This is my first post on here and I hope someone can advise me. I am now nearly 54 and had BC 5 years ago, had a mastectomy followed by chemo and am now on Femara. I have put on about 3 stone since being on the tablets and had really dreadful night sweats, flushes etc and joint pain. Don’t get me wrong I am extremely thankful to have been treated and its worth suffering anything just to be free of the cancer. But I know I would feel so much happier if I felt a bit more like my old self, your confidence really does take a massive nose dive after immediate treatment - no hair, no boob, no eyelashes, etc. etc. Whilst my reconstruction was fantastic and you would never know when I am dressed, I feel I have aged years and put on so much weight. I very luckily was always pretty slim size 10 - 12 and felt pretty confident - now no matter what I try I can’t seem to loose the weight and keep it off and feel good about myself. I have only been married 3 years, my lovely husband and I had only been together 11 months when I was diagnosed, he has been so supportive. But I really want to look special for my god daughter’s wedding in May 2011 and am considering coming off the Femara now rather than in another 8 months to see if the sweats stop and I loose weight - I must sound so vain and I know I should jsut be glad to be here, but I wondered if anyone had experienced the weight gain in addition to the other side effects and what they did about it, or if they stopped taking Femara and it helped?
I know what you mean. I was dx 3 years ago and initially put on loads of weight on Tamox.
I felt so bad with all the weight on my BCN sent me to see the dietician (have I spelt that right?) He was brilliant and I still use the diet sheets he gave me when I need to. I think it was the thought that I had to go back every 6 weeks and be weighed that kept my mind so focused. I’m not back to my pre BC weight but as near as makes no difference.
At the moment here, where I live, our PCT are doing checkup’s for over 40’s and if you are overweight there is support to lose it. Maybe there’s something like that where you live? I’m sure though if you talk to your GP there would be help to lose weight.
Good luck and you are a beautiful courageous woman … don’t forget!
I started tamoxifen in March and have so far put on 1 1/2 stone. I’m normally a size 8-10 so this is totally alien to me. I also am plagued by the sweats. However, I’ve been taking clonidine for the sweats and it’s helped a lot. I’m signing up to slimming world next week, something i never thought I’d need to do, and also joining a gym. I wont let this beat me!
I too have put on some weight since the treatment and tamoxifen, I would recommend doing some regular cardio exercise and stretches, I an a fan of the gym this type of exercise suits me, but I know it doesn’t suit everyone,
I have found that the excess weight I put on is finally coming of thank goodness
Ah thank you ladies so much for your kind advice and comments. All of you seem to be on Tamoxifen and my Mum was too - she put on about 2 and a half stone and when she stopped taking it after 6 years she lost the weight in about 3 months it literally just fell off her - I do hope its the same with Femara. I will just have to bite the bullet and really try to loose weight maybe join Slimming World too. I did try Clonodine and it helped me greatly for a while but you do tend to build up a resistance to it, I am now on Venlafaxine which I also think I have built up a tolerance too - thank god for my Chillow !
I know I have so much to be grateful for, a fantastic husband and wonderful friends, I just want to make my husband feel proud to have me on his arm again (he insists he does already) bless him.
There is another thing thay may help with the night sweats. You can get a mattress and pillow topper from the personal cooling centre. I saw these on ‘something for the weekend’ and they sound good. The website is: personalcooling.co.uk
I don’t have a problem with night sweats, though I do have a ceiling fan that has been on every night since I started taking the Tamox. However I do get horredous sweats in the day time, so I have been refered by my onc to the local Homeopathic Hospital. Apparently 70% of women with this problem that have treatment there are reported to notice a significant improvement.
I had my first appointment this week and I am waiting for the drugs to arrive - she is hoping to help with the sweats, also the fatigue and my asthma (which plays up after each round of Herceptin). Whether it works or not is yet to be seen but I am willing to try anything at the moment.