Anyone under 40 taking Arimidex??

deemarie
deemarie Member Posts: 8
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I've posted before and need new advise!

I've recently had a worlwind. I'm 37 and discovered a lump one morning last week, called the doctor right away. Got an appointment that day and he sent me that day to have a mamm and ultrasound. They preformend a needle biopsy that day and extracted the tissues within the cyst/lump and drained all the fluid. The tissue was clear but the blood in the fluid tested positive for DCIS Stage 0. My est. and pro. were positive and with further blood work and ultra sounds the cancer did not spread anywhere and the cyst evaporated. The nodes were all normal too.

My onc. said to consider myself a survivor without a battle. I do not need a lumpectomy since all was removed during the biopsy. No radiation/chemo either (pretty lucky huh!!). He's considering Arimidex. My fear is all the writeups I see and hear about Arimidex is for postmenapausal women and I haven't found anyone who hasn't had treatments or surgeries and being prescribed meds for percaution. Anyone out there can give me advise on this drug?

I've learned alot from reading the message boards and realize how lucky I was to have found this so fast and have had a aggressive doctor that all was taken care of within such a short period of time. I'm thankful for this outcome right now but don't know what is ahead of me now.

Dee

Comments

  • deemarie
    deemarie Member Posts: 8
    #2
    UPDATE
    After speaking with the doctor further, this is not a preventative option for me. I would need to take zoladex along with the arimidex since I am still menstrating. The zoladex would basically shut down the ovaries and act postmenapausal so that the active ingredients in the arimidex would work properly. I have had endometrosis and an ovary removed several years back and because of this...it's not a good decision for me. My overall outcome through this was an extremely favorable one. Thank god for the self-exams and quickness of my doctor's actions. My only prevention at this time is to continue my monitoring, eat healthy, exercise regularly and continue my self-exams regularly too.

    God Bless to all and keep up the faith, hope and determination to concor!!!!
  • epgnyc
    epgnyc Member Posts: 137
    #3
    Dee - Can't you take Tamoxifen? This is a follow-up treatment available to pre-menopausal women. I have a friend who had DCIS and went on it for 5 years for addtional recurrence prevention. And you wouldn't need to take Zoladex. Good luck.
  • docholly
    docholly Member Posts: 16
    #4
    I was diagnosed with DCIS in January '05. Because it was multifocal, they recommended a mastectomy (they couldn't get it all with a lumpectomy)which was considered a "cure". I elected to have bilateral mastectomies (instead of just the one side). If I had had either a lumpectomy or a unilateral mastectomy, I would have been put on tamoxifen (I am 43). THe concern with DCIS is that once you've had it, you're at much higher risk for developing another primary tumor. The down-side of tamoxifen is that it can throw you into menopause. You may want to revisit this question with your doctor. You should ask him/her what your risk of a new tumor would be with and without an estrogen antagonist (such as tamoxifen).
    Best wishes,
    Holly

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