There are a few people in the anastrazole groups who had little or no side effects. Myself included, definitely some hot flashes and a little joint soreness relieved with over the counter analgesics. I also had a very slight nausea for the first few weeks. That I might not have even noticed if I had taken it at night. Check out the anastrazole pages. How are you doing this weekend?

Your situation sounds similar to mine. My oncologist prescribed Anastrozole following my radiation treatments. At first I didn’t notice any side affects. But slowly my cognitive functioning/memory became worse and worse. I did some research on this drug and found many interesting articles about the affects of lowering estrogen in women. The information I found was that indeed, side affects of Anastrozole can cause memory loss. It’s like going through menopause. That made a lot of sense to me. Of course there would be similar symptoms to menopause! During menopause our estrogen drops naturally, when taking drugs that lower our estrogen to prevent recurrence of breast cancer; we are dropping that estrogen even lower. Of course we can have the same side effects as menopause.

Next my oncologist put me on Tomoxifin. I broke out in some nasty hives all over my body. It seems that I am allergic to something in the Tomoxifin. Next we went to Exemestane and I’ve been on that for over two years. It’s not great, but I can tolerate it and it’s certainly better than a recurrence of breast cancer! I’ve learned to be grateful that my doctor and I have found something bearable. I’m in my late 60’s and grateful my cancer was found on a routine mammogram at an early stage.