Completed 5 years of anastrozole. Withdrawal symptoms? Side effects?

Posted by christinej @christinej, Jul 24, 2018

Monday, July 23rd, after consulting with Dr. Loprinzi, we decided to have me stop taking anastrozole. (Arimidex). It has been 5 years since I started the drug after breast cancer surgery and radiation. Has anyone stopped this drug and had any withdrawal symptoms? The nurse from Blue Group sent me an email today saying that there are no withdrawal symptoms after stopping this drug. Soooooooooooooo, is this all in my head? Definitely having some type of withdrawal.

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Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Jul 25, 2018

Welcome to Connect, @christinej
I'm tagging a few other members who have mentioned taking anastrozole for some time such as @wandering @susanao1 @itskeenerific @judymroz @cindylb @chamisaand @berit. I'm not sure if all have finished AI treatment.

Christine, what symptoms are you experiencing?

peaches2 | @peaches2 | Jan 22, 2019

In reply to @colleenyoung "Welcome to Connect, @christinej I'm tagging a few other members who have mentioned taking anastrozole for..." + (show)

I too just finished taking Anastrazole after years and having incredible fatigue. Is it related to stopping?

vikkr | @vikkr | Feb 11, 2019

In reply to @peaches2 "I too just finished taking Anastrazole after years and having incredible fatigue. Is it related to..." + (show)

I too stopped taking Arimidex after five years now have enlarged fatty liver, osteopenia, debilitating fatigue, progressing weakness muscle weakness weight loss poor appetite hearing loss neck and back arthalgias, abnormal high white blood count high monocytes high MCHC and high hgb, UTI's, bladder incontinence, bone spurs, herniations etc. anyone else have "withdrawal symptoms"?

cindylb | @cindylb | Feb 11, 2019

In reply to @vikkr "I too stopped taking Arimidex after five years now have enlarged fatty liver, osteopenia, debilitating fatigue,..." + (show)

vikkr Just wondering...did all of those symptoms occur a short time after stopping the Arimidex? Were any of them prior to/when you were still taking the drug? I was unable to take any of the AI's due to side effects but I'm just curious about your situation.....??

cancersucks | @cancersucks | Feb 13, 2019

In reply to @peaches2 "I too just finished taking Anastrazole after years and having incredible fatigue. Is it related to..." + (show)

It’s related to the drug and it may take time to get energy back but it will come back . I push myself to do what ever I have to get done . I have been off it 2 months

ycnan | @ycnan | Feb 22, 2019

In reply to @peaches2 "I too just finished taking Anastrazole after years and having incredible fatigue. Is it related to..." + (show)

I just finished taking Anastrazole after having been on it 10 years. I too am experiencing extreme fatigue. How long does it take to to work through the withdrawal process?

smspaz59 | @smspaz59 | Feb 24, 2019

I have been on Anastrozole for almost 2 months, take it at night. I am just now experiencing some dizziness, nausea, loss of appetite. Has anyone experienced any of these symptoms after 2 months of taking?

baker1 | @baker1 | Feb 24, 2019

In reply to @smspaz59 "I have been on Anastrozole for almost 2 months, take it at night. I am just..." + (show)

@smspaz59 I have been taking Anastrozol for 3months now. I have experienced all of them but they were very mild and quickly faded away. I had fatigue but that seems to have faded away too. Now I'm experiencing some weight gain. I hope that eases as the weather improves and I can get outside more. Now I walk 30 minutes a day to YouTube walking videos. It really helps combat the fatigue and soreness.