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Completed 5 years of anastrozole. Withdrawal symptoms? Side effects?
Breast Cancer | Last Active: Jun 21 8:58am | Replies (273)Comment receiving replies
I was on Anastrozole for 12 months - had to beg my oncologist to switch it for me - I had to threaten to stop taking anything. My hand pain was so bad it was effecting my life - it was a constant 7. She switched me to Exemestane (after I went to a Rheumatologist to make sure nothing else made my hands hurt). It took 3 months for the hand pain to go away - I mostly have a level 1 or 0 - but it took 3 months. I still have insomnia - I take CALM for sleep - it's just magnesium but it really helps. I've now completed 3 yrs. total and am looking forward to the end of 5 years. I had a serious talk with my doctor about whether I could stop at 5 years. She agreed I could. Thought continuing it longer would only reduce my re-occurrence odds by maybe < 2%. I plan on stopping it November 2023. My hair loss stabilized. Also on anastrozole my toes and shoulders hurt as well - that is all gone. I read like 40% of women stop all AI's from the side effects. I wish doctors took the side effects more seriously. My hand pain resolved at about 12 weeks - good luck to you!
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Well, this kind of answers my question. I wanted to know how long it would take to get out of my system. I HAD to come off of Anastrozole. I was hurting all over. It will not be 2 months until the middle of March. I could hardly function. I knew about side effects, and I rarely have them from medications, but this is/was terrible. After consulting my oncologist, she did say that some of her patients said it took a long time to finally feel better. She ordered Tamoxifen, which I have not started yet. I did not want to take that on top of Anastrozole. I will wait until I feel back to normal. In fact, I will wait until after my breast surgery to start another medication. That will be March 30th. Does anyone have any info regarding taking Tamoxifen? The only info from my gynecologist was that it is in the same family as Anastrozole, leading me to believe I still may have those side effects. The only thing I have heard is it will not be as bad.
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Thank you for your reply. The timeline was very helpful. I was on exemestane. The insomnia has gotten better. The best to you!!