Anastrozole - should I take?

Some of us have almost no side effects and others do have issues. My friend in her 80's has no side effects and I did pretty well to as long as I took a longish walk.

I wonder if you could just try the anastrozole. You might find out pretty quickly how it affects you.

A conversation with your doctor should be helpful (I hope). Your doctor will know more about your cancer, and your risk of recurrence.

That's great advice - try it.

Sorry, I meant to say I will try it.

Age 62- I have the similar type breast cancer. 1st time Cancer.
Stage 1b Er&Pr Positive & HER2 negative.left breast lumpectomy, surgery was MAy 29, 24. I have Sentinal node POS, Next Node Negative. Margins are clear though doctor said. I am suppose to go radiation only treatment this July 24.

Surgeon started me on Anastrozole a week prior to surgery. After a few weeks being on it, I had intense pain in my ankles and tops of my feet where veins are. Same on hands and wrists achy. I felt sluggish. I recently switched two nights ago to Letrozole 2.5mg. Will see in a couple weeks if less pain. I also started walking about 20 minutes in the morning every other day. Will add indoor bicycling soon too.

I still have ovaries. Surgeon recommends I should remove them. All CT scan and MRI are good or unremarkable. I am going to take a bone scan next week. Bracha Gene 🧬 Test is negative.

I’m thinking about ordering Haelin 951.

I wanted to do Proton Radiation Therapy but Surgeon said not enough studies for Lymph node positive. They need to have a combo machine of both Types. Jane

@trashycat what was your Oncotype score and your actual ER and PR scores?

With letrozole, I found I had to walk 45 minutes for it to help. At 20 minutes I felt worse in terms of pain, and then it cleared and improved if I kept going. My oncologist told me she had heard this from other patients.

Not everyone can walk 45 minutes so with respect to those with limitations.

I was avoiding soy after cancer due to its estrogenic effects, but more recent reports were contradictory. Haelan 951 appears to have similarly contradictory reviews, even warnings (the ones below are a bit old). Maybe you can share why you are considering it. It seems higher doses starting earlier in life are safer. But lots of controversy.

https://quackwatch.org/cases/fdawarning/prod/fda-warning-letters-about-products-2009/haelan/#:~:text=Haelan%20951%20Ingredients
https://csn.cancer.org/discussion/155238/haelan-951

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6104637/
"2.2.2 Breast Cancer One of the most important issues concerning the impact of PhyEs in human health is their ability to either increase or reduce the risk of developing breast cancer. The results so far obtained from preclinical studies are still controversial. Daidzein stimulates the growth of breast cancer cells and potentiates estrogen-induced cell proliferation in the uterus (Gaete et al., 2011). However, high concentrations of genistein inhibits the growth of breast cancer cells regardless of their ER status. On the other hand, low concentrations of genistein stimulate ER-positive breast tumors and abrogate tamoxifen-mediated growth inhibition in ER-positive breast cancer. Recent studies also demonstrated non-estrogenic anticancer effect of isoflavones (e.g., reactivation of epigenetically silenced tumor suppressor genes) (Kwon, 2014)."

They did not do Onco type testing - tumor board said it was not needed. They used MammaPrint. Score +0.304 index (MPI)

I will read and research your links. 🔗 trying to relax, over reading gives me headaches and tension.
Thanks for responding.
Jane W

@trashycat I think people either do Mammaprint or Oncotype. Late recurrence (20 year) low risk cut off score is +0.355 but otherwise I cannot access much info on the website. I was curious. Scores are apparently between -1 and +1. Looks like you did well! (Agendia site)

Thank you, I hope so, but you never know I’m still scared to get radiation and I hate taking pills that make my joints ache. Ugh 😩 but I just keep moving. I did buy some cute pink socks 🧦 for ankle support with toes cut open. I might have to buy some for my bony hands too.

I'm 82. I had a lumpectomy at 79. I had radiation for 6weeks. I also had chemo for a year. I didn't take Anastrozole. I had a blood test recently and my oncologist said he doesn't expect the tumor to return. I was really sick for 2 weeks before the Taxol was cut back by 20 percent. I lost my hair and it came back beautifully. It was a big pain, having all the appointments for treatments, but the treatments themselves weren't painful. During chemo I sat in a recliner under a warm blanket being served apple juice.
The staff was kind and when i finished my year of chemo they gave me a certificate of completion that they all signed and a little bee pin.

Thank you for your share. I like warm blankets too. You are a warrior! So proud of you.