I’ve been taking Letrozole for nearly 5 months, following a double mastectomy (oestrogen-receptive cancer both sides) in August, and I’ve just had the results of the dexa scan which, I believe, they put all breast cancer patients on Letrozole through, given how common osteoporosis is as a side-effect.
Essentially, I’m just in the osteoporosis range (-2.8 T score on the lumbar spine: what a learning curve this has all been :smileyhappy:!) and accordingly, so long as I’m taking Letrozole , they’d want me to take biophosphanates (against osteoporosis). If I wasn’t taking Letrozole, they wouldn’t.
According to my consultant, I have a 2% greater chance of being alive in 5 years (aren’t statistics wonderful!) if I take the Letrozole compared with if I don’t. 2%, obviously, isn’t that much, though someone did point out that perhaps there’d be a 10% chance of being still alive but diseased! …
I’ve been reading up about biophosphanates and they don’t sound particularly pleasant, and in any case I really don’t want to get on that merry-go-round where you’re taking one drug to balance off the side-effects of another, etc etc. As it is, I’ve upped my nutritional regime considerably since I was diagnosed, and will be doing another course at the Penny Brohn Centre next month.
I know it’s only me who can make this decision - and my inclination at the moment is to stop taking the Letrozole - but if anyone has any comments/further information, I’d really appreciate the input.
It maybe worth asking about tamoxifen as an alternative, as it is protective of bones. It works differently to letrazole/anastrozole &, so I’ve read, acts like HRT on bones.
I am now post menopausal & do have the option of going onto anastrozole which is similar to letrazole, but decided against it, as my risk is low, I’ve not had problems with side effects & I was concerned about bone health. Both the onc & surgeon were happy with this.
I have also read that in terms of stats, there is not a lot of difference overall in survival rates between the two, although the AI’s are technically more effective in post menopausal women.
I was told every 2 years to make sure that the bones are not deteriorated taking the letrozole medication.
I am thanking God as I have been clear 4 years, but I have been told since that they are now keeping an eye on the bowel since they took a small biopsy ?. I had a bilateral mastectomy in November 2014 and never once regretted my decision. Just mind blowing at the thought of having bowel cancer now, and I think this has escalated my OCD problems because I am constantly trying to keep busy so that I don’t have any time to think about it lol
Hi rose, my poor nan God rest her soul was on her cancer medication for 20 years when she was only supposed to be on it for 5 years. Not one person who is in the medical profession picked up on this.
My breast cancer was hormone based and I was told that the letrozole will block cancer hormones and hopefully will kill any cells left lurking around the body, but I am not sure about the consequences that would come if you stop the letrozole. Peace and blessings x
I’ve recently been started on letrozole, 3 weeks ago. I’ve never had a dexa scan and not had one mentioned to me by anyone?. No aches or pains that I didn’t have before but I’ve lost half of the hair I managed to keep all though nearly 5 months of chemo with the aid of the cold cap