Sadness: Due to Anastrozole or Just Dealing With Breast Cancer?

It almost brought me to tears reading your story. I am so glad you had 24 years in between. I also went through this when I started endocrine therapy. My radiation doctor started me on some sertraline at that time and I am on it still today. Just like pregnancy or menopause, when you mess with the hormones it can turn on the faucets. A possible answer is both, anastrozole and breast cancer. Are you comfortable talking to your doctor about this?

Talk to your doctor. I take an antidepressant that helps me. Please know that your emotions are perfectly normal in your situation. Hopefully with time you can move through these difficulties. Some counseling with a professional therapist might help also. Allowing a therapist to guide you through these feelings might be a good release of bottled up emotions that you might be unaware of. Good Luck and keep us informed as to how you are doing. We are all in this together!

Hi, Chris. I do see my oncologist again in March and I’ll probably bring it up. It’s so strange for me to do this. I don’t feel particularly sad about the cancer, but then I wonder if maybe I really am and just don’t realize it.

I do wonder if I am bottling something up and don’t realize it. Great advice, thank you.

So sorry for your loss. I say this because I had read that it is perfectly normal to mourn the loss of your breasts. I didn’t think I was doing that when I felt like you but I did go to talk therapy and it helped a lot. It’s a lot to go through even if everything went smoothly and it’s not minimally invasive yet it’s not visible to others. I did take Wellbutrin to perk me up and started yoga. It’s a journey especially if you are on an AI. Still doing the yoga!

I do miss yoga. I'm hoping I'm close to being able to do a plank again. So far, it has been too much for my chest muscles. Thank you for sharing!

Anastrozole and cancer diagnosis combination can be overwhelming. I was given Anastrozole for 6 months prior to surgery and it made a pre-existing depression situation worse. After crying through an oncologist appointment, the dr referred me to Mood Clinic at Mayo. My oncologist listened to me, though she wanted me to stay on Anastrozole. I stayed on anastrozole for the 6 months, and stopped taking right before surgery. I felt better almost immediately. I did not take during chemo or radiation. After treatment I refused to take again. I did try few other hormone suppressing drugs later with variety of side effects.

Make sure you let your provider know about side effects. Everyone reacts different to medications, but you need to advocate for yourself. You know what is normal for yourself.

There is multiple threads on Connect about AIs and side effects. Benefits vs quality of life. Everyone needs to make their own decisions after discussing with oncologist.

Good luck
Laurie M

FYI, there is an upcoming seminar on Stress and Cancer that might be helpful:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/event/cancer-stress-management/
If can not attend, they are recorded.

Laurie

Thank you, Laurie!

My money is on the Anastrozole. I was not myself all.