Anastrozole: How long do side effects last once you've stopped?

Sorry you had to go through this nightmare especially as it was a pharmacy error! Ugh…

I have no words of wisdom but I hope your symptoms ease.

Side effects of Anastrozole usualy remains for 3-4 weeks!

After 6 months of anastrozole, I just had a painful, sudden side effect yesterday. When I woke up, getting out of bed was very painful. I called the doc's office. He said to stay off the med until my next visit in mid-March. I'm now walking with a cane. I am managing the pain with one Aleve and one Tylenol every 4 hours. [Taken together they potentiate each other.] I had both knees replaced and that's where most of the pain is today. These replacements aren't new. One was almost 3 yrs ago and the other was 5 years ago. But they never hurt this much once they'd healed.
Yesterday I hurt all over. Today it's mostly in the knees. In addition I am very anxious and my appetite has increased. I think I might have gained 8 to 10 pounds, which I didn't need. Has anyone else had such painful joints after 6 months on anastrozole?

Hi I have been on it for 7 months and 2 months ago I started having numbness in my hands at night. So I told my doctor and got tested. I have a little carpal tunnel. I bought some hand braces to sleep with. It have helped. My joints hurt off and on. I do get bone injections every three months.

I also have some carpal tunnel and numbness. What kind of injections are these?

It is Xgeva.

Thank you.

Like others have stated on the multiple pages about this drug, I did find that walking helped a ton with the joint pain. Some people say 20 minutes a day. I walked to the end of my road and back and I wasn’t really hoofing it. I would watch the birds and the nutria, and look at things. I made it through quite a few years on anastrazole doing this.
I would want my blood pressure to go very close to my normal before I resumed. Has it come down any more?

I have been experiencing similar side effects on this drug—joint pain, stiffness, weight gain, exhaustion. I went off of it for a few months and started feeling like myself again. The oncologist prescribed exemestane as a replacement and a couple months in, I was experiencing depression, which I have never struggled with, so I went off that, tests were done, now back on anastrozole (3 mos). Just like you, my symptoms seem random, some days tolerable and other days really difficult. I exercise daily, am getting acupuncture and massage (every other week), eat well... none of this is helping much. This drug is only offering 6-8% protection against recurrence and maybe it's not enough to justify the daily misery. My quality of life is sorely depleted.

My oncologist told me that any other drug would likely cause the same miserable side effects. He was fine with my dropping it. I am living day-to-day, pretty much back to my old self. I'm feeling much better and wish you luck in however you decide to go.