Welcome @blue850 , there is a wide range of side effects from almost not even noticing it to cannot tolerate it. I had some increased stiffness in my joints within a month, and then there is the long term side effect of losing estrogen. Gray hair, wrinkles, and yes bone density loss. All things I don’t love, but……..I am still here 17 years later to whine about it. That being said, if I had been nauseous and had stomach problems like some people, I would have asked for a different drug. There are several different choices and every body acts differently. Depending on age. I would ask my doctor for a baseline bone density test if you haven’t had one. It just never occurred to me that that would be the thing. I thought I would just get fat and my heart would pop. Lol. Actually all the activity I do each day helped with the joint stiffness. Are you an active person?

I have been on it for 2 months and have not noticed any side effects yet.

I started Anastrazole 1mg several months ago. I didn’t have much of any side effects for about a month; then, muscle/joint pain, hot flashes, insomnia, GI issues, and depression hit me! I already have severe fibromyalgia and sleep issues, so the AI hit those areas hard.

My Oncologist took me off of Anastrozole for a week and I saw some improvement. Then he started me back on it. I decided not to try another AI because they had added symptoms like headaches, nausea & dizziness, which would be horrible.

So, I’m still taking Anastrozole.
Effexor helps with hot flashes, gabapentin with nerve pain and I’m trying Flexeril for chronic fibro muscle/joint pain. You have to be careful with any new drugs because they can have their own impact on liver and other organs. Be sure your Primary is evaluating your bloodwork often.

Praying you’ll have minimal side effects! 💕🙏

Hello, @blue850! I tried Anastrozole and within 3 days I started having side effects and by day 10 my oncologist took me off of them because the side effects were so bad. I purposely did not read the side effects before I started them so not to make any up in my head. 🙂 I definitely had side effects. It took 3 weeks to feel better. Then I tried Exemestane (sp). Same thing happened. Not quite as bad but I did develop a really bad rash along with the other side effects. I’m now waiting for 2 weeks to get that out of my system so I can try something else. I would rather not take anything but my chances of my cancer coming back is 25% and the hormone blockers will cut that in half, so I’m going to do my best and try all my options. Good luck with yours. I pray you don’t have any side effects and you breeze right through it! 💕