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Has anyone on letrozole experienced extreme fatigue?

Breast Cancer | Last Active: 21 hours ago | Replies (27)

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@buckokey Yes I am very glad I had it. For me last January I asked for an ultrasound because I have dense breast tissue and my Gyn ordered one after questioning its need because I heard it was important to do if you have dense tissue. Thank god I did. The ultrasound found a suspicious spot which was biopsied days later and confirmed it was invasive lobular cancer. Two weeks later they still had me get my scheduled mammography. It showed no evidence of any malignancy - they could see the biopsy marker but not the cancer which hid in my dense tissue in the upper quadrant. I was told that surgically I had a 15% chance of reoccurrence with a lumpectomy but only 2% chance with a mastectomy. I had a bilateral mastectomy a month later in february because I didn't want two different looking breasts and I didnt want to worry about cancer developing in the other breast. I am now 71 and I know I have arthritis in my bad knee but I feel it has gotten worse - or stiff - I think it might be the letrezole. I also have some arythmia problems with my heart - I have persistent atrial tachycardia despite four ablations. So I am on metoprolol, lisinopril and eliquis for my heart. The first two can also add to my fatigue. I refuse to go on other medications at this point but I am willing to try another AI medication if my body could respond differently to it. I just don't know what is causing the fatigue. I am tired after sleeping 8 hours! LOL. I do exercise every day and lift weights and do yoga and some aerobic workouts. I try everything - eating right etc. We can only do what we can control but it is so frustrating!

I am so thankful to have this forum to talk with other women and find out what they are doing and thinking.

Thanks so much for sharing . It sounds like you have been through so much. I wish you all the best in your healing journey too. But I do think we have to stay on top of our doctors and do our own research. No one knows your body like you do so we have to be our own best advocates!

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Replies to "@buckokey Yes I am very glad I had it. For me last January I asked for..."

@wews
It seems all doctors are different in treatment plans. I’m not sure how I’ll look when this is all over! lol! Having had a lumpectomy on one side vs. this Goldilocks, who knows! She said it will have a semblance to a breast and similar in size to my already deformed right breast so I’ll need some sort of prosthesis to appear somewhat normal I would guess!

I didn’t mention before but I have been wearing a heart monitor which I just turned in last week so awaiting those results. I have researched a lot, too, and these AI’s can cause heart issues. I’ve not had any heart problems in the past so it does make me wonder. Plus my cholesterol has gone up and I’m gaining weight 😩. I was planning on knee replacement a year ago but then this all has happened. Up until a week ago I was not having any pain but I find if I’m on my feet over an hour my knee starts hurting. When it rains it pours, I guess. I only have my son who has been very supportive so hoping all goes well with my outpatient surgery as I live 90 minutes away from hospital in Portland. And I always have nausea afterwards. They say they will be able to prevent it but being under anesthesia for 2-3 hours is worrisome to me. I agree that it’s great to have the ability to share our experiences with others. I’d like to join a support group but evidently there are none in my community.

All good wishes to you and I think you might do well changing from letrozole to anastrozole or possibly tamoxifen to help with your fatigue. It sure helped me when I switched anyway. Take care!