Anastrazole and anxiety

I had Stage 1A lobular cancer in my right breast, Had a lumpectomy with clear margins and radiation therapy, No chemo, as lobular breast cancer doesn't respond to chemo. No cancer found in my sentinel lymph node. After a year, I was given the all-clear. I was on Anastrozole for 14 months and asked to be taken off last month. Initially, the only symptom was hot flashes. But then, out of the blue, I became very emotional. I would cry over nothing and would feel overcome by waves of sadness would come and go. I had never had a problem with depression before. Since being on Anastrozole, my triglycerides went from 150 to 216. I also developed severe pain in the joints of both hands and in my hips and lower back. I have osteopenia and since I can't have another bone scan until February, I don't know how being on the med affected my bones. Based on My Oncotype DX score, my risk for recurrence is about 8%. Staying on Anastrozole would reduce my risk to 4%. I decided that quality of life was more important so I made the decision to go off the drug. I have been off it for 5 weeks now and the pain in my joints is gone as is random spells of the blues. If my cancer comes back, I will deal with it. But for now, I'm enjoying my life one day at a time.

Thanks Gegost, and I hope all goes well with you. After months of doing exactly what I am told to do, it is almost scary to contemplate breaking the rules! Especially as things have gone well for me. But these drugs are so horrible.

I had early stage estrogen positive cancer in my left breast. No lymph node’s involved. I only had 22 rounds of radiation and a lumpectomy. Doctor said good margins also. I have the Anastrozole meds but I haven’t started them yet. I’m afraid this medication. What was your experience?

I stopped Anastrozole after 18 month.i had lumpectomy, followed by 4 rounds of chemo and 19 sessions of radiation. The side effects are all gone beside the neuralgia in my upper legs, but definitely better then when I took Anastrozole. I also have some issues with my right hand. I could not function and stopped to be able to get a normal life back. Oncologist offered me Tamoxifen but I declined after reading here all the added problems. It is a personal decision for each of us, but after the surgery my margin and lymph nodes were cancer free, so I take the risk of recurrence. We are talking about 5% statistical differences so I choose to see what happens without the meds.

It’s really great to read about everyone’s experiences. I have just started taking this med, after chemo, a lumpectomy and radiation. I have triple positive ductal carcinoma, with no cancer currently. But five years of this drug? I think my side effects are so far minimal, but my sleep is disrupted and ly lower legs ache.

Has anyone just stopped taking the drug? Any thoughts? Good luck everyone!

I have been on Xeloda, Anastrozole and now am on Exemestane. The Xeloda affected my hands and feet....peeling skin...that type of thing, but the Anastrozole and Exemestane most definitely mess with your emotions. I believe, because they are hormonal medications. I don't think there is much you can do about the moodiness. Give yourself a break. I am not a snappy person, but after taking those pills, things just seemed to bother me. Eventually, we will get back to normal!!

I remember that, when I was taking Anastrozole, I had episodes of teariness for no good reason. I had been put on it February 1, 2022, and we were in Cancun at Easter time (April), so it was about 9 weeks in. There were 17 of us having dinner at a lovely restaurant on the lagoon (which has since closed) and I suddenly felt like crying, which was dumb, since there was no reason to be crying! I excused myself and went to the rest room to avoid further embarrassing myself. We had planned to have Game Night at our unit, but I said I felt ill and we canceled and I went right to bed---which I never do, since I am a night owl. My daughter seemed upset with me, but the pills had obviously done a number on me. You are absolutely right to feel that the pills are causing your teariness. They did for me. That wasn't the worst of it, however. I had blurry vision, brain fog, mood swings, insomnia, excruciating back pain, and then my frail left knee blew out and put me in a wheelchair for 6 months. I had to have 32 ml of an anti-inflammatory injected and 6 ml of Durolane and I managed to wheedle 17 Tramadol (50 mg.) out of the 3 places that X-rayed me (9/19; 9/21; and 9/28, plus, later, 11/15). Two oncologists who treat me now say I should never have been put on the A.I. pills with my history of osteo-arthritis, as I was in the MOST nationwide clinical trial (one of 3000 or so people) for over 20 years after a bad bicycle injury to my left knee joint in 1997. The trial started in 2003, I believe, and went on until 2020 (when it ran out of funding) and anyone with a history of arthritis or fibromyalgia (also diagnosed during my participation in the MOST study) was in for excruciating joint pain, which I suffered with for the entire time I was on the drug until my knee blew out. My Illinois oncologist had refused to order an oncotype for me, so I didn't find out until March of 2023 what it was (29), so I never had the benefit of knowing that in planning my early treatment, which consisted of 33 radiation treatments and being put on Anastrozole less than a week after my 1/27/2022 lumpectomy. When my knee blew out (9/15/2022) I went off the pills for 9 months, but then I tried taking Tamoxifen for 5 months, but with that I had extreme fatigue and non-stop UTIs and then the antibiotics they gave me for the UTIs gave me a fungal infection and now my LFTs (liver enzymes) are doubling every 2 weeks and are up to 228 and 222 when they are supposed to be 30 or 40, so I'm not happy that I ever took the A.I pills, for sure. I started on 10 mg. of Tamoxifen every other day, and I could just barely tolerate that, but then I was told I needed to step up the dosage to 20 mg,. daily, and that was it. I quit all pills on Aug. 30, 2023 and now get to worry about whether it has traveled to my liver, as it did in my father's case (from his colon). I will be seen at the Texas Liver Institute on July 26th, if the airlines aren't all messed up.

I switched to Letrozole and take at night right before I hit the pillow! I still get some hot flashes or sweats at night. But so far less ankle pain, at least I can walk!

Jane
Age 62

It could be causing the crying. Its blocking the estrogen. When you were younger, your body made estrogen. Did you cry then?
The offset to get balance is progesterone.p or progesterone cream. However, if your cancer feeds on progesterone, you may not be able to use it. Your onc can tell you if your cancer fed off progesterone and what percentage.
The crying could be a part of PSTD. The trauma you went thru with dealing with the cancer might be post traumatic stress. Too consumed with treatment, surgery & radiatio hen once its over youre left alone.
Get your hormones checked and see how progesterone effects your cancer.
If progesterone doesn't feed your cancer, talk to a doctor about yam cream or progesterone cream. Better yet, read Dr JohnLees Book on Breast cancer and
Estrogen dominance. He believed osteoporosis could be revered by the cream and observed this to be true with many, many of his patients.

I have been taking anastrozole for almost 2 years I take mine at night right after dinner. It helps with hot flashes and headache I sleep through it.
Hope this helps.