Hi All
Just thought I would let you know that I took the advice of someone else on this forum and bought some Glucosomin with Chondroitin and MSM (expensive at £57!!) but thought it was worth a try as, like most of you I feel 90 at the moment. Well, have been taking them for 6 days and I think they are starting to work already. I have still got some aches and pains but they seem to be easing. I will keep you all posted!
Take care all.
Wendy
Sorry it cost you so much Wendy, hope they do some good. they really have made me tons better in the joints…still stiff now and again but no pain at all. I buy combination pills as above, but hey dont cost me nearly as much. I get them from healthspan 360 for £17.95. Hope I’m allowed to send this!
Keep moving 
love, Zoe
I was on tamoxifen for 2 1/2 years and now on arimadex about 6 months they said the sweats and flushes would not be as when on tamoxifen not quite as bad but bad enough my consultant refered me to hospital to have accupuncture must say the sweat have got alot better. came back with vengence when i changed to arimadex but they now are under control again. I do have painful joint aches in my hands. at night its my hips and feet carn’t stay in bed with them have to get up.also now ive had my reonstruction this year i’m now tring to move the weight i’ve put on joined weightwatches 4 week ago managed to lose 8lb. i just think put up with it and hopefully when the medication stops all the aches will go away i live in hope!!! joanx p.s. merry xmas to all and a goood new year to all
Roash
Hi All
I’m really glad I found this thread as I thought the unbelievable tiredness was all in my mind and my GP agreed. I don’t think side effects even crossed his mind. I have been on Arimadex for 4 years this month. The hot sweats have finally got a lot better. I have joint aches in my hands and elbow particlarly on the side where I had my lymph glands removed, also stiffness in the mornings, but maybe that’s just age. Reading about other people’s joint pains, I realise mine aren’t that bad.
I’m partly writing this to distract myself as I’m going for day surgery tomorrow to have a final adjustment to my reconstruction - strangely I’m more nervous about this than the original mastectomy. I suspect this is because I don’t feel this op is entirely necessary.
Thank you all for cheering my up about the side effects, that’s a load off my mind.
Ro
Hi
I have just found this thread. I have been on arimidex for about a month now & it was reassuring to read your comments. I am suffering from hot flushes through the night, bit pissed off as I did not go through them during menopause. I found that my joints are sore in the morning & also feel as though I am 80 not 51. I have found Pannadol - night pain helpful last thing at night & use paracetamol during the day. I try to be up before 9 in the morning but feel terrible until about 11am then I pick up & rest ( but not sleep) at 4pm. I have found that if I do a gentle bit of yoga that also helps & start to get ready for bed about 9pm. I suppose it all help…!
I hope you all have a good christmas & hopefully things will ease in 2009
Maggie
Hi All
I posted on this site quite a while ago and have just re-visited. I take glucosamine, have started to walk a lot more and also do tai chi. Although I still have aches and pains (some days much worse than others).i have found an improvement. Id I sit for too long I am worse. Still cant do a full days housework though. Haven’t had a good nights sleep in ages either due to flushes, back and feet pain.
Went for bone density scan last Thursday so wait and see what results are.
It is miserable I know, but I haven’t got the guts to stop taking them!!!
Hope you all have a good Christmas and great New Year
Love Elaine
I stopped taking Arimidex a month ago now and the difference in how i feel is amazing. The aches and pains have gone, i feel more like the old me prior to bc again. The sex drive hasn’t coome back again but i do feel femonine again as opposed to when i was on the arimidex i felt like an old lady with all the aches and pains i was experiencing, some mornings i couldn’t get out of bed and i was taking loads of painkilers, which weren’t doing me any good. I did tell my Gp who spoke to my onc and he told me i was reducing my chances of making it to 5 years by 20%, but i will accept that risk just for the feelings of being pain free and feeling younger then i did on them.
Hi Mounties, your post really raised my spirits as I am desperately unhappy on this arimidex and on the verge of packing it in…although all the vits I tke had made it better, it has suddenly come back with a vengence in my hnds, cooking, trying to do my job, even doorknobs are a nightmare. Being really horrible and ratty to OH as well…how long did you take it before you stopped? I was told that if I could stick it for 3 years that would be ok as the 5 years is a safety margin thing.
