I’ve been on Anastrozole for around 10 months now and have had pains in my legs, particularly the right, on and off throughout. The past two weeks, I have had the pain come back in my right leg, but this time it has been accompanied by a feeling that the lower half of my leg and foot has “gone to sleep”, i.e. it feels numb and I’m getting pins and needles all the time. Has anyone else experienced this whilst on Anastrozole? If anyone could give me any help/advice, it would be much appreciated.
Yes I had a double mastectomy in June. Total of 18 lymph nodes removed with only 2 bring positive. My oncotype was at 24…with a 19% chance of return in 9 yrs. I am now on anastrozole which has totally rocked my works. Very healthy 64 yr then suddenly diagnosed with BC. This evil drug has caused plantar fasciatis, weight gain, blurred vision, insomnia, hair loss. No one prepared me for this. I thought it would be a breeze when my dr told me I had clean margins so I don’t need chemo or radiation. Well the hrt is terrible. I really would like to either stop & get my blood work done every 2 or 3 months. Still contemplating.
I’ve been on anastrozole for 18 months and suffered every side effect going - and more. At least, I thought so. I spent 4 weeks off it and later 6 weeks off it and it made no difference. Conclusion - there must be other reasons for my pain. It’s still being investigated but damage done by chemo appears to be the accepted explanation right now.
It’s natural to assume anastrozole is the cause but have you worked with your oncologist to establish this as fact? Numbness and pins and needles are what I experienced as a result of paclitaxel. With other side effects such as hot flushes and mood changes, a change of brand can be effective. I’m typing this at some ridiculous time in the early hours because my pharmacist failed to get my usual brand so I have insomnia. Finding the brand that’s suits you best CAN make a difference, regardless of pharmacists and oncologists denying it. The breast care nurses are allowed to go by anecdotal evidence and they seem to agree with us.
From what you describe about your leg, I’d say you should ring your bc nurse and get referred to your oncologist. It needs investigating. You wouldn’t normally accept this pain/discomfort without consulting a doctor would you? (But there’s no point asking your GP - they just refer you back to the oncologist!).
I hope you find a solution. Don’t just put up with it, even if it IS the anastrozole. All the best xx
Sorry to hear you are having probs with anastrazole, I have been on it about 4 months now,my oncologist said I would get joint pains / problems when I asked about side effects but that was all !! He didn’t tell me about any other side effects,mood swings,hot flushes, just found out I can’t tolerate alcohol one glass of wine and I have the worse hangover ever the next day lol!! I really don’t think the oncologists tell the full story with hormone therapies, I guess they have to make it sound better than it is in order not to put us off taking them lol! But I am on a steep learning curve with this drug,it seems to throw something new at me every week so your symptons could be to do with it but I would say speak to you breast care nurse, also I found that if you have varicose veins in your legs it makes them swell up and leads to them causing legs to ache, I got some cream and advice from nurse at gp surgery which really helped my breast care nurse said she had never heard of anastrazole causing probs with leg circulation but I have read online that it can do!! So much conflicting advice!!