Concerned about the side effects of anastrozole

I'm grateful I found this MayoClinic community! I am 52 years old, had bc twice - in 2010 and more recently stage 1 in 2020. My younger sister had it at 33 years and is doing well, no longer in treatment. I was on Tamoxifen in 2010, and now taking Zolodex (to put me into menopause) and now taking Anastrozole since 2020. I'm not sure I can take the side effects any more. I'm meeting with my oncologist next week for my 6 mos. visit. I was told the symptoms after a few months would stabilize. It's almost 2 years, I have osteopenia, but the fatigue, sleep issues and joint pain (wrists, hands, knees) and brain fog are rough. I have two teenage sons who keep me on my toes! I have a hard time working (I am a remote therapist), sitting down after extended time just makes me achy. When I'm up and moving around and don't need to focus - I'm okay. I am going to ask my dr. about my case and recurrence risk. My Dr. and team make it sound like those with side effects are not the norm - but the Infusion nurse (who happens to also be a bc survivor) tells me that all of the bc patients she sees complains of the hormone treatments (AIs) and she had to stop herself, she was so miserable. I guess it's nice to know I'm not alone. I'm tired of explaining myself to my friends, etc. who wonder why I more flaky these days - I simply don't have the energy and feel that great some days. I suppose if you haven't been there, it's hard to imagine because they think I'm done and on the other side. Thanks for listening.

I have been taking this only 2 months.. 1 mg daily. About 3 weeks ago I woke up with pounding sound in my right ear. I never had that before, sounding like a pulse sound. Is this a side effect? I have had no other issues with the drug and the sound has not come back again. I had an echo cardiogram and that showed normal activity.

That happens to me. I don't think it is a big deal. If you have a sustained beating in your ear it can be a vascular issue so you would want that checked out. It can be a form of tinnitus that can be addressed. Do you have any other kind of tinnitus?

That happens to me. I don't think it is a big deal. If you have a sustained beating in your ear it can be a vascular issue so you would want that checked out. It can be a form of tinnitus that can be addressed. Do you have any other kind of tinnitus?

I'm grateful I found this MayoClinic community! I am 52 years old, had bc twice - in 2010 and more recently stage 1 in 2020. My younger sister had it at 33 years and is doing well, no longer in treatment. I was on Tamoxifen in 2010, and now taking Zolodex (to put me into menopause) and now taking Anastrozole since 2020. I'm not sure I can take the side effects any more. I'm meeting with my oncologist next week for my 6 mos. visit. I was told the symptoms after a few months would stabilize. It's almost 2 years, I have osteopenia, but the fatigue, sleep issues and joint pain (wrists, hands, knees) and brain fog are rough. I have two teenage sons who keep me on my toes! I have a hard time working (I am a remote therapist), sitting down after extended time just makes me achy. When I'm up and moving around and don't need to focus - I'm okay. I am going to ask my dr. about my case and recurrence risk. My Dr. and team make it sound like those with side effects are not the norm - but the Infusion nurse (who happens to also be a bc survivor) tells me that all of the bc patients she sees complains of the hormone treatments (AIs) and she had to stop herself, she was so miserable. I guess it's nice to know I'm not alone. I'm tired of explaining myself to my friends, etc. who wonder why I more flaky these days - I simply don't have the energy and feel that great some days. I suppose if you haven't been there, it's hard to imagine because they think I'm done and on the other side. Thanks for listening.

I was a teacher and my one prayer in life was to live long enough to raise my 2 boys since I had many students who lost a parent. When that worked out, and then I got diagnosed, I felt that life didn’t owe me anything. I have always been able to handle the ups and downs in life, but like someone else said, coming out the other side of this, I am not the same person anymore and no one seems to get that. They think I am okay because I got through my 5 years (stage 0, stage 1, bilateral, double mastectomy). It took 8 months to realize that it was so traumatic. I accept that people don’t mean to be unkind when they tell me about another person whose cancer is “worse than mine”. Do they think I don’t know it or that there are people truly suffering and dying? Where I have been fortunate is to have managed to stay on the AI for 5 years, but Covid helped with that. And now what? Even though my recurrence probability is low, once you are off the meds, you can’t help but think it will be back and maybe you won’t realize it since I didn’t realize it the first time. One side they couldn’t feel anything, the other side they couldn’t see anything. But now I have 2 grandkids and mostly my prayer is that my son lives long enough to raise his kids and that the other will eventually have them. I treasure my time.

Do what you can to get through. I did yoga for the side effects, particularly Sarah Beth Yoga online/ YouTube because I can do it at my own pace and for the parts that hurt the most, or just some mindfulness and as few or as many times a day as I feel. It feels better when I move, but I can’t be moving all the time! Even though the reconstruction of my breasts is beautiful, they remind me every single day. I never feel like they are not there. I also did talk therapy. For me, gulping water really helped. That’s when I knew I had forgotten to keep track of my in take.

I love watching my grandkids and I take 1 part of a day at a time since my afternoon may not be as bad as my morning,etc. But my lens is truly different now. It’s really hard not be me, plus 5 years later, I am older, so it’s hard to sort it out.

I was a teacher and my one prayer in life was to live long enough to raise my 2 boys since I had many students who lost a parent. When that worked out, and then I got diagnosed, I felt that life didn’t owe me anything. I have always been able to handle the ups and downs in life, but like someone else said, coming out the other side of this, I am not the same person anymore and no one seems to get that. They think I am okay because I got through my 5 years (stage 0, stage 1, bilateral, double mastectomy). It took 8 months to realize that it was so traumatic. I accept that people don’t mean to be unkind when they tell me about another person whose cancer is “worse than mine”. Do they think I don’t know it or that there are people truly suffering and dying? Where I have been fortunate is to have managed to stay on the AI for 5 years, but Covid helped with that. And now what? Even though my recurrence probability is low, once you are off the meds, you can’t help but think it will be back and maybe you won’t realize it since I didn’t realize it the first time. One side they couldn’t feel anything, the other side they couldn’t see anything. But now I have 2 grandkids and mostly my prayer is that my son lives long enough to raise his kids and that the other will eventually have them. I treasure my time.

Do what you can to get through. I did yoga for the side effects, particularly Sarah Beth Yoga online/ YouTube because I can do it at my own pace and for the parts that hurt the most, or just some mindfulness and as few or as many times a day as I feel. It feels better when I move, but I can’t be moving all the time! Even though the reconstruction of my breasts is beautiful, they remind me every single day. I never feel like they are not there. I also did talk therapy. For me, gulping water really helped. That’s when I knew I had forgotten to keep track of my in take.

I love watching my grandkids and I take 1 part of a day at a time since my afternoon may not be as bad as my morning,etc. But my lens is truly different now. It’s really hard not be me, plus 5 years later, I am older, so it’s hard to sort it out.

Thank you for sharing♥️
I understand completely when you speak of others with worse cancers…I sometimes feel guilty in my thoughts that people have worse then me and why should I complain…and the truth is that if you have not been diagnosed you really cannot understand what we go through on a daily basis.
I pray they find a cure…each day we get closer🙏💓

I have surgery for my breast cancer in Dec. they wanted me to take Anastrozole for 5 years,
I said no to many side effects plus bone thinning, If I can't take radiation then I am taking
nothing, hoping I don't get it again. I will not take the meds, and quality of my life, I don't want to
get sick and the people I talked to were on it and got off, they felt so bad.