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Anyone take Anastrozole every other day?
I wonder if anyone here takes Anastrozole every other day. If so, does it lessen your side effects? Thank you.
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I wonder if anyone here takes Anastrozole every other day. If so, does it lessen your side effects? Thank you.
Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Breast Cancer Support Group.
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@myoga
I also found this when I was taking Letrozole. I planned to take a month off after a year of taking Letrozole but never made it to one year. There are strong chance that eventually the cancer will develop resistance to AI. Should we take a break once in a while to prevent the resistance?
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2491346/
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3 Reactions@saraabrooks I am struggling with this medication, too. It just adds to the stress of the whole situation. I’m taking a week away from it and going to restart at a pace that works fir me. At age 80 … I feel a lot of this is “my choice”!
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5 ReactionsIf I’ve written this in the past, so sorry to repeat myself! In the “old days” radiation dosage for breast cancer was much higher than it is with today’s treatments. And with experience, testing, and studies, the dosage was reduced. Great for some of us…not for some others. Ditto dosages in early birth control pills!
Perhaps the same is true for our current oral meds: dosages too high with so many side effects that are impossible to tolerate. Perhaps a half-dose, or even a quarter-dose would be sufficient.
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5 Reactions@mimi09 the standard dose of Tamoxifen used to be 40 mg, now it's 20 mg. And current, on-going clinical trials suggest that 10 mg & even 5 mg have benefits. Will be interesting to see final results from these trials! (I have always taken 10 mg Tamoxifen.)
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3 Reactions@myoga I have often wondered about this point as well, thanks for the link.
My oncologist is so adamant about me taking the prescribed AI (Exemestane) he won't ever prescribe anything different to try, or ok any breaks from it. I have been telling him that I feel horrible all the time, for 3 years how. I have gotten so fed up with it all that I have been just skipping doses regardless of what he says. He's not the one living this misery and doctors who don't even ask a patient what they want or give them any options are wrong for doing so.
So far skipping doses has not helped with all of my side effects but a few have been less severe.
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1 Reaction@coco46
I’m so sorry that your onco is so stubborn and inconsiderate of patients! He should at least prescribe other AIs like anastrozole or Letrozole to see if you can tolerate those better. If skipping doses is helping with the severity of the side effects then that’s probably the right choice for you. There is a research about taking exemestane three times a week is non inferior to taking every day. (Yes, some ppl argue that it’s not proven as effective, but there is no research to prove that either) I’m skipping exemestane once a week without approval of my onco hoping the petechiea would be less severe. Not sure if it works, but I feel better that way. Like you, I still have about 1.5 years to go. If my onco suggests continuing for another 2 years, I’ll go for three times a week. Can’t live with so much aches and pains. That’s not living at all! Hang in there with me. Hugs to you.