Has anyone taken the hormone "Femara"

1victory
1victory Member Posts: 5
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I recently began taking the hormone Femara. I read the side effects and my oncologist explained how the drug works. However, I would like a personal example of how the drug has worked for anyone. Help???

Comments

  • dmc_emmy
    dmc_emmy Member Posts: 549
    #2
    I have taken it...but I stopped
    I may not be a very good example, because I don't tolerate drugs well, but I will give you my experience nevertheless:

    After trying two other drugs (Arimidex and Aromassin) I was placed on Femara. I was okay with it, with the exception of joint pain, for awhile. Then, after about three months I began to have other symptoms: headaches, back pain, stiffness. Mostly it was uncomfortable, but tolerable. I was advised to go 3 months on and 2 month off. I did this until I realized that I would be on the drug for a very long time at this rate. I told my onc that I would try to take it regularly.

    I began taking it, everyday, beginning in Aug of last year. After a short while, a couple of months maybe, I began to have other symptoms: hair thinning, eyelash thinning, insomnia, lack of appetite, and excessive weight gain. Regardless, I continued taking the drug because I wanted to increase my chance of survival.

    However, it was not long before I began to experience other side effects: mood swings, depression, rectal bleeding, and a slight change in my vision. I tolerated them all until the depression and mood swings got so out of hand that I realized that I was destroying my entire family (my husband and I spent New Year's separated, my daughter talked to me less and less to me and we used to share everything,...). I often came home from work and all I wanted was to take a bath and go to bed, and rarely ate anything for supper unless my daughter cooked, only to drag myself out of bed again to go back to work the next day. I didn't even clean the house (and that is simply not like me) or want to play with my pup Emmy. :(

    Well, on May 12th-the day I joined the boards here, I stopped my hormonal therapy. Two months later, I am back to myself again. Though I still do have much of an appetite and I am still over-weight, I am happy again (except when I have challenges beyond my control-but that's normal, right?). When I saw my onc, we discussed my situation. He agreed that quality was more important.

    I hope I don't regret my decision, as I hope I don't regret other decisions I have made in my life. If this dreaded bc returns, I'll deal with it the best I know how and hope I have the strength and the courage to fight it again. If it never comes back, well, I won inspite of the odds. I decided I can hope for nothing less.

    You, well, most people, don't react to drugs like me (at least I don't think so). I had ALL the side effects, from common to rare, I didn't even think that was possible. I didn't even know that my symptoms were se-I thought I was going crazy, until I went on the Femara site in May.

    My friend, you need to do what is best for you. But, remember, you can never stop something unless you start it first. I started, I stopped, now I have to live with it--and live I will! :) I hope, should you decide to take Femara, that you do not have these se. It is my understanding that most people tolerate it well.
    dmc
  • creampuff91344
    creampuff91344 Member Posts: 988
    #3
    dmc_emmy said:

    I have taken it...but I stopped
    I may not be a very good example, because I don't tolerate drugs well, but I will give you my experience nevertheless:

    After trying two other drugs (Arimidex and Aromassin) I was placed on Femara. I was okay with it, with the exception of joint pain, for awhile. Then, after about three months I began to have other symptoms: headaches, back pain, stiffness. Mostly it was uncomfortable, but tolerable. I was advised to go 3 months on and 2 month off. I did this until I realized that I would be on the drug for a very long time at this rate. I told my onc that I would try to take it regularly.

    I began taking it, everyday, beginning in Aug of last year. After a short while, a couple of months maybe, I began to have other symptoms: hair thinning, eyelash thinning, insomnia, lack of appetite, and excessive weight gain. Regardless, I continued taking the drug because I wanted to increase my chance of survival.

    However, it was not long before I began to experience other side effects: mood swings, depression, rectal bleeding, and a slight change in my vision. I tolerated them all until the depression and mood swings got so out of hand that I realized that I was destroying my entire family (my husband and I spent New Year's separated, my daughter talked to me less and less to me and we used to share everything,...). I often came home from work and all I wanted was to take a bath and go to bed, and rarely ate anything for supper unless my daughter cooked, only to drag myself out of bed again to go back to work the next day. I didn't even clean the house (and that is simply not like me) or want to play with my pup Emmy. :(

    Well, on May 12th-the day I joined the boards here, I stopped my hormonal therapy. Two months later, I am back to myself again. Though I still do have much of an appetite and I am still over-weight, I am happy again (except when I have challenges beyond my control-but that's normal, right?). When I saw my onc, we discussed my situation. He agreed that quality was more important.

