Hello all
Had diagnosis of stage 2 invasive ductal carcinoma in December.
Lumpectomy and sentinel lymph node removal in Jan. Lymph nodes and margins were clear. Just finished a week of intensive radiotherapy.
Due to have follow up with oncologist about drug regime on 30.4. via telephone as no visits to hospital at present due to Covid-19.
He was going to put me on Tamoxifen. However due to the fact that I am waiting a laperoscopy for suspected endometriosis, he has asked the gynae consultant for advice.
They have both agreed Zoladex and Anastrazole. I am 46 and pre menopausal.
I had not given an awful lot of thought to this as I wanted to get through radiotherapy first.
Anyway, I have just been reading the forum and I am now terrified! It seems like everyone suffers from osteoporosis, anxiety and depression and joint pain as a result of HT!
When I had my last session of radiotherapy, I thought I was on a home run, however it appears I could have another ten years of pain coming my way! I know that everyone is different but from what I am reading, it doesn’t bode well!
I am very sporty, generally eat well and am in pretty good nick so I hope this will help. I just even hate taking pain killers!
I have a list of questions for the oncologist but he is not the easiest man to talk to and I am not good in telephone conversations at the best of times!
So it would be great to hear from people who have done ok on HT as right now, I am really scared my quality of life is about to nosedive.
Also any tips on questions to ask the oncologist would be gratefully received!
Thanks xx
Hi there
Just wanted to respond to give you some reassurance around HT. I am same age as you and started tamoxifen five years ago. About 8 months after chemo, my periods re-started so I was then prescribed zoladex. Overall, I have been fine with only minimal flushes and joint pain. I do seem to react to different tamoxifen brands, Teva, Tillomed and Wockhardt have been fine but Relon not. I have managed to continue working, run family home and exercise-yoga and running, including half marathon! I have changed my diet and do eat much better than pre-diagnosis and tend to only drink alcohol at the weekends. I’ve not suffered with any depression and anxiety. I’ve had the odd scare about recurrence, but I tend not to go to the GP unless the health worry has persisted for a few weeks. All well so far. Hope that gives you some reassurance.
Best wishes with it all.
Hi Stringybean
I just wanted to say that the people who post here are much more likely to be those with negative experiences so you do get a rather skewed impression of things. I remember posting during my treatment for advice about losing taste during chemo and I got one reply saying “that didn’t happen to me.“ That didn’t go down very well lol.
I thought I was having a terrible time on anastrozole after 3 months of not even noticing I was on it. It coincided with a change of brand so I obsessed over tracing the right brand (not easily accessible to the small pharmacies like mine). Then I stopped it for 4 weeks to allow my very sore muscles and joints to improve before going back on the original brand. Nothing improved. It turns out the likely cause of my muscle/joint pain is my 6-monthly zometa infusion! So, assuming this is right, I can honestly say the worst I have had from anastrozole is a mild hot flush about an hour after taking it. I also know if you’re a candidate for osteoporosis, an additional treatment is prescribed, as well as calcium and vit D3 tablets.
Like you, I hoped to get radiotherapy out of the way before starting anastrozole but the sooner you start hormone therapy, the happier they are. Best of luck with your treatments.
Jan x
Thanks for all the positive messages!
Started Zoladex a week ago.
So far so good but I know it is very early days! Start Anastrazole in two weeks and going to stay positive!
My Dexa scan isn’t happening due to the GP radiographers all being furloughed but I will remind my doc when things get a bit less crazy.
I have got myself a smorgasbord of supplements, have gone veggie and switched to all natural products. Who knows if any of that helps but it makes me feel healthier!
Back running four times a week, strength and conditioning in between and working with a sports therapist.
Best wishes to all you wonderful ladies and I hope your journey continues to be a positive one.
Xxxx