When do side effects of anastrozole begin?

Side effects … IF THEY OCCUR AT ALL… pretty much start early on like a week or two. Anastrozole has a 50 hour half life so it builds.

I take it at night with dinner because I have mild joint discomfort and I can pretty much mitigate that in the morning before I start my day. Feel great most of the day.

I started 2 weeks after my last radiation treatment, so was used to one long nap every afternoon. I continued needing that nap. During my 2nd month, I started having memory lapses, losing my train of thought, mixing up words when speaking and feeling like I had early dementia. Luckily that totally faded after a month! I wake up at night with a super dry mouth so keep water by my bed. I'm in my 5th month of Anastrozole and having no new symptoms. I always take it with breakfast with water. Seems fine! Good luck.(I am 64. Had lumpectomy and radiation in Feb '23 for ILC and DCIS stage 1A. Feeling healthy. Good luck!

I started Anastrozole six weeks prior to mastectomy and have continued it through radiation treatment. Early on I had mild side effects starting late in the first week (headache, nausea, fatigue) The side effects pretty much stopped after a couple of weeks. Other than some days feeling tired and an occasional headache, I have tolerated it well. I have noticed that I am much more sensitive to the effects of alcohol, maybe partly because I don’t have it very often anymore or maybe because of the Anastrozole. Even a glass of wine with dinner can give me a mild hangover now. I switched from taking the Anastrozole in the morning to taking it at night before bed. That helped a lot with the afternoon fatigue.

Thank you! That is very helpful. My doctor did say to avoid alcohol while on the drug. She said it’s the most well-tolerated of the AI’s.
I take Lyrica and Singulair at night before bed. Not sure if anastrozole interacts with either of those but I like the idea of taking it at bedtime.

Hello..i had lumpectomy 2 weeks ago...
but what are "AI" ?

Very similar here. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since I started Anastrozole. Thank you for posting! I am 74 and had lumpectomy, DCIS 3 months ago, 10 treatments of radiation over 2 weeks time. Naps for me when tired, loosing my train of thought. Hot flashes too but not like menopause time. I would say they are milder. Feeling like the anastrozole will be managable. 🙂 !!!
I am working on calium and vit D with lots of other nutrition to keep osteopororis away. Will be reviewing my CBC tests and putting off recommended Zometa treatments for now.

aromatose inhibitors

We are in good company. Also increasing my calcium and D along with weekly Alendronate sodium for osteopenia.

I was taking Anastrozole at night before bed. That's what was recommended. After about 7-10 days, I started with a slight ache in my teeth (or so I thought). I had been to the dentist for a cleaning with no other issues. So at first I thought the ache was that and used Tylenol to alleviate. But the pain kept building up stronger and longer over the next 2 weeks . Sometimes in my upper jaw, sometimes lower jar or both. It would come and go. But it built up to quite a point that I couldn't lay flat at night. Bearly slept for 3 nights in a lazyboy. Pain would build up and stay strong like 11 for a long period of time but eventually slack off and even be gone for a few hours. But it just kept returning and Tylenol was no longer helping. I was told to go off the Anastrozole and all the pain was gone within 24 hours with no reoccurrence. Now I've been prescribed Exemestane and just started it. However I'm terrified of what side effects this will bring.

Thank you for answering me..GOD Bless