When do side effects of anastrozole begin?

@dmosssadler An AI is an aromatase inhibitor. Anastrozole is one of many aromatase inhibitors that prevent the production of estrogen in your body. This is mostly prescribed for cancers that ate feeding off the estrogen in your system, usually for breast cancer patients.

I stopped Prolia after the first injection. It was causing me so many terrible side effects after only one month, but I was warned about terrible side effects if I quit. Thankfully, we moved to another town, so I found a new oncologist. I told her I would not take that drug! She agreed. A lot of the joint pain and new symptoms disappeared. After five years of Anastrozole, calcium supplements and exercise, I have no bone loss.
Do your own research on Prolia and talk to your doctor.

it took 4 years for the side effects to kick in awful aches n pains, doc lowered the dose and that fixed it

My sister had no side effects until about a year later then the inflammation and joint pain started. When I started the medication I had symptoms right away with hair fall, bladder spasms, difficulty sleeping, tiredness and pain. By 18 to 20 months I had so many side effects, I had to stop the medication and change to exemestane with much less side effects, especially reduced pain. Everybody’s journey is different, blessings on yours.

@marshmallow, welcome. Are you being treated for breast cancer? How are you doing?

About three months after a lumpectomy for stage 1 bc, with no lymph node involvement, and no chemo or radiation after, I started anastrozole. I had a lot of hot flashes but nothing else, until after taking it for about eight months. Then I started feeling pain and stiffness in first one shoulder, then the other, and then more and more stiffness and pain every day in shoulders and sometimes hips. What was the worst was the weakness in my arms that went along with the pain in my shoulders. Chiropractor was no help, and no pain meds really helped. I decided the anastrozole might be the problem so I stopped taking it. This was over the holidays and I could not get any real contact with my oncologist. I started with Tylenol, went to Aleve, then to Tramadol, which made me sick so I stopped it, even though it helped the pain. I went to the ER, was given five days of prednisone and a muscle relaxant, and I started feeling much better for a few days. By then, I had been off the anastrozole for two weeks. I finally saw my oncologist, and he said, at my age of 84 and with the smallness of my cancer, it was more important to be out of pain than to worry about possible bc return in five years. However, now it is about a month with no drug, and I am still having pain, stiffness, weakness, hot flashes and fatigue that keep me from being able to do much a lot of the time, and none of the pain meds help much. After reading all these posts, I will start doing the physical stretching and walking noted as helpful, and hope for the best. Thanks to all of you for letting me know I am not alone!

I have been taking Anastrazole for over 5 years. Have had NO side effects at all. I was told to take it at night and have done that.

Some recent studies have found women who take Anastrazole have a lower risk of developing dementia. Dementia runs in my family, mother, sister, brother, so I pay attention to research there.

@slapshotmary What eye issues----specifically? J Hendrixson

My side effects happened within a week. I had to stop anastrozole only after 6 days. I tried them all plus tamoxifen. I can’t tolerate them. But I know from friends and from reading, it doesn’t affect everyone the same way. I’m dealing with lasting effects in my hands. Good luck!

I had the same painful awful results. I lasted six months and also have lasting problems in my bones. But as stated everyone should try for a while because not everybody has the same debilitating results. Keep the faith.