How long for Exemestane to be out of my system?

Posted by kategiddyup @kategiddyup, May 12 7:31am

I am taking a 6-8 week break from Exemestane because of severe hand problems. I have swelling in both hands- palm side, fingers, trigger fingers, pain. My question: how long for this drug to be out of my system because the doctors are trying to see if the cause is this drug or something else.

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celestebradham | @celestebradham | May 13 6:31am

I’m sorry to say that I have been off Exemestane for 6 months now and still have painful joint aches in hands, fingers , elbows and knees. I had scan on hand and knee and it is arthritis, sadly. I believe it was caused by the drug . I was on it almost 2 years though. Good luck

kategiddyup | @kategiddyup | May 13 7:08am

Are you now taking another AI drug ? I am 77 and considering stopping AI completely. Thank you for your information and good luck.

barbbillas | @barbbillas | May 13 10:13am

It took a year for that drug to be gone. I had severe hand and foot pain and reduced function. My hand surgeon agreed it was due to the drug as it was affecting both hands and feet, not just one hand or foot. I needed 2 trigger finger surgeries, cortisone shots to both hands, and a cortisone shot to one ankle. I'm on Tamoxifen instead and have no problems.
I don't think a short break will help, at least it didn't for me. That's why I went off them, I couldn't even wring out a face cloth. And walking even one step hurt. My previously comfortable shoes hurt my feet. I had no quality of life.
I'm always amazed that some women have no problems with AI meds.

kategiddyup | @kategiddyup | May 13 11:02am

Thank you and your experience sounds pretty much like mine(shots, surgery, OT). I did find oral steroids helped but that is a short fix. I imagine my oncologist will recommend Tamoxifen and I might give it a try.

mistymar | @mistymar | May 13 11:19am

I’m in the same boat. Was supposed to be off for 4 weeks and call him but I’m now at 6 weeks off because it really took 4 weeks for a lot of the problems to go away. I still have some arthritis but my joints in my hands are finally not swollen, I can actually go an entire day without almost passing out about 3:30 in the afternoon and I’m getting almost 6 hours of sleep a night. So for me, it was probably about 4 weeks. In theory, exemestane is out of your system in 5 days. However, because of how it works (kills the enzyme instead of just stopping the progress) means it takes longer to recover. The enzyme chain doesn’t just restart with all the existing aromatase there, you actually have to produce all new enzymes for the reaction. I’ll still call him this week and see where we go from here but don’t think I’ll go back onto exemestane at all. It practically incapacitated me in just a little over a year.