In in my 4th month of Arimidex and all is going well - stable disease. I have mets to lungs and liver as well as recurrence of the original tumour. All responded well to taxotere(halved in size) All in all I should be feeling good about things but for some reason I’m not.
I’m back at work almost fulltime and enjoying it - though I get more tired than I used to. The main irritation is that the Arimidex is causing arthitis-like symptoms in my hands and shoulders which really restrict what I can do. I’m normally a very active person but the range of what I can do seems to be reducing day by day.
I should be pleased that it’s holding the cancer at bay and the pain isn’t bad enough to stop taking while it’s working (it’s SO much easier than tax!) but instead I feel as though the walls are closing in on me. I love gardening and tend to do it on an industrial scale, but it’s getting more amd more difficult. I even wonder sometimes why I bother getting up to go to work when I could just stay home and do nothing. This is so small on the scale of pain and suffering that I feel almost ashamed to complain but I suppose that this is the first time I have really come to terms with the fact that I will never be 100% fit and well again. I think I need someone to tell me to stop feeling sorry for myself and to get on with things - feel free to do so
I am glad your disease is stable, thats great, it gives me some hope for myself as I have started arimidex myself.
I am not going to to tell you to pull yourself together and get on with things…we have so much to cope with, so much more than ‘normal’ people and its really hard. You are allowed to have your down days, if it gets bad take a little time off work and rest up.
I really think keeping active is important for coping with the disease, i have been trying to do alot of walking and that seems to have improved my mood on a day to day basis, its a really little thing but it has helped me, but like you say i get depressed as i used to be really fit and I probably will never do that again,
I hope things get a bit better and that the arimidex symptoms stay stable, things may get better as aches and pains after taxotere are real and they may go down.
You are welcome to email our team of specialist nurses via our ‘Ask the nurse’ service for support, advice and information about Arimidex side effects, you can find this service under the ‘Support for you’ tab at the top of this page, alternatively, you can call our helpline on 0808 800 6000 which opens Mon-Fri 9am-5pm and Sat 9am-2pm.
Thanks Cathy - I just needed to get it off my chest. If I complain to my husband he alway seems to need to go one better. “I can’t move my thumbs” gets a reply of " I nearly dislocated mine ski-ing last week and it hurts like hell". I think he thinks this is being sympathetic. I try not to talk about my aches and pains to friends and family very much but everytime we meet up with people he seems to feel the need to tell everyone at length how many aches and pains he has. This leaves me no alternative but stoical silence or 'me too" which feels so feeble. I do get so fed up being the strong one - which seems to be the role he needs me to take.
However you’re right - the trick is to keep active and take these down times as temporary blips.The sun is shining and it’s quite warm so I’ll go for a run (stagger) this morning. My legs ache a bit but they still work. In the light of day it all seems much better.
Don’t let me put you off Arimidex by the way - it really seems to work for me in terms of controlling the cancer and I see stories on here of it working for years for some people. I shall just have to find some gardening tools which don’t require you to move your thumbs!
oh i can relate to what your feeling big time, ive been on arimadex for over a year now and the symtoms are getting me down big time! i have tremendous aches and pains in all my joints ,and some days i cant walk far.i used to be so active,and i find it so frustrating that i cant do just what i could do before.but one thing i know is im here and alive ,and so grateful for each day ,i know its very difficult to accept the changes that this illness brings and belieive me i get so mad sometimes and echo the why me ! but why not, everyone gets good and bad days ,if your side effects are getting you down try and speak to someone at the clinic and ask for anything that you can take to relieve the symptoms i take cod liver oil capsules and they do help sometimes .i do wish you well with the rest of your treatments,try to take some rest if you can ,relaxing massage helps sometimes as well. love lynn xx
Yes, it’s good to have a moan sometimes and I hope you’re feeling better today
I suspect you must be quite a bit younger than me (I’m 58) and I really envy you being able to do gardening and jogging. I have bone mets and couldn’t even consider doing anything more strenuous than shuffling round the block with the dog. Although yesterday I did it for the first time WITHOUT MY STICK Boy, was I chuffed with myself.
Hi Grannyscouse
Yes, today is much better thanks - and I’m not much younger than you at all - I’m 56. I am really grateful that the symptoms of the cancer itself haven’t stopped me being active. My mets are in lungs and liver so a worse prognosis than bone mets but fewer effects (at this stage anyway). I’m trying to get myself ready for when I can’t do the stuff I like - I’m moving into town from the country, trying to learn a few things like sketching to replace my more active hobbies. I should say that jogging is a positive description of what I do though. I’ve never been a real runner, I used to do about 30 minutes about twice a week. Now I do a hundred yards, walk for a bit, another hundred… At least it gets the endorphins going though. BTW your husband sounds a real laugh…
Aroma - I’ll try the cod liver oil. Some people have recommended glucosamine too
thanks to all for the advice and support
My partner is a landscape gardener and can counter any of my xeloda hands complaints so know what you mean re partners going one better than you.
When I was on hormonals for a brief spell, I found that the aching joints improved throughout the day. Does gentle warm-up excercise help? You may also find that it is easier to garden as the weather warms. I would also suggest greenhouse tasks and such as a way of still being out but not overdoing it when joints aren’t up to much.
Planting a load of seeds this week was a big mistake and I am paying the price in split fingers big time. It is just starting to rain here in the FenEdge so I’m glad I did some stuff outside yesterday. OH surprised to see that I got a twisted willow out of the pot it has sadly been in for too long and into a half-barrel I bought. An unhappy acer is in the willows pot and an even more unhappy bay is in the ground and the compost bin is empty… Like you, I am just grateful I can still do that stuff. I think you should just come here and moan to all of us - great medicine - and jog if not walk as running becomes more difficult and maybe look at some redesigning of parts of your garden to make it easier for you to manage. Sadly we do have to make compromises to accommodate this rotten disease but I firmly believe hobbies and interests are of extreme therapeutic value in maintaining good Quality Of Life (how I hate that phrase).
It has indeed Jenny. If I said this sort of thing to friends or family they would find it really hard to cope whereas the people on here recognise it as just one of those down moments. Stupid that being unable to move your thumbs should make you so depressed.
So - off to the greenhouse I go. I bought a new big greenhouse when I was diagnosed as I thought it might be a good place to work when not up to the heavy stuff. And can you ever have too many half-hardy annuals? My cannas and dahlias are starting to sprout too. I could of course back off the gardening but I have 3/4 of an acre which was a wilderness 3 years ago and is now starting to look like a garden. I find it such a solace and a real stressbuster - but maybe I need to accept that sometimes I will have to pay someone to do the heavy digging and landscaping and I will do the lighter bits.
Drawing course is the weekend after next after which the plan is a week in Italy learning to do watercolours - what a shame I am so rubbish at it!
thanks for the spport
