Concerned about the side effects of anastrozole

I hope you give it a try. I think you will rediscover the healing affects of water! Go girl!

Depression is difficult, but you need to get around people to feel happy. Fatigue is your body fighting the cancer, you need to keep strong and positive to fight harder. Join support groups in your area, or online support groups, being with people is the most important support you can give yourself. Also, take protein drinks daily. Spring and sunshine do help. Best wishes to you, and know you can survive this !.

Mollymiller: I'm 71, 18 months out from initial diagnosis. I do low-impact aerobics, yoga, walking, and some light weights. It does help, but certainly doesn't eliminate all the pain. I go to our local Fitness Center for classes, and then we "seniors" go to coffee afterwards. Good luck to you!

Thank you, JC ~ I know that the things you have mentioned are all amazingly helpful, particularly the fact that you are active, physically and socially. I am boxed into a corner right now...About 16 months after initial diagnosis I am suffering depression that puts an end to my desire to do anything physically and socially ~ I have been taking Arimidex for 10 months and feel the effects more now than I did in the beginning. I appreciate your words of support!

Sorry to hear you're down but I can relate. I'm 2.5 years in and I still worry they will find it again and that it may be worse or......I have an active imagination. I think it's common and normal to worry about cancer. It can seem so random. I had so much trouble with the Arimidex and Letrozole that I had to stop them all early on. I think the biggest side effect I had was the feeling that a big, gray veil had been draped over me. I felt very depressed (not to mention the joint pain and other more serious side effects I experienced). The whole experience is very exhausting, radiation makes you tired......it's a tough journey. My husband is going through his own cancer journey right now and it's even harder for me. I try to take care of myself and I try to think one day at a time if I can. I read a saying the other day that I'm hoping to incorporate into my daily life....."Instead of waiting for the storm to clear, learn to dance in the rain". Find those little things in each day that give you joy and continue to hope for a better tomorrow. Keep reaching out. The people in these support groups and the moderators have saved me many times over the past years.

A soothing message from you as I head to bed on this rainy Pennsylvania evening! I try to put into use the thoughts of "living for the moment" and I am able to do that at times. However, I have felt just achey and miserable for the last several days ~ I never know how my day will be ~ I am looking forward to a better day tomorrow and I thank you for making me try a bit harder ~ I'll bet I can beat you in the "Active Imagination" category~ I wish you some peaceful thoughts and restful sleep tonight. Prayers also to your husband ~

You're on ......we will post our best 'active imagination' thoughts and perhaps we'll see how unrealistic they really are? Thank you for your kind thoughts. I hope you'll wake to a pain free, stress free day tomorrow!

Some days you just don't feel like singing, then just hum, its OK

OK, so here's my first stab at 'winning the competition'....ha ha. I have a weird rash on my torso and arms and have for a little over a year. It comes and goes, but never really resolves. It could be many things.....a strange reaction to the stress I'm under, a change in my body chemistry that causes me to, well, have a rash, an allergy to something or just getting old lady skin. There is a possibility that it's cutaneous T Cell Lymphoma. My Oncologist hasn't ruled out the worst possible scenario and I've visited 3 dermatologists who all have various ideas but instead of visiting the dermatologist my Oncologists recommended and finding out for sure, I'm worry and wait for the worst.......a second cancer (on top of breast cancer). Actually, I spent so much time online looking at skin diseases I could probably be a dermatologist. I had a bilateral mastectomy and it's all across the scar line and only in places where we all have a lot of lymph nodes, so naturally..........I'm planning for the worst (if only I were actually doing something about it). I really feel like this is pretty creative worrying, but I'll wait for your reply and see who wins this first round. Hope you're having a good day today. Relax as much as you can and enjoy each good moment.

@rosiemolano how are you doing? Are you still taking anastrozole or did your doctor suggest switching to a different aromatase inhibitor?