Jeannie53 - I had Stage 0 cancer (LCIS) prior to invasive cancer and tried tamoxifen. That raised my blood pressure to dangerous levels and I was off of that in a month. My doctors and I agreed to 'take my chances' which then became invasive cancer 3 years later (could the Tamoxifen stop that..........I'll never know now). After my bi lateral mastectomies (that was my method....remove the whole mess)....I tried Letrozole for two weeks and developed severe joint pain, severe depression and it compromised my immune system in some way (they think) and I got mono and then shingles.........right after a mastectomy, along with lymphedema. So, I tried Arimidex a few months later and got blood in my stools. I only took Arimidex for a couple of weeks as well. All told I probably only took AI's for 2-3 months. Now my treatment method is to try and stay as healthy as possible, keep my weight down and eat right, etc. I quit sugar, carbs (mostly) and alcohol and take various pretty mainstream vitamins to keep me plugging along. My estrogen levels are 0, my progesterone is always 0 (never had much of that, hence estrogen dominance my whole life) which probably contributed to my cancer issues. My cancer was only Estrogen positive (no progesterone) and is lobular and has no other factors (not HER positive, etc). I was lucky to catch it early at Stage 1, so no chemo, no radiation.
At my last oncology visit (due again in May) my doctor said to forget about the AI's unless I have a recurrence and then I will have no choice. Hoping it won't come to that.
I'm not a fan of the AI's but I would take them if my cancer comes back and suffer through whatever I needed to........kinda like this 'living' thing
Hugs.