Yes I was on this medication & I also had the same similar experience. I also never read the side effects of this medication until a couple months after the fact. It started with my right thumb which it became quite swollen as if it was fractured or broken and I too then got a stabilizer brace for it which did seem to help however didn't and hasn't still provided any kind of real change other than giving it support, swelling never has gone away and then I also started feeling it in my 4th toe on my left foot and my right ankle & right knee as well and left wrist and yes before I knew it, I looked like I had been in one bad accident with all the braces I was wearing daily. My ankle, my heel, knee, wrists, thumb, and that's when I read the side effects and read not to take this med if you have osteoarthritis which I do and I immediately quite taking it and have requested a replacement and still waiting for the replacement for 3 wks and counting...just in the last week I have been able to actually go without wearing any of the braces even though i still have some of the swelling and little pain it has certainly gotten much much better and easier to walk along with being able to actually open up jars and use my hands now. I did a yr of chemo for brest cancer and it's been 4 months since the last treatment and have just been informed this week of my liver now being very sick and now have an abdominal ultrasound scheduled to see what's going on, which is very worrisome for me.
Hope you can learn of something for helping you with the similar discomfort and we both can keep positive and have only good days ahead!

I had been on Anastrozole for about a year with gradually worsening knee issues - getting up and down stairs, in and out of chairs. I couldn't kneel, and getting down on the floor was just about impossible. Some days I could go for a walk, and other days I couldn't make it down the block. Last November was the worst. It was painful just dragging myself up the stairs, and I thought I'd have to put bars alongside the toilet as the pain was so extreme getting up and down. In December I switched from Anastrozole back to Letrozole and noticed a real improvement. Then I started collagen supplements (started with the gummies), and within a few months I was almost entirely pain free. I've been working on knee flexibility and am no longer reluctant to look for the lost cat toy under the sofa. I'm almost to the point that I can get up from the floor without holding onto something. (I'll be 68 next month). I've read several posts here about joint pain due to the covid shot and the prolia shot. Since my knees improved I've had both shots with no ill effects which is why the finger points to Anastrazole. Looking back I remember within a week of starting it, I had one day I got out of bed and couldn't put any weight on my left leg for an hour. Then off and on knee pain. I blamed the gabapentin I started at the same time, but I stopped that in a few weeks, but no improvement. I also had to take painkillers before bed or extreme knee pain would wake me up in the middle of the night. There's no way it was anything but the Anastrozole.