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Aromatase Inhibitors: Did you decide to go on them or not?

Breast Cancer | Last Active: Sep 22 2:13pm | Replies (1230)

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Nana loves - I’m sort of in the same boat. Was diagnosed with IDC on my left breast I March, 2023, stage 1, grade 2. Did double lumpectomy (had two small tumors), clear sentinel lymph nodes, did radiation but chose not to do the AI’s. This year I was diagnosed with a 1.2cm same type of tumor I my right breast. My surgeon did not check sentinal lymph nodes - said it was no longer necessary because they could tell if there was a malignancy by the mammogram. Had another lumpectomy and radiation but still haven’t decided on taking AI’s. I had no recurrence in the left breast. I’m 79 years old and have read so many horror stories from people who have taken them - fatigue, muscle/joint pain, etc. I’m scared to take them but scared to not take them. Already have a lot of joint pain because of osteoarthritis in my knees among other things and I worry about the quality of life I would have if I take the pill. My Ocontype Score was 7 and 3. Don’t know if this helps you, but would love to hear from woman who did not take the aromatease inhibitors.

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Replies to "Nana loves - I’m sort of in the same boat. Was diagnosed with IDC on my..."

I tried both Anastrozole and Letrozole sequentially for about 4 months, trying to find one that wouldn't affect my BP. Had moderately high BP before. The AI's both slowly raised my BP, until finally they caused me to develop Labile Hypertension. I quit them immediately. You do not want this, it makes treating your blood pressure a guessing game & affects whether you can take anti-inflammatories in the future (I can't). Next we tried Fulvestrant shots for 4 months, another type of hormone blockers. This also made my BP wacky, ended up giving me a leg rash, muscle & joint aches & pains. It DID shrink my chest wall tumor by 2/3, so that's a great thing. I tried to talk the Doc into a lower dose since I'm med sensitive, but she said no, we can't do that here at the Cancer Ctr, for FDA approval. I said that's it, can't deal with the leg pains. So now I'm going on to Tamoxifen, but am going to use my pill cutter to take the dose I think my body can stand, slowly upping it. She doesn't know that yet.