    I hope I don't regret my decision, as I hope I don't regret other decisions I have made in my life. If this dreaded bc returns, I'll deal with it the best I know how and hope I have the strength and the courage to fight it again. If it never comes back, well, I won inspite of the odds. I decided I can hope for nothing less.

    You, well, most people, don't react to drugs like me (at least I don't think so). I had ALL the side effects, from common to rare, I didn't even think that was possible. I didn't even know that my symptoms were se-I thought I was going crazy, until I went on the Femara site in May.

    My friend, you need to do what is best for you. But, remember, you can never stop something unless you start it first. I started, I stopped, now I have to live with it--and live I will! :) I hope, should you decide to take Femara, that you do not have these se. It is my understanding that most people tolerate it well.
    dmc

    I took Femara for about
    I took Femara for about three months, and unfortunately the side effects were so drastic that I was switched to Tamoxifen. Maybe that is an alternative for you if you can't handle the se's. Femara and Tamoxifen act in different ways, and the Tamoxifen doesn't seem to have the effect on bone and joint destruction that the Aramotase Inhibitors have. However the AI's have had better results on post menopausal bc patients than the Tamoxifen. I am post menopausal, but as DMC stated, quality of life is equally as important as quantity. On Tamoxifen I have only experienced some minor hot flashes, and some thinning of the hair. No problems with joint and bone pain, so that makes my life a lot easier. It is a personal choice, but you and you alone have to make the decision to treat or not treat. For myself, if the Tamoxifen starts to give me problems, I am going to choose to not take anything. We all have to live with our decisions, so I wish you luck in your journey. Hugs.

    Judy
  • DianeBC
    DianeBC Member Posts: 3,881 Member
    #4
    creampuff91344 said:

    I took Femara for about
    I took Femara for about three months, and unfortunately the side effects were so drastic that I was switched to Tamoxifen. Maybe that is an alternative for you if you can't handle the se's. Femara and Tamoxifen act in different ways, and the Tamoxifen doesn't seem to have the effect on bone and joint destruction that the Aramotase Inhibitors have. However the AI's have had better results on post menopausal bc patients than the Tamoxifen. I am post menopausal, but as DMC stated, quality of life is equally as important as quantity. On Tamoxifen I have only experienced some minor hot flashes, and some thinning of the hair. No problems with joint and bone pain, so that makes my life a lot easier. It is a personal choice, but you and you alone have to make the decision to treat or not treat. For myself, if the Tamoxifen starts to give me problems, I am going to choose to not take anything. We all have to live with our decisions, so I wish you luck in your journey. Hugs.

    Judy

    No, I haven't taken it, but,
    No, I haven't taken it, but, I have heard that the side effects can be pretty bad. I am sure your oncologist can switch you to something else if you talk to him. Good luck!
  • arbojenn
    arbojenn Member Posts: 118
    #5
    Femara has really come
    Femara has really come through for me. My cancer is recurrent in/on a reconstructed breast so the surface tumors are visible. I am WATCHING the drug shrink the things! It really works! (IF you are erpostivie and are post menopausal.) Side effects are typical for menopause: hotflashes, difficulty sleeping. Those are the only two I have noted so far that bug me. And the horrible fight to just maintain your weight. Losing is impossible. I can't understand how I can cut my food intake drastically and walk an average of twenty miles a week at a brisk pace, but gain a pound a week. I think the joint pain comes from the extra pounds.
    One more month and I should be ready for the surgery, then radiation after the recovery. I fully expect to be cured, once and for all, from this by the holidays, providing I keep with the femara for five years. (Some may say put into remission, but all that is just a matter of semantic. If the disease will not return until I am a hundred and ten, I call that a cure.

    If the sides prove to be too much, friends here had helped me decide to ask for a variation schedule or to just taper off: Sticking with them might not improve my chanced by much. Sometimes I feel like it all boils down to a crap shoot.
  • pplsha
    pplsha Member Posts: 4
    #6
    FEMORA
    i just started taking Femora and am scares about side effects.What happened to you taking this drug?Is'nt Femora not given for more than two years?

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