Anyone experience mood swings and nervousness with Anastrozole?

You might try a low dose of Effexor for the mood swings. It has helped me tremendously and also gotten rid of the awful hot flashes. My encologist suggested it and I'm so glad I decided to try it. I don't like being on an antidepressant but it's better than suffering with hot flashes and mood swings. Good luck to you!

We must remember that these estrogen blocking drugs we must take to prevent a recurrence of breast cancer, causes us to feel like we are going through menopause. Our estrogen drops naturally during our menopausal years, and now we are dropping our estrogen even lower by taking these life saving medications. Of course we are going to have some pretty nasty side affects. Hopefully we are comfortable enough with our oncologist to speak up about these issues. But our oncologist simply doesn’t have any other way to help us other than to prescribe the drugs that are currently available. Anastrozole was the worst for me. After trying a few of these drugs, I found Exemestane to have the least side effects for me. My oncologist has been supportive and understanding: but she is also limited because there simply aren’t alternatives at this time. Keeping myself occupied seems to help, even when I don’t feel much like doing anything: sometimes I have to force myself to keep busy. Best of luck to you in finding your own way to cope with these challenges. 🌸

@christycarraway, I’m sorry to hear that anastrozole has progressively worsened depression. You might wish to look into Oncology Social Work. Read more here:
* How an Oncology Social Worker Can Help https://connect.mayoclinic.org/blog/cancer-education-center/newsfeed-post/how-an-oncology-social-worker-can-help/

Depression and mental health should be monitored closely with cancer patients, with your without previous history. Are you seeing a therapist at this time - someone who is aware of your history and your cancer diagnosis? Have you informed your cancer team about the worsening depression you’re experiencing? I hate that this onus is on the patient to connect these dots.

For anyone wishing to talk about cancer and mental health, I recommend browsing the topics in the Cancer: Managing Symptoms https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/cancer-managing-symptoms/