Connect
← Return to Aromatase Inhibitors: Did you decide to go on them or not?
Discussion
Aromatase Inhibitors: Did you decide to go on them or not?
Breast Cancer | Last Active: May 12, 2023 | Replies (1190)Comment receiving replies
Great information. Aromatase treatment is for 5 years; however, is there no benefit after 2, 3 or 4 years. Many stop treatment early because of side affects. Does that mean they have gained nothing. Others do the full 5 and end up with serious health issues. I myself would not have known the internal side effects if I hadn’t started having fainting issues. Though informed of my family history, the oncologist did not do any testing either before or after to note changes, such weight gain, hi BP, cholesterol etc. Now it very tough to pin down the cause. Try though I may, I have not found numbers in percentages of benefit of the drug at year 2, 3 etc. It seems at the 5-year mark the benefits arrive, not before. After 3 years, why isn’t a patient told you have gotten some
benefit or is there none until 5 years?
Replies to "Great information. Aromatase treatment is for 5 years; however, is there no benefit after 2, 3..."
Others here are way more informed than I am about anastrozole but I thought that I'd read somewhere that aromatase inhibitors have a carry-over effect for some time after not taking them. Not sure for how long, or how strong, just that there is a lingering benefit?
Connect
Absolutely. Right there with you - with your thinking. I had DCIS in 2004 and had a lumpectomy. No radiation but was prescribed Tamoxifen for 5 years. Took it for 3 1/2 years w/o any side effects , but at the 3 year mark my hair started breaking off and thinning. I researched and many ladies had the same thing. I discussed w/ my oncologist. He said ‘oh no , Tamoxifen doesn’t cause that’ (I didn’t say I’d read several posts about on internet, as I knew he was the type to poo poo that). He said - take a vacation from tamoxifen for a few months snd if your hair improves, then just stop it, but if it dies not make a difference, finish out the 5 years. I stopped for several months and hair really improved so I stopped it. My oncologist’s recommendation was not scientific, not based on much of anything other than had seen me 6 or 7 times over the 3+ years. He either knew it affected hair and/or my surgery outcome (totally clean margins & DCIS was very confined and very small ) was not a high risk. I don’t know.