Vitamin D, exemestane & joint pain

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cabbott
cabbott Member Posts: 1,039 Member
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
My nurse practioner at last visit told me to go get tested for vitamin D deficiency. She said that it is very common and contributes to joint pain in folks like me on an aromatase inhibitor. I'm on exemestane (aka aromasin). In spite of 3 glasses of milk a day, a multi-vitamin with D, and a calcium supplement with D, I was low. After 5 weeks on the Vitamin D prescription pill a week, my toes are finally starting to feel "normal" again, that is, without pain. This is after a year of ouching when I get out of bed in the morning. I am wondering if anyone else out there has found Vitamin D to be helpful and how long the "normal" lasts once you are off the prescription D.

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  • CatheS
    CatheS Member Posts: 21
    #2
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    I asked my GP to test for both Vitamin D and chloresteral - neither had been an issue b4 cancer - both very seriously off their original marks after treatments finished. I am also taking Vit D supplements, did tanning 2ce, and working on diet to adjust chloresteral (as I don't want more pills). I would bet there are other indicators/areas that are now also way off their original course, but I don't know what they are. Perhaps someone else has a more conclusive list of areas to check and test.
  • 24242
    24242 Member Posts: 1,398
    #3
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    I have to say that mine have been always been normal and yet the older I get the worse the stiffening and trigger joint paining gets. Arthritis of several kinds is a side effect of some treatments as is nerve disorders that can also contribute to the pain one can experience throughtout the treatment phase of our cancers. 10 years ago truly was the start of realizing the agony that some patients were experiencing were not just due to the anxiety that is common among them. Pain causes depression not the other way around. Depression does not cause the physical pain and that now took hold in the medical community until then anti depressants were constantly being perscribed yet could do nothing to change the course of the pain running within me. I am so glad that there are other things that can help people other than narcotics and anti depressants yet I firmly believe that no one should have to suffer and I will do whatever it takes, to have and keep the Quality in my LIFE.
    Tara

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