I’ve been taking AIs for almost four years. After a year on the AIs I was still ok, no joint pain though some tiredness etc. Then I had the reconstruction op to replace tissue expanders with silicone implants. What I find curious is that immediately following that surgery I had pain in my thigh. It was so clearly associated with the op that I thought it might be DVT, but it wasn’t. The pain and stiffness quickly got worse so that after about a month I could hardly get upstairs. I will point out that I was a keen walker prior to the onset of all this and before the surgery could easily walk 8 or 10 miles a day and had not had so much as a twinge in that hip. An xray showed I had osteo-arthritis in my hip and later an MRI showed it in my back. I also had pain and a feeling of fragility in all my other joints, especially first thing in the morning and now have severe pain in my knee as well as my hip (not yet tested for arthritis). I switched from Anaztrozole to Letrazole after 18 months but there was no change in side effects. I’ve tried everything: exercise; acupuncture; supplements; painkillers but still have very limited mobility and continuous pain. I am reluctant to go for a hip replacement in case things might get better when I finish the drugs next year. But I do think that maybe some women have gone for joint replacements, not making the connection with AI treatment. Does more research need to be done on this? Various scientific journal articles show links between AIs and arthritis but what is actually going on and is the damage permanent? Also, it seems too much of a coincidence to me that this all happened quite suddenly after having the implants. I wonder if anyone else has been diagnosed with arthritis while on AIs and if they can also link this with implants?
After 5 years on AI s, I was suffering with joint pain. Like you I am a keen walker and tried to get rid of the pain by keeping very mobile. A year later I still have constant low level pain, and it bad at night or in the morning. My doc sent me for all the arthritis tests which came back negative. Opinion seems to be neuropathic pain, for which I take low dose of Lyrica. Rheumatologist says it could be early osteoporosis arthritis, even though I have taken oodles of calcium and vitamin d ever since diagnosis.
I would be interested to know how many others have joint pain during/after treatment, and how they handle it.
Grumpy
I think someone on these threads was advised to take Devils Claw for their aches and pains. Im not quite sure exactly where the thread is. You can google it and see if its suitable.