arimidex 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"

"Mary E." <happy@home.com> wrote in message
news:rfENj.2498$ko5.1916@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> 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.???
>

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?

"Mary E." <happy@home.com> wrote in message
news:rfENj.2498$ko5.1916@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> 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.???
>

fortunata wrote:
> 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?
>
> "Mary E." <happy@home.com> wrote in message
> news:rfENj.2498$ko5.1916@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>> 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.
>

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

"Tim Jackson" <tim@tim-jackson.co.uk> wrote in message
news:rvadnU3lP9UOw5XVnZ2dnUVZ8tqinZ2d@plusnet...
> fortunata wrote:
>> 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?
>>
>> "Mary E." <happy@home.com> wrote in message
>> news:rfENj.2498$ko5.1916@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>>> 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.
>>
>
> 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

Mary E. wrote:
> 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 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

"Mizz Marcia Ryder" <missotis@regrets.com> wrote in message
news:7qCdnXdEWcbXR8jVnZ2dnUVZ_qTinZ2d@comcast.com. ..

....

> ... 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!