Arimidex

I had a check-up yesterday and was told that I can stop taking Arimidex
at the end of December. I'm both happy and nervous about that.

My local hospital only has one oncologist on staff now so my check-up
was done at the big regional hospital 2 hours away. I don't know
exactly why I feel better getting the same breast/breathing exam from a
big hospital as I get from my family doctor but I do. <g> And because
of the Arimidex trial they will do annual check-ups for at least two
more years.

Marilyn

>And because of the Arimidex trial they will do
> annual check-ups for at least two more years.

>Marilyn

Does this mean they think you are completely cured?? I am on Arimidex
and my local Oncologist said he will continue to give it to me when my 3
years are up which will be in the near future. He seems to see no
reason to stop a medication which protects me. This eased my mine quite
a bit and I do hope he can do this. Since I am estrogen positive,
stopping the Arimidex will seem to take away my protection from more bc,
in my opinion. I am confused as to why your doctor is stopping yours.

Bea

'NO FORWARDS OR SPAM, PLEASE"

On Thu, 7 Jun 2007 09:01:46 -0400, pm95sb@webtv.net (Bea Oo) wrote:

>>And because of the Arimidex trial they will do
>> annual check-ups for at least two more years.
>
>>Marilyn
>
>Does this mean they think you are completely cured?? I am on Arimidex
>and my local Oncologist said he will continue to give it to me when my 3
>years are up which will be in the near future. He seems to see no
>reason to stop a medication which protects me. This eased my mine quite
>a bit and I do hope he can do this. Since I am estrogen positive,
>stopping the Arimidex will seem to take away my protection from more bc,
>in my opinion. I am confused as to why your doctor is stopping yours.
>
>Bea

When I started taking Arimidex 4.5 years ago I was told it would be for
five years. I've been wondering if that was still the standard or if I
would be continuing to take it after December. The doctor I saw
yesterday said I should stop at the end of the five years and could even
stop a few weeks earlier if my prescription runs out. I'm estrogen
positive too.

Five years ago one of my oncologists wanted me to take the "new and
improved" Arimidex and the other oncologist recommeded the "tried and
true" Tamoxifen and I had to choose. I expect there are a whole lot of
people who are ending five years of Arimidex trials and I hope some of
them post here so we can find out what other doctors are saying.

I don't know if I will ever think I'm completely cured, even in twenty
years. Like you I'll be a little nervous without the Arimidex, but I've
had borderline osteoporosis in the last 2 years, which might be genetic
or might be from the Arimidex, which depletes calcium. Or both.

So where you are 3 years is the standard? And five years is the
standard here in my part of Canada. Maybe you could at least take it for
the full five years?

Marilyn

<Mari@net.ac> wrote in message
news:qh9g631iqunv45avb43jvhkip08t9qnefm@4ax.com...

> When I started taking Arimidex 4.5 years ago I was told it would be for
> five years. I've been wondering if that was still the standard or if I
> would be continuing to take it after December. The doctor I saw
> yesterday said I should stop at the end of the five years and could even
> stop a few weeks earlier if my prescription runs out. I'm estrogen
> positive too.

As of my last visit a couple of months ago, my onco doc was saying he'd keep
me on Arimidex indefinitely. I took Tamoxifen for about 2.5 years, then
switched to Arimidex (long story, nothing to do with effectiveness or side
effects of either drug). I've been on Arimidex now for getting on 4 years.

My understanding was that the onco was waiting for more definitive evidence
from long-term studies. Tamoxifen had already been shown to provide its
benefits after one takes it for 5 years -- more time didn't improve survival
stats and did have some side effects. There wasn't enough evidence to say
whether Arimidex behaved the same, or not.

> I don't know if I will ever think I'm completely cured, even in twenty
> years.

Unfortunately, BC can recur (or metastasize) after any arbitrary number of
years. It just gets less & less likely that will happen, as time passes.
The "knee in the curve" -- the point at which our survival odds make their
most noticeable improvement -- is around the 2 or 3 year mark, or
thereabouts, as I understand it.

Ann T.
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