Hi, i wonder if anyone out there can help me with this.
I have started bleeding today after 6 months of Arimidex, started off early this morning with a slight pink tinge on my toilet paper and tonight is a definite bleed just like a period which i have not had for several years, mainly because i was on a no bleed HRT Kliofem. When I stopped the Kliofem in May on diagnosis i expected to have several weeks of bleeding but nothing. I was put on Arimidex as it was assumed at 54 i was post menopausal! In October i asked for a FSH test as i was terrified of the Arimidex not working if i was not post menopausal.
The breast nurse had great satisfaction in telling me a week after the test that i was definately post menopausal, but with Arimidex suppressing the ovaries i did wonder about a false reading.
I am definately going to phone the breast unit tomorrow as they said if i did experience any bleeding which silly girl that i am I certainly would not have any! Yes I know they are so condesending to me!
I just hope that this is just a blip and nothing sinister. I do so worry about everything now, my daughter is despairing of me as every ache is something more than it really is, does this ever pass?
I have really worked myself up about it being a really serious thing and would like to hear from anyone else if they have encountered this.
Thanks for that but that thread seems to be for people with chemo related menopausal symptoms, i did not have chemo or rads so a bit different but thanks so much for that reply, it looks as though Arimidex can cause bleeding, will definately see breast unit tomorrow to check it out, funny the past couple of days my sweats and flushes have gone down, thought it was strange! Just want to continue with the Arimidex as it is such a good drug and would be terrified that it was not working if i was not post menopausal.
thank you so much for your reassurance, i will sleep tonight, i do get myself worked up, it still feels so new to me. I do appreciate your quick response.
Will let you know how i get on after i have been tomorrow, hubby is so worried he is coming with me.
Hi, well i went on spec to breast unit this morning and saw my BC nurse. She still says that i am post menopausal and that the FSH test i had was 100% sure even though i had it after taking Arimidex. She has said that if it was a case of me being on Tamoxifen then it could be a slight chance of uterine cancer, i told you she was reassuring! But as i am on Arimidex she does not think so. In fact she does not know anything and said i should see my GP as it was a gynocological thing. She did say sometimes 6 to 8 months after the menopause you can have a bleed, well this is now a proper period so i hope to God she is right. Have made an appointment to see my GP 6pm tomorrow night, so till then fingers crossed that it is just a tail end of the menopause.
If this helps ~ I had a tiny bleed in August [on Tamoxifen at the time] and it turned out to be a harmless Polyp ~ which is not at all uncommon. I was fast tracked to Hospital and it was sorted in a day. GOOD LUCK!
I have got myself so wound up over this, mainly that i may not be post menopausal and given the wrong drug, if so i might just as well have taken a smartie and saved myself the hot flushes, unbearable sweats and terrible nausea! Funny since the bleeding all those symptoms have disappeared! Worrying!
I am going to ask my lovely GP for a refferal to another surgeon in another town, i can’t go on worrying like this, my breast unit are worse than useless, i get no reassurance whatsoever and get told to see my own GP. This menopause thing has been going on since diagnosis, they “assume” I have been through the menopause because i turned 54 a month after diagnosis! No test to confirm this was given to me until i pushed for one in October at my 3 month check up (that i had to chase as i was not sent an appointment, my 3 month was up in September).
Only thing is by October i had already been on Arimidex for 3 months so not sure if it was a true reading. Now the BC nurse says she “assumes” it was a correct reading!! Too much bloody “assuming” for my liking! This is my life we are talking about and i want and deserve to stay well for as long as possible.
My eldest son is coming with me tomorrow to my GP’s, he is very supportive and will remember things to tell him that i wont, i am very lucky that my GP is a wqnderful man who says he treats his breast cancer patients the way he would want his own wife treated! Thank God for brilliant doctors who don’t care if you see them for every little niggle and want to reassure you.
Thanks RMW, i think now is the time to change, i think anything my breast unit tell me now i will question and disbelieve, it will be a nuisance going a 40 min drive when my breast unit is 10mins away but at the end of the day i need reassurance that i am going to be looked after and have trust in my surgeon looking after me.I never get a definate answer to any of my questions.
Will let you know how i get on and thanks for responding to my query.
Suzzanne ~ hope all went well today. You are not alone, I turned 54 in August and changed to Arimidex early Nov and although I have absolute faith in my team like you I worry as I didn’t have a blood test either. This is the first time I have had a doubt throughout all my treatments and its only tiny, I have discussed it at length and come away reassured but just once in a while it creeps in! I know that they wouldn’t put me at risk. I go back again in February to see my onc and may ask one more time…! actually its helped me knowing someone else has similar fears to me. (everyone thinks I am so strong and putting it behind me ~ if only they knew!!!)
Gosh Rosemary you and i are singing from the same hymn sheet! I am due to go at 6pm tonight, i have worried all day so much so that i have been on the toilet several times, obviously a flare up of the old IBS. To go 8 months after stopping HRT with no bleeding then to wake up with one was terrifying, Since my diagnosis i have lost confidence in my body so every ache is something major then when my BC nurse mentioned Womb Cancer i came home and googled the symptoms and convinced myself that was the problem.
What i have is more like a menstural period, what is also so strange is the hot flushes, sweats and going to the toilet for a wee 4 times a night seems to have stopped since the bleeding started, i slept 9 hours last night, the most i have done since starting the Arimidex!
You are right i am sure my breast surgeon would not deliberatly put me at risk but the whole assuming thing is just not concrete to me, i have also swung from doubts to reassurance then doubts again, just like now. I do hope my doctor will be able to tell me more tonight.
Everyone also thinks i am so strong and positive because in front of my friends and family i even joke about “Patti Prothesis” and try to carry on just like i did before the BC, i feel now that i have had my surgery and am reasonably healthy and well, touch wood, they all think that it is over and done and dusted and time for me and them to get on with the rest of our lives. They do not like it when i have doubts or tell them about my fears so i do not do it now to spare them the worry. This bleeding though i have had to mention and of course they all say it is nothing to worry about! Roll on 6pm and just hope that i have the reassurance i need, because at the moment i can’t settle to anything or do anything, i am just moping around in suspended animation.
Hi to everyone who was so kind to reply to my enquiry. I have just got back from my GP he is so lovely, did not think i was wasting his time at all. Told me definitely the FSH level would not be affected by my Arimidex so i am definitely post menopausal, l hope that this also helps you Rosemary and allays some of your fears. The bleeding he thinks is a one off but if it continues or i get it again he will refer me to a Gynecologist. Main thing is he was confident and that is good enough for me. I took my eldest son with me so i could re-question what the GP said and he had reiterated that i am ok.
I am going to be referred to another breast unit when i am ready or if i ever need more surgery in the future, he was surprised that my BC Nurse had even mentioned Womb cancer as a side effect of Tamoxifen to me, especially as i am not even on Tamoxifen. I am sure these things are said to work me up, that can be the only reason!
Anyway he told me to go and enjoy my weekend so that is what i am going to try and do. Strange though i just can’t seem to let go of the worry even though i am reassured. Perhaps that is part and parcel of the nature of things when you have had any cancer.
Suzzanne ~ phew! thats reassuring news, came on here especially to see if there was an update from you. please keep us updated and as the Doctor said ~ enjoy your weekend!