Anastrozole and vestibular disease

My experience closely mirrors yours , I have been on Anastrozole for almost two years
and have had worsening vertigo for the last ten weeks. I too was wondering about Anastrozoles possible role in this. I am very interested to hear your comment and hope the problem settles down for you ( as I hope it will for me!) .

I started on Anastrazole and had varying side effects initially. About a week or so of nausea, then headaches. But about 5 months into it, had severe dizzy spells sometimes with nausea. To the point where I would get up out of bed nd have to immediately sit/lie back down to let it pass. Luckily with me, it all stopped after 3 weeks. Was changed to exemestane after 9 months because of the bone and joint problems and no problems with it on this drug. However I have developed a pretty severe tinnitus that I think is related to the exemestane (but of course doctors don’t feel it’s related so I just live with it).

I had BPPV before, years before my breast cancer, and it was quickly corrected by a series of exercises done while lying down. When it happened the first time, I went to the ER, and the doctor had me lie down and then turn in different ways, and it was cured. He showed me what to do if it came back and I was able to take care of it myself when it did return several months later. I have been on anastrazole for several months, then got a reaction to it with the pain and stiffness, etc, as I have told you about earlier. I agree with mistymar, the doctors just don't seem to be able to believe us about our problems! I am now on a low dose of estrogen to rebuild my level so that the symptoms may go away, but it is too soon to know. I did get more prednisone to take for a while again, so for a few days I can move enough to dress myself again! Hugs to all of you!

@grandmaccs
After further research, estrogen has quite a lot to do with hearing and vestibular disease. Women are more likely too have BPPV than men, older (post menopausal) women are more likely and women who have osteopenia or osteoporosis are also more likely to have it. Studies showed that women who receive HRT are much less likely to suffer from it. An aromatase inhibitor causes your estrogen level to plummet and causes bone loss. I don’t think that I’m going resume taking anastrozole even though I had almost no other side effects. My 1st episode of BPPV was a doozy, I don’t want to go through that again if I can help it. I also now have zero trust in my oncologist who told me that the anastrozole didn’t have anything to do with it!

I have been on Anastrozole for eleven months now and I do have some side effects . I am 81 years old and have had more lightheaded moments and a few bouts of dizziness that I had to go to bed until it passed. There are always problems that arise from the loss of Estrogen.

@grandmaccs Do you still take the Anestrazole?

@wr61 Not right now, I took it from mid November until Feb 20 and did very well, so I thought. After my BPPV, I was in the hospital for a few days and they told me to not take it there, but I could resume when I got home. My oncologist told me that anastrozole doesn’t cause dizziness! It’s a warning on the label! Now I don’t trust her. For now I’m not going to take it, I have an appointment on April 10 with an ENT doctor and I’ll ask him about it. It reduces my chance of a recurrence from about 7% to 2-3%, but has no effect on survival since I’m already 70 and likely to die from many other things in the next 10 years. I’m really on the fence, I like taking it, but never want to go through that again. I had severe balance issues for weeks, and wasn’t able to get physical therapy until I was already better on my own. There is such a shortage of doctors, nurses, physical therapists now. I see neurologist on April 20 and folk have told me that it usually takes a year for a new patient!

Oops, sorry, I just realized that the question wasn’t for me! It sounds like she doesn’t if she’s on low dose estrogen.

@ruffianfan55 I find oncologists (in general) to lack empathy and/or understanding. They seem to be buried in the science without a link to humanity.

@ruffianfan55 hopefully you won’t die in next 10 years. I am 88 and still here with nothing life threatening. I have been on Anastrozole for 3 years, Tamoxifen 2 yrs prior. I don’t have dizziness. I didn’t notice the label warning. But I do have swollen fingers and toes. I wonder if related to Anastrozole or random arthritis. I’ll ask my dr. Best wishes to you.