Hi
I was just wondering if anybody has been changed from Aromasin to another AI, because it wasn’t working? I have been on Aromasin since September and have now been diagnosed with secondaries, in my bones and in the tissue of my chest.
Aromasin is obviously not stopping the spread and my oncologist has moved me on to Letrazole (Femara)and I will be monitored in 3 months.(I am terrified because I now feel the cancer is rampaging around my body I am terrified that the tumour will grow and spread to even more places if Letrazole doesn’t work either!)
Guess I just want someone to tell me that they have experienced shrinkage (or total disappearance???- I can dream! ) by just changing the hormone given.
Just when I felt that I was starting to get my head round bone secondaries I go and have further spread 
Or has anybody changed to Aromasin to another hormone with good results?
Regards Nicky
Hi Nicky,
I changed from tamoxifen to arimidex with zoladex (am still pre-menopausal) and they will keep me on those as long as they seem to be working. Been on them since Oct 08 and there was a suspected spread in my ribs last year but that stabilised. Had bone scan the other day so we’ll see if it’s still stable !!!
There are several AIs to work through and I think it’s a matter of finding one that suits you best.
Take care, Liz x
Hi Liz
Thanks! My worry is Tamoxifen seemed to work for me! I had it from 2007 - August 2009, My bone pains started about 3 months after changing to Aromasin. (What gets me is that I decided to go for the oopherectomy so if I hadn’t I would still be premenopausal and on Tamoxifen! I do have quite a few ‘what if’ thoughts! and keep thinking that if I hadn’t had the op it wouldn’t have come back! but I try to push them away as I thought that the ooph. would improve my changes and I suppose I would make the same decision again. I remember sitting with my consulatant while she decided which AI to use, so again…what if she had chosen one of the others? But I suppose treatment is all about trial and error, it’s just unfortunate that the consequences are life threatening!
It’s encouraging to hear that your ribs have stabilised… Unfortunately my CT results this week were worse than I expected as I now have spread to tissue in my chest:-(
Hope that you have Good news with your bone scan.
Take care and enjoy your weekend, Nicky
Really sorry to hear about your CT scan results - that must have been another blow.
Liz x
Hi Nicky I was diagnosed in my early 40’s with bone mets and bc together, in 2003 when my hip spontaneously fractured. I had a very successful hip replacement and the cancer diagnosis at the same time. My first treatment was Tamoxifen and I stayed on Tam for around 18 months. Arimidex was next and gave me over 3 and a half years of no active cancer. When it started to wane I was changed to Aromasin which didn’t work for me although I know one lady with mets who had a couple of years with Aromasin. Just over 2 years ago I started my first chemo, Xeloda, chemo tablets. I have found Xeloda to be a really kind chemo and will stay on this for as long as it works. I still have no active cancer. At the time of my diagnosis I never thought things might improve but seven years later I’m pain free and enjoying life…so wishing you Good Luck, Femara is so very similar to Arimidex so I hope you too have some good results and a long spell with this treatment…xxx
Hi Liz, good luck with your scan results, hope all will be good news…xx
Hi Belinda
Thanks again for making me feel so much better!
It’s really encouraging to hear that you didn’t respond to Aromasin either, but did to another and had such a long spell with no further spread. That’s what I need to believe will happen, I had started to believe that ‘only’ in my bones was not too bad! until my CT scan found this area in my chest. I also did feel a bit better after my Mum told me that she had spoken to my BC nurse (we were both treated by the same staff at the same time in 2007 - a first for our hospital, they had treated sisters at the same time but not mother and daughter!) and she appeared quite confident that I would respond to a change in hormone. She also reminded my Mum that I responded so well to chemo last time, I had it before surgery, that I had total clearance. So I need to keep that thought with me, that at least I know that chemo did work…just hoping to hold it off for as long as possible.
Thanks again I need to keep hearing positive stories, you’re a real inspiration!
Enjoy the sunshine!
Nicky
Hi Belinda,
Thanks for your good wishes and as ever it’s always good to know about your ‘history’ with the mets - definitely provides inspiration for others coming behind!
Nicky - the team treating me also treated my mum 5 yrs earlier, almost to the day!! Although mum’s not got mets,thankfully, her cancer was same side and she needed chemo first then mx and anc. She’s coming up to 8 yrs now and is 75 so I cling on to the fact that she’s basically ok!
Enjoy the weekend - shouldn’t moan about the sun as I love it but I’m boiling and feel like I’ll melt. Colder winter was great!
Liz x