@forrestbeach26 I took Anastrozole for 2 yrs and like you it turned me Old. Thank goodness no vomiting. Just joints. I quit it. It took me about 3-4 months to get back to normal. My reoccurrence % was low. Quality of life is the key.
Good luck & blessings on your journey

@forrestbeach26
I really enjoyed reading your comment and needed it! I’m quite similar to you—still active, though I don’t run, but I do enjoy hiking, cycling, and playing tennis. My life is physical activities of all sorts for up to 2 hours a day. Plus, I’m free from any health issues. I am 72.

I was diagnosed with stage 2 grade 1 invasive ductal carcinoma, which means I had 1 micro-metastasis after removing 9 nodes. It took two pathologists from major cancer centers to finally confirm this diagnosis. So surviving cancer makes me think I’m inviting a slow death from infirmity. Unfortunately, both doctors want me to take it. My son, who was always an anti-vaccination advocate, never got MRNA vaccine is very angry if I take it. I took 1 pill in a week because I’m waiting for side effects. It’s like I feel great now, my joints were never replaced, enjoying physical activities and I’m throwing it all away. I wish there were side effects that were tolerable. My husband is 85, and while taking around 10 prescription medications for congestive heart failure, kidney disease, diabetes,
there haven’t been any complications from them, especially since he’s pretty sedentary.
My Oncotype DX score was 9 with a 3% recurrence possibility. My breasts are not dense. I am 5’2” and 108 lbs. Taking Anastrozole would lower that to 1.5%

@forrestbeach26 Your post was very helpful to me, thank you! I am age 63 and diagnosed invasive ductal carcinoma April 2026 - stage 1, ER/PR + and HER2 - . I do have bilateral DCIS. I am also a recently retired RN. I am scheduled for bilateral mastectomy 6/26/26 with direct to implant. (not a lot of breast tissue and DCIS was fairly widespread on L side - so not given option of lumpectomy)... I did have an Oncotype DX on the left 1.2 cm tumor that had 6 mm invasion per my needle core biopsy and came back with score of 13 with recurrence risk of 5% with taking endocrine therapy. I am also healthy and exercise daily. I did take hormone replacement therapy for the last 10 years and immediately discontinued that after diagnosis. Cutting off the fuel hopefully! In hindsight - wished I had stopped them a few years ago! I don't know the plan yet since have not met with the medical oncologist yet but am already concerned about the medications that will be prescribed due to all the known side effects. I am also having nipples removed as well but not required per my surgical oncologist mainly due to the fact that I am going down considerably in size for my implant from the size I have now. I have a great team with my surgical oncologist and plastic surgeon and they work together regularly. I have also located a very skilled medical tattoo artist that is local for hyper-realistic tattoos - it's quite amazing the results I have seen. My foremost concern is treat the cancer but I have found the reconstruction is more important to me than I had expected. This has been quite a journey and wishing everyone the very best. It is a lot to process and a lot of decisions to be made usually in short period of time.