It’s not much fun at all is it? It’s nice to know you have 1.5 years to go. I always found counting down chemo and Herceptin and knowing once I’d hit half way it was less ahead than I’d had. I’m just at 2 years so have 3 years to go. With two cancers at the same time I feel I need to keep going for the full term.
Sending love.
Hello @naughty_boob
I might have found something to help you with your nightly hot flushes. They’ re something I have suffered with too and like you wake up in the night, to then have the sudden surge and onset searching for the coldest part of the bed in a puddle.
So a couple of weeks ago I saw an advert for a menopause bracelet. Only £15 its a style i like to wear and thought what the hell I’ll give it a go. It came about a week later and I have worn it day and night since except shower.
When I put it on I could feel something change in me. I was excited sadly to have a hot flush and realise the flush wasn’t as strong as usual and that uneasy feeling I get with them wasn’t as bad either. Roll on a week and I can sleep without soggyness. I do still wake at times and then wait for the heat as usual, it doesn’t come though. Here’s a pic of the bracelet and a link to where I bought it from
Also with the vaginal dryness. I use estriol cream Mon and Thur and the issviva joylux rejuvenator Wed and Sun. Another advert, it is worth every penny though and works a treat
https://issviva.co.uk/products/joylux-device
Hope this is of help to you. Keep doing all your great work xxxxx
For anyone interest NICE has agreed Fezolinetant/Veoza can be prescribed in England and Wales on the NHS.
My post above stated that I noticed a difference in hot flushes within a few days and the severity was reduced. Really good option for those of us unable to take HRT.
I am now 3 weeks into Venlafaxine and I can feel there is a reduction in the severity of my flushes and maybe a small reduction in the number daily. I still wake several times a night. I have to wait another 3 weeks if I want to increase the dose for better efficacy. It’s nice to know if this isn’t as successful I have the option to go back to Fezolinetant. (My consultant said it would take several months for the trust to agree that it can be prescribed after NICE agreed).
6 weeks on from starting Venlafaxine and I can say it has helped somewhat. For me, most of the hot flushes are at night which disturbs my sleep. The Venlafaxine has stopped most in the day and early evening but was still getting 2/3 per night. Initial side effects were nausea but if I took after a meal that helped, headache, which wore off over a few weeks and terrible constipation. I increased fruit especially pears and kiwi but had to have some Laxido for 3/4 weeks. Now settled but I still eat either a pear or kiwi daily to help soften stool.
I talked to my GP, as the consultant had written to ask them to follow up, to ask to double the dose (75mg) and have one tablet in the morning and one in the evening ( both with food otherwise terrible nausea for me). I’m only 4 days in and have noticed a further reduction at night. I had a bit of a headache but nothing that serious. One night I had the best night sleep that I’d had since my diagnosis in 2023.
I must admit I was hesitant taking an anti depressant as I tried one nearly 30 years ago and I couldn’t deal with how I felt and stopped after two weeks. I think with all my side effects from AIs this was the lesser of the two evils. The good side effect is that I feel happier and didn’t realise I was feeling so down. I even laughed really loud and my family looked at me like they hadn’t seen that in a long time.
I’m not sure if these anti depressants have been tested on breast cancer patients but like Fezolinetant that I had tried before, I’m just happy they work. I’m not sure all medication is tried and tested with all different illnesses or diseases any way.
I hope this thread is helpful to anyone navigating the side effects of AI’s.
Hi, I’m still finding my way around this website but thank you for your reply to my post on letrozole and urethral atrophy. I’ve just discovered this previous post from you with a lot of helpful information and I plan to have a further discussion with my oncologist at my next appointment as even though it’s important to try and prevent a recurrence, you have to be able to live your life without such miserable, debilitating side effects.
It might be helpful to speak to a menopause specialist if you don’t get anywhere with the oncologist. If you look further up this thread to my first post, there is a link to a study from Dec 2023 that studied aromatase inhibitors and vaginal atrophy but many cancer healthcare professionals are not aware of it.
Loads of resources on here. I’ve probably posted a link before but being a breast cancer survivor herself, Dani knows what it’s like with the side effects of medication can be.
I hope my thread helps and hope you get some relief.
Take care
