I’ve just been to collect my Femara prescription and was told that my GP will no longer give me that brand but I will have to take the generic letrozole. I took this previously and had aching joints and histamine-type reactions. GP suggested taking antihistamines on top of everything else (yes, also now need stuff for osteoporosis.) They say that Femara has risen in price so much they will no longer give that. It seems crazy as I have taken it for 3 years with little side-effect, have a further 4 years to go. Has anyone any ideas? I would be prepared to buy them, the pharmacy tells me how much it costs on a private prescription, but looking online it seems it can be bought much more cheaply. Of course, the pharmacist tells me that it would be unwise to buy it online, but Americans do so, they can’t all be taking false drugs. I feel I have enough to put up with without being obliged to take a drug that has such s/e’s when there’s an alternative with virtually none. Is there anybody out there buying their own Femara, and if so, where from? I would give up taking letrozole and take my chances, I think, should I not be able to get the correct version.
I was on Femara to begin with and then of course the generic versions came along and I went on to them. There is a difference between Femara and the generics and I think it is due to the coating. Anyway I have tried various generics and have found Teva being the best or least problem. I am now coming to end of 5 years of Letrozole after 5 years of Tamoxifen.
I did have a conversation with my Onc with regarding the generics and he did agree that they were a problem, so much so that he has had to write to some GPs insisting that if the generics are a problem to his patients then they should get Femara, he said that we have enough to cope with without worrying about the side effects of drugs if it isn’t necessary.
I think that there is a major problems with S/Es and we are not getting the full story because people are coming off them and not informing anybody or we just put up with it because we don’t want the cancer to come back. I did give Letrozole up for 3 months last year but then starting getting problems with my back so ended up having a full body MRI to see if the cancer had come back. It frightened me so much I went back on them and finish them this year.
Are you still seeing an Oncologist and could he write to your GP. My GP put a note on the prescription that it had to be Teva.