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Aromatase Inhibitors: Did you decide to go on them or not?
Breast Cancer | Last Active: May 12, 2023 | Replies (1190)Comment receiving replies
Anyone would respect your decision and other older women are doing the same.
I will once again say that I had a bad experience with generic anastrazole but did well with brand name Femara (and would have done okay with a different generic brand no doubt). And I already had osteoporosis for several years when I started Femara. The drop in bone density for me resembled the drop in bone density at menopause: the first year a 5% loss and the following 4 years for me 2%, which was my rate of loss before Femara. Just fyi.
After saying that, wishing you the best and hopes for all of us for less COVID limitations in life and good health to you!
Replies to "Anyone would respect your decision and other older women are doing the same. I will once..."
I agree. Femara was a better choice for me, but by then I had been through 3 types before I was able to talk the oncologist into femara. The difference was incredible, but the damage from the previous 6 months on the ones with all the fillers was just too far gone. My onco told me all I can do now is pray..... Ridiculous! Not saying I dont give thanks to God for every day I live now, but I also see all the side effects from drugs in general, and I am amazed at what I accomplished without drugs and focusing on diet and excercise. I am 68 and have never felt better in my life, so i will gladly pray, eat well, and live my life to the best it can be.......
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Thank you for this and all you contribute here. I agreed with thr oncologist going forward. I'll stay current with self-exams and a schedule of doctors' exams and mammograms. And will do blood work every 3 months to keep an eye on tumor and other markers. And reserve the option to reconsider if variables change. So he and I are a team now and the patient portal is excellent for getting questions to the doctors and promised responses with 24 hours.
On a different note, your experience with a generic was interesting. Someone on another thread had a markedly better experience with the brand-name of an AI versus a generic of the same med. And someone elsewhere posted about very sudden side effects on a generic she'd been taking for a long time then discovered that her pharmacy had recently switched to a different manufacturer. Maybe people having side effects can benefit from just changing to the brand if possible or a different pharmacy to try it a different company's generic version. (We saved a pet's life once doing just that for what it's worth. )