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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Breast Cancer / June 2008arimidex side effects
Hi I dont post here very often. I had gd 2 lobular cancer negative nodes bilateral breast cancer diagnosed. feb 06. Had a bilateral mastectomy no rads. chemo followed. after all that ,arimidex was prescribed as a follow up treatment for 5 years due to estrogen receptive cancer. Had a bone scan before taking arimidex and scan showed Osteopenia, thinning of bone density. still told to take drug and reluctantly did, Had to have an infusion of zometa which was painful for 5 days after. Horror of horrors found a tooth abscess and couldnt have extraction due to posible side effect of osteocronosis of jaw where jaw can be damaged and shatter! so bad timing and luck as well as I NEVER have teeth problems in all of my 52 years!! Had root canal done May 2006. zometa was supposed to protect my bones from getting worse. took arimidex for 10 months and had a follow up density test as well. the results showed i LOST 11% bone mass in 10 months of taking it. Needless to say I am NOW OFF IT!!! and so glad. Unfortunately I also took zometa with no success. the Oncologist agreed as well with my decision and case and I am now taking a natural supplement called Indolplex which is a hormone balancer and excretes excess estrogen. I did take it for the first 6 months before treatment and had no side effects. My prognosis is good and if I continued taking arimidex I would have to have a hip replacement further down the track. the stats are : gd 2 neg node 79% alive in 10 years . extra treatment is: Hormone treatment only: 4.3% alive in 10yrs, chemo only: 2.4% alive, combined 6.6%. so I will have an extra 2.4% protection instead of 6.6%. I think I am better off saving my bone health. any comments.??? Hi! Thanks for sharing. I am on Arimidex and it will be five years 6/09 for me. My Onc says he will keep me on it for another five years. I already have Osteo in one of my hips and tried Zometa which made me horribly ill. I was fortunate not to have had any teeth problems while or shortly after talking it. I have stomach and ulcer problems so cannot take any of the regular drugs to protect my bones. I live daily with the fear of what my next bone density scan will show. I know Arimidex can destroy one's bones but being ER+, without it, the alternative is more frightening for me. So....it will be interesting to see what my Onc does when he sees the results of my next bone scan. I am so happy for you that you found an alternative way to protect yourself from a recurrance of breast cancer and protect your bones also. I will mention the Indolplex to my Onc when I next see him and find out if it is a possibility for me to try. I do hope your Indolplex continues to work for you. Thanks again for sharing. Bea 'NO FORWARDS OR SPAM, PLEASE" > Hi I dont post here very often. I had gd 2 lobular cancer negative nodes > bilateral breast cancer diagnosed. feb 06. Had a bilateral mastectomy no [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > will have an extra 2.4% protection instead of 6.6%. I think I am better > off saving my bone health. any comments.??? Thanks for your post Mary. I'm seeing my dentist next Monday and I'm now wondering if I should tell her about my tablet intake. (I have a loose tooth) I've been on Arimidex since last July and because I had to stop HRT immediately I've been on daily chewable calcium tablets plus a weekly Alendronic Acid tablet. I also take steroids. After reading what you've written I suppose I should be glad I've had my shoulders, hips and one knee replaced already lol Splodge I agree about bagging the adjuvant therapy but I'm puzzled about the decision to have chemo? and why the double mastectomy? the lesions were too large for excision/radiation? LCIS is less aggressive/malevolent than other types (I thought?). Did your doctor advise chemo even though nodes were negative? I thought that after mastectomy, with negative nodes, treatment was considered complete unless the cancer was Stage III or worse? > Hi I dont post here very often. I had gd 2 lobular cancer negative nodes > bilateral breast cancer diagnosed. feb 06. Had a bilateral mastectomy no [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > will have an extra 2.4% protection instead of 6.6%. I think I am better > off saving my bone health. any comments.??? > I agree about bagging the adjuvant therapy but I'm puzzled about the > decision to have chemo? and why the double mastectomy? the lesions were too [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >> rads. chemo followed. after all that ,arimidex was prescribed as a >> follow up treatment for 5 years due to estrogen receptive cancer. Fortunata, Mary doesn't say she had LCIS, I presume she means she had invasive lobular cancer, which is an entirely different story. As it was in both breasts, it was therefore multifocal, which is a further indicator for chemotherapy, even if the individual staging did not particular indicate it. Tim Jackson I had Invasive Lobular Carcinoma in the left breast (2.5cm tumour). (Small breasts - too disfiguring - so bilateral mastectomies!! Better outcome cosmetically - no radiation too) 4 small tumours in the right breast. Had 6 treatments of Chemo. In my situation, the Oncologist agreed that I stop taking Arimidex due to the rapid bone loss!!! Hopefully I will get through this struggle without ongoing adjuvant treatments. I dont know if anyone has problems with joint pain but my knees get painful from time to time when I bend or try to crouch down on my knees. Anyone else have problems associated with joints? Im only 53. Dont know if this is from the Zometa I took over a year ago. I'm now on a product called Estro-Sense (similar to Indolplex) which contains Dim, Kelp, Selenium, Vitamin D3. 1 tablet daily instead of 2 for the Indolplex. I had hormone receptor cancer. Anyone else tried these alternative supplements?? Mary E >> I agree about bagging the adjuvant therapy but I'm puzzled about the >> decision to have chemo? and why the double mastectomy? the lesions were [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Tim Jackson > Hi I dont post here very often. I had gd 2 lobular cancer negative nodes > bilateral breast cancer diagnosed. feb 06. Had a bilateral mastectomy no [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > instead of 6.6%. I think I am better off saving my bone health. any > comments.??? Hi Mary, Hope you're still watching posts. It has taken me a while to post since my old PC went berserk. Now I have a new one and can catch up. As to the knee joint pain you mentioned in a later post, I too have very bad knee pain. I started the Arimidex Feb.2007 and haven't noticed any problems other than the knee joint problems. I did have some problems before the BC dx but not nearly this severe. Getting up from a chair is a real chore; forget squatting (I'd have to crawl to something). I will say that it didn't start bothering me this bad until I regained all the weight I'd lost post-surgeries/chemo/RAD. Given that I was this heavy before and was starting to have knee joint problems, I chalk most of it up to the weight, though the weight gain may be due in part to the Arimidex. My Onc says he doesn't think the Arimidex is causing it; that muscular problems would be more likely. Still I feel 20 years older. Some days I'd love to have a walker. I guess the only way to know is to lose at least 20 lbs and see if the joints improve. Marsha ... > ... I guess the only way to know is to lose at least 20 lbs and see if > the joints improve. > > Marsha Since August last year I've lost two stones (28lbs) deliberately and feel much better for it. My knees especially are hardly ever felt now. It's hard work and there's another half stone to go but it's worth it. Do try. Mary who also looks better now! |
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