Good luck , Zoe x
Hi,
Zoe - justed posted on ‘our’ local one and now seen this one. I’ve noticed I’ve become a lot more ratty and horrible over nothing - Paul puts up with it and tells me to count to 10 (or 20 !!). I’ve also found it difficult sometimes to open jars, lifting kettle and seem to lose strength in hands, plus pain in thumb joints and knuckles. I only started it in late Sept and because I have the small bone mets must persevere !! Onc told me to take paracetamol twice a day even though I wasn’t keen - don’t want to take too may pills - but my pains are nowhere near as bad as yours obviously. Hope the pains subside very soon and that this has just been a blip - wonder if the colder weather has anything to do with it ???
Everyone else - it’s the hot flushes that are the worst for me and at the mo I’m grateful for the colder weather. I seem to get anxiety attacks just before the hot flush and don’t know what to do with myself. I’ve learnt the art of layering and try to make light of it but it’s very difficult. Oncologist suggested I try paracetamol for the joint aches and they might help the hot flushes but no joy - anti-depressents have been suggested as a poss option so what does anyone else think ?? Back at onc in 3 months.
Fingers crossed for improvement, Liz x
Hi
I have just posted this on another thread about Arimidex, so I thought I would copy it here too.
Like you I’m on arimidex, I was on Tamoxifen to start with, for about 8 weeks and when I complained about the side effects to my onc, sweats, pain, hot flushes and weight gain, she did a blood test to transfer me to arimidex, to see if I had gone through the menopause, she then found out that the weight gain was due to under active thyroid so now I’m on thyroxine and the arimidex. I have been to my GP 3 times about the symptoms of arimidex, the severe hot flushes, pain in legs and back (can hardly walk first thing in the morning I hobble around like a 90 year old!!!) I also have the carpal tunnel in my hands they spend most of the night asleep and tingling, where as i’m awake and sweating, I’ve also put on 8lbs since Sept, (12lbs since July ) it is driving me nuts, the GP said I was on them for a reason yeh right well I know that!!! She did say in Dec come back in Jan and she could fax the onc to see If Tamoxifen is better, I’m not seeing ONC till March. I have taken the Glucosamine with Chrondroitin and MSM and I did find that helps I also took Red clover blossom for the sweats which was good then I read on here that you should not take it as it’s full of oestrogen the thing we are trying to avoid!!
The GP prescribed me Cylizine then I read they make you sick and tired and I thought well no more of those symptoms else I’ll be asleep 24/7. I also take Co Enzyme Q10, the jury is out on that too. I find also that I am fatigued all the time but is that thyroid, Arimidex or post Chemo?
I hate Arimidex and its symptoms, then I think well I hate BC more. I just want the life I had before Dec 07, when I was DX but that is never going to be is it?
I feel really quite depressed with the whole thing.
Sarah X
Oh, Sarah and Liz - this sounds terrible but its done me good to hear that you are both feeling the way I am! Really struggling with the whole thing right now, take the chance of shorter life without all this pain and stiffness, brain deadness and tiredness or keep going another 5 years on it. until I am the size of an elephant…I just dont know what to do. Was at least aiming to finish one whole year, as any time on arimidex is better than none. Will think of you as I lie in bed tonight trying to find a comfortable position. I can only say the Glucosamine with Chrondroitin and MSM does help, paracetomol makes no difference, and I really would not like to start on the antidepressant routine, but it may help you Sarah?
Much love to all, ZOe x
Hi Ladies
I decided to stop taking Arimidex September, i had been taking it for 6 months previously been taking Tamoxifen for 6 months. I’m not saying it is right for everyone, but i felt my quality of life was so poor and i just got totally fed up feeling crap all the time.
Onc said life expectancy is reduced by 5%, but i feel so much better back to work full time and enjoying life again.
Of course i have scared moments, but i got them anyway.
