When do side effects of anastrozole begin?

I started anastrozole in Aug of 22. My first few months were somewhat up and downs. Menopause started due to no estrogen. I gave it the old college try and it seemed to get better. I’m still on it as of today. Taking it for the next 5-7 years. My sex drive has gone not really interested it. Trying to work through that issue. That seems to be the only issue I have now. But what is a woman to do? Help. Suggestions.

I was put on Anastrozole on Feb. 1, 2022, after a lumpectomy (right breast) on Jan. 27, 2022. This was not even a week out of surgery, and I was fighting a seroma (infection), taking 500 mg. of Cephalexan every 4 hours for literally weeks. My symptoms began in earnest in Week 13/14, the weeks we visit our time shares in Cancun. If you subtract the month of January, that means 9 weeks in. I experienced dry skin, dry eyes leading to blurry vision (which was so bad I had an eye doctor check me), mood swings, teariness, vivid violent nightmares and then my left knee, fragile from a 1997 bicycling accident, blew out, putting me in a wheelchair for 6 months with meniscus tear symptoms. I had been in a study for damaged and arthritic joints from 1997 to 2020 (the MOST study) and should never have been put on any A.I. drug. The pain was excruciating in my damaged knee and left elbow and back and I was given nothing for pain. After my knee quit working, I had to be injected with 32 ml of an anti-inflammatory drug and 6 ml of Durolane and was wheeled to my first post-operative mammogram on October 3, 2023. I went off everything for 9 months, but then tried Tamoxifen for 5 months: extreme exhaustion (could be up only 3 hours), a constant ongoing urge to urinate, and frequent, seemingly never-ending UtIs. I quit Tamoxifen on Aug. 30, 2023, a point at which my blood work showed that 10 things had gone "bad" since the March 7th blood work that showed normal results. I had 33 radiation sessions that started in May (2022) and ended in July. I'm hoping they will protect me from cancer and from having to take the horrible pills.

My heart goes out to you. My complaints seems so minor and yet they loom so large. I have trouble with my meniscus too. I'm getting some steroid shots but nothing like blowing it out. I've been in bed for almost 3 days now, flat on my back with some mysterious ailment. I tested covid and I'm clear of that. It's a loss of energy day in and day out the drives me crazy. I'm so sorry I ever took those pills.

I think that a "mature" (ok...old) woman will react differently to these toxic pills than younger patients, and I cannot quite fathom how this "one size fits all" prescribing is good for my old body. I know that when I tip-toed into the Tamoxifen waters with just 10 mg. every other day, it was bearable. Taking 20 mg. daily was not. However, Tamoxifen is less likely to damage/inflame and otherwise deplete our bone density and mine has been on a steady downward spiral since taking Anastrozole. It was really a crap shoot on whether I could have the dental implant I am currently attempting, because I am also a Type II diabetic and diabetics don't heal as quickly or as well and then there was the issue of my jaw bone strength, thanks to Anastrozole. I asked for "the best oral surgeon in town" and I think I got him. Wish me luck, because this entire dental fiasco is costing $10,000, and that is with insurance that picked up about $2 grand of it. I also lucked out on NOT needing the $2,600 root canal, or it would have been worse, to (a) remove the #4 tooth that split below the gumline (b) put a crown on the #5 tooth (c) put a new filling in the tooth way in the back that had a cavity under a filling. We are only here until mid May and I've been going to the dentist since Dec. 13th and, with luck, will get the implant on April 23 (if healed enough). The cleaning was Nov. 16 back in Illinois, which caused the second tooth to give up the ghost. (If it's not one thing, it's another!) I had to sign many items testifying that I never took the biophosphanates that will damage your jawbone (Boniva, Fossamax, etc.) and I had been prescribed them and had filled them but hesitated to take (yet another) pill with godawful side effects, since my -2.2T was borderline osteoporosis, thanks to old age and Anastrozole.

I know wonder if my being 78 had a lot to do with it. I'm lying on my couch again this morning as I did half the night. The weakness is incredible. I can hardly lift a glass of water. It's funny you're talking about oral surgery I just had it and they removed a root canal and my crown and I had a cyst over the top of my mouth that was huge and they got rid of all that. I just had a check up yesterday. I wear a flipper or a very small partial for that one tooth. I am thinking of moving up by surgery to get this over with. I think worrying about all this is making me physically ill and weak and I think it's mental. So I'm going to call my surgeon tomorrow and get a new date for the operation. Good luck.

All my oral surgery was before taking anastrazole.

I refuse to take them. Would rather have mastectomy and no drugs. I’ve seen the side effects with a good friend. I know they say that everyone is different…I’d rather live my life without the horrible side effects.

I'm 78 now, but, 6 months out of taking "adjuvant therapy" I'm feeling the best I have since December of 2021 when I was initially diagnosed. Being old weakens everything on your body. In many studies they don't even have anyone over the age of 70 (or younger). It stands to reason that an older person will have reduced immunity, less strength, etc. Instead of letting me continue on 10 mg every other day, which I WAS taking, I was told (after 2 months) to move up to 20 mg. daily (which was 140 mg. weekly versus the 40 mg. I was taking) because "the clinical studies we have are for 20 mg. daily." Well, maybe run some clinical studies on older subject who aren't in peak condition to begin with. If I had been left alone to take the 10 mg. I was managing to tolerate, I would still be taking (some) Tamoxifen. Instead, the instructions to move up to 20 mg. a day caused the total collapse of what had been a not-fun, but not godawful experience of taking Tamoxifen. On 10 mg. every other day I had to pee all the time and things did not "feel right" below the belt, but I was coping and taking it and there was some of it in my system. Now there is none and I feel much better for it. However, if the 29 oncotype is accurate, I fear a recurrence, because now I'm on nothing to prevent it from coming back. I've asked for good tests to monitor the spread, if any, but, as my Texas oncologist has said, "I'm not afraid of it coming back on the contralateral side. I'm worried about it coming back somewhere else." I will have a bone scan in May. It is the bones that I think he is most worried about. I can't have that one until 2 years has elapsed since my last one in May of 2022. Another thing that amazes me is that I did not get the 2022 bone scan until late May (May 22) but I was put on Anastrozole in February. No wonder my bone density took it in the shorts and now I'm having dental (and other) woes.

I'd like to switch to Exemestane but with insurance Anastrozole was $10 and other $425. Any reason for this?

I have been on Arimidex (Anastrozole) for 6 months.
My side effects started about 3 months after starting.
My side effects are:
Foggy brain
Extreme hair thining/fall, I’ve lost almost half my Hair!
A bit of joint pain in my fingers.
My Dr gave me the choice of going on a different AI but as she said all of them have side effects. So I’m just going to stay on Anastrozole.
Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can stop the hair loss.