer

marbleslab said:

I'm 54 and have to take Celebrex for joint pain due to the Arimidex I'm taking. I take one in a.m. and one in p.m. Tried to go down to one a day and the pain was too bad. If you're not on this, you might talk with your doctor about taking it. It's wonderful.
Marla

Gramma44 said:

Hi Gale. I am turning 60 next week and I have had some arthritis stiffness for years but have long wondered if the severity of pain I am having now is due to post-cancer drugs. My lumpectomy was in May 2001, followed by six weeks of radiation and 6 mos of light chemo (I was Stage 1, estrogen positive). I was put on Tamoxifen in Feb of 2002 and in May of this year was switched to Femara. On both drugs I have had a lot of joint pain and two episodes of hardly being able to walk for close to a week with pain in all joints (once while on Tamoxifen and once since starting Femara). Those were the bad days - daily I just have annoying pain. I have been on Vioxx, one per day, for about a year. Today I saw a rheumatologist who tells me that Tamoxifen can definitely cause joint pain but hadn't heard of Femara. He also tells me that Vioxx won't help osteoarthritis (news to me!) and that I just need pain meds like Darvocet which scares me because I don't want to take anything that might possibly be addictive. Does anyone have any advice for me? I haven't talked to my onc yet about this but do intend to call him soon.

Sheryl

Gramma44 said:

Hi Gale. I am turning 60 next week and I have had some arthritis stiffness for years but have long wondered if the severity of pain I am having now is due to post-cancer drugs. My lumpectomy was in May 2001, followed by six weeks of radiation and 6 mos of light chemo (I was Stage 1, estrogen positive). I was put on Tamoxifen in Feb of 2002 and in May of this year was switched to Femara. On both drugs I have had a lot of joint pain and two episodes of hardly being able to walk for close to a week with pain in all joints (once while on Tamoxifen and once since starting Femara). Those were the bad days - daily I just have annoying pain. I have been on Vioxx, one per day, for about a year. Today I saw a rheumatologist who tells me that Tamoxifen can definitely cause joint pain but hadn't heard of Femara. He also tells me that Vioxx won't help osteoarthritis (news to me!) and that I just need pain meds like Darvocet which scares me because I don't want to take anything that might possibly be addictive. Does anyone have any advice for me? I haven't talked to my onc yet about this but do intend to call him soon.

Sheryl

Gramma44 said:

Hi Gale. I was post-menopausal and my cancer was stage 1, invasive lobular, with NO lymph node involvement, however my onc, and the tumor board at our hospital, recommended radiation and low dose chemo. I'm afraid I really don't have any input for you on the Femara and if anyone reading this has input I'd be glad to get some info. I was just switched to Femara in May after two years on Tamoxifen and haven't spent a lot of time researching it. I've kind of put my trust in my onc. As for the joint pain I know that it is a side effect of both Tamoxifen and Femara and for the life of me, I can't remember if my joint problems got worse when I started on the Tamox or before that but it has definitely become worse since then but then it could be aging too. I have also found that my hot flashes have become worse on the Femara but am hoping that levels off as it did eventually with Tamox. The good news is I'm sleeping again which was a problem for me on the Tamoxifen. If you can care for your joint pain with ibuprofen then you are doing fine. Being on these post-cancer drugs is frustrating because of all they do to our bodies, but I'm afraid to quit because I don't want the cancer to come back. I think it's a personal choice to some extent. My onc told me that some of his patients had quit the Femara because of flu-like symptoms, which I take to be joint pain. Right now I'm dealing with it - and NOT taking the pain pills recommended by the rheumatologist. I'm waiting for my regular doctor to get back from vacation to talk to him first on that issue.

Thank you for sharing your views with me and good luck to you.

Gramma44 said:

Hi Gale. Your pain sounds a lot like what I've had happen to me twice between March and May (once while still on Tamoxifen and again five days after I'd started on the Femara), where it hits all joints. It would start in my knee and then within a few days be in all my joints just like yours - wrists, ankles, etc, plus I also have a lot of arthritis in my toes. The more I communicate with you the more I feel this is more related to the Tamoxifen and Femara than the actual arthritis especially if you had no problems prior to Femara, although I was on Tamoxifen for two years before having a major pain problem like this. Since you and I are close in age it could also be age related in addition to the drugs. As for being emotional, yes that is definitely a side-effect I think. I also find myself having tremendous mood-swings since i started on Tamoxifen and that hasn't changed either on the Femara. I keep blaming that on lack of hormones which obviously we can do nothing about. I'm glad to hear your hot flashes did settle down after a while. Mine did the same with the Tamoxifen but I think it took more like six months, but am hopeful the same will happen with the Femara. Good luck with your meds and have a nice 4th!! I am so glad I found this website - I didn't realize it was here until my husband and I participated in the Relay for Life in June here in our little town and I saw a sign on the track about the survivor's network. It's really nice sharing and getting answers to questions I've had. Reading through a lot of these messages has been really helpful to me. I have a number of friends who've had breast cancer but none have had the same situation as mine. One last thing, my daughter and her bestfriend are walking in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in San Francisco next weekend and we are very proud of her for doing that for me and all the other women we know who have had breast cancer. It is a 40 mile, two day walk and they had to raise a lot of money to participate. Anyway, if you are a praying person, keep a good thought and say a prayer for them as they take this walk in order to help all of us!

Gramma44 said:

Hi Gale7. Thanks for sharing info with me. And my congratulations to your daughter for walking for breast cancer too! To answer your questions I do get tired and have since cancer treatment 2 1/2 years ago. Seems like I'm always dragging but blood work is all normal so I tend to think that meds are causing most of it. Your tiredness could still be from your radiation treatments. How often are you seeing your onc? Are your blood counts ok? As for weight gain, I did gain 10 pounds immediately on the Tamoxifen, but have been successful on a weight loss program for the first time in 2 years now that I'm on Femara, so I can't say that I've put weight on because of Femara but I know it's possible. Have you ever been to the website livingbeyondbreastcancer.com? My neighbor, also a survivor, told me about it and I recently printed out a transcript of a teleconference she had listened to on Aromatase inhibitors on May 12 (you'll need the date to find it). Here is the address that gets you there: http://livingbeyondbreastcancer.com/conferences.html#20040512
You can find many different topics they've discussed and print them out. I kind of skimmed it today and found it informative (it's 33 pages long!!). Let me know if you learn anything new from it.

Sheryl