Wishing you all good things for 2009
Jo
x
sometimes I dont know whether to laugh or cry my hair has come back grey after the chemo and I look and feel ninety, I have been taking arimidex for nearly 3 months now, I hobble around like an old woman, tried to put my tights on this morning got one leg in but boy was it hard getting the other one in, feel tired all the time but dont sleep very well… First time I was diagnosed I took tamoxifen which gave me such heavy periods I couldent go out was flooding all the time, eventually had to go in for an operation as my womb lining was so thick and had a mirena coil inserted, surprise surprise the next cancer was progesterone positive and so they whipped it out double quick. If I could just feel good it would help went out for a meal xmas eve and kept thinking about how stiff I would be when I got up, and I walked out of the restaurant doubled up cos I was so stiff.people think once you have been treated that its over ,far from worrying about the cancer coming back there is also the quality of life issue when you have to take drugs for a long time, sometimes I feel my life has been taken away from me I am not in control anymore amd feel jealous of healthy women with nothing to worry about best wishes to everyone love suzan x
Just to put the other side of the coin - I have been on Arimidex for 4 months with no pain, joint stiffness, skin irritation or any side effects. I have a friend who has secondaries in her liver and since she has been on Arimidex the tumour in her liver has reduced in size by half, as has her tumour in her boob!
Thanks everyone for all your sayings; I still feel the same, but it helps to hear your voices. Hope it also helps Suzan…5% seems worth the risk really, Jo. Maybe I am at the same stage as you? I had a lumpectomy removed, sentinel node biopsy revealed no spread at all, and I was grade 2 not 3. Must go and see the oncologist…love to all, Zoe x
Exactly the same Zoe. Yes be interesting to see what your Onc says. Oh i also have no ovaries. Good luck.
Jo
x
Hi Zoe,
Is Dr S your oncologist ?? Be interesting to see what she says .
Hasn’t it been a miserable day today - damp & gloomy. Roll on better weather for our picnic !
Liz x
Thank you so much everyone who has posted here. I’ve been taking arimidex for nearly 3 months and am finding hot flushes and very sore legs and hands very difficult to cope with. I feel churlish to moan as I know it is giving me a better chance of seeing my kids to their old age. I take paracetamol to help at night and MMS, glucosamine and omega 3 oils. Is there anything else |I should do? I’m concerned to read about raised colesterol as my Dad had vascular dementia with early onset which is ( i think) linked to raised colesterol. Now I’m back at work I don’t have time to keep going to GP or to hospital for blood tests (2 busses and long sit and wait clinic, my surgery doesn’t do bloods). I wish I just had a tick list of this is what needs checking regularly, this is what you could take/eat that may help. I have found that walking my dogs helps the legs but I stiffen up so quickly I have to hobble around at work looking like the old lady everyone mentions.
Just to ask as well, the nurse at the GP surgery said “arimidex that’s better than tamoxifen isn’t it?”. Is it? My Mum took tamoxifen when it was a newish drug for 6 years and then got a 2nd primary BC BUT has very severe osteoperosis from arimidex. Maybe someone could start a thread on what helps with side effects? I’ll do it if no one else can but not today as should already be dressed and out the house!
Take care
Hi littlemrs,
Thread for help with side effects started ! I don’t have to be out just yet…
Liz
I took Tamoxifen for 2 years. It was then certain I was post-menopausal, so I was switched to Arimidex.
I put up with it for 9 months - I stuck it both hoping the symptoms would lessen and because I had an appointment with my Onc at the end of July.
By then I was determined I wanted to change back to Tamoxifen, even though I know they work differently. I could hardly move in the mornings with the stiff joints etc - all as you’ve described.
However, she persuaded me to try another aromatose inhibitor (instead of the tamoxifen) as she said they do work in different ways and for post-menopausal women they give the best results.
So she switched me to Aromasin, which she said reported much less side effects. I still find my joints are stiff in my fingers etc when I get up, but I am so much better than I was.
Please discuss with your Oncs about changing. I know we’re all sick and tired of it all, but we do have some control and it’s worth nagging rather than just putting up with stuff simply because we feel we have to.
Good luck,
Love Caz xxx