hi my name is john,im new to this forum,my wife had a mastectomy in sept this year,was told the type of cancer she had didnt need radation or chemo,hadnt spread to her nodes,but was put on letrozole tablets right from the start,we were so happy after all the trauma of all you go through,but after 4 months on this drug which we new very little about only what i read, she is now struggling with pain in her joints, breathlesness, her hot flushes,now getting very down,i know after reading stories what people have been going through,we should be thanfull, and we are ,but im just looking for answers,to how go about this ,what other tablets she can take,to get back to some sort of normality,feels a wee bit helpless ,and so sorry for her,im always there for her and just want the best for her,thanks for listening,regards john
Hello John,
Hopefully I maybe be able to give you some advice, with regards to to your wife’s medication this is quite a difficult one, as lots of people suffer as your wife is with the same symptoms sometimes the brand can be changed and that can make a difference if this was me at the moment I think I’ll be getting back to the oncologist or your breast cancer team having a word and see if they can rather change the brand or the medication the pharmacist may also help you with this I do hope that you get somewhere very quickly as this can be very debilitating.
Wishing your wife well, hopefully you get sorted to make life easier for you all.
Keep posting at let us know how you are both getting on, so nice to reading you are such a supportive husband
Happy Christmas. Tili 
Dear John
Sorry your wife is so miserable with hot flushes and the like. I have been taking it for three days so far and am not sure what I will get. I am 67 - is your wife older or younger than this? I have been reluctant to take it but there is good evidence it can reduces the risk of cancer recurring if you have the kind of cancer that tends to get bigger the more oestrogen you have in your body. It can also reduce the risk of it spreading in some cases.
So I am going to see how bad the side effects are for me. The NHS has a computer programme called PREDICT I think that can work out how much benefit you get from it. It asks questions about how big your tumour was, and a few other things and then comes up with a score to tell you how much it is likely to recur. If your risk is low taking letrozole may not make as much difference as if it’s higher.
But breast cancer is quite unpredictable. I had it in 2003, a low grade cancer with very little chance of recurring. Then I got it again this year in the same breast, this time it’s a new breast cancer, of a higher grade. So I feel a bit annoyed I got it back after 19 years. It’s the most common cancer in women so I know there are a lot of women out there who are in the same club. If I don’t like letrozole I can always stop taking it before 5 years is up if I don’t like it but I decided in the end I should give it a fair trial so I will probably take it for at least six months before I give up on it (if not longer). It’s hard sometimes to know whether a symptom is due to taking a medicine or just an ache or pain you would have anyway.
Seagulls