Aromatase Inhibitors and Escalating Blood Pressure

Posted by jardinera25 @jardinera25, Feb 16, 2025

Hi all, I've been taking AI Letrozole for 4.5 months. I switched from Anastrozole after 1 month since my BP was going up too fast. It was a slower uptick with Letrozole, but steadily upwards. Because of possibly strong family history of heart disease, I was normally at about 135/78 (on two BP drugs) before the diagnosis of a recurrence after 30 years cancer free.
About a month ago, I began to get BP "spikes" about once a week at night around 180/90. Then a week ago it became several spikes EVERY night in that range, that would wake me up. It was scary that I could not control that, so went to ER. They couldn't do much, so saw my Primary Doc, who said "you're BP is not well -controlled enough." So now I'm on a third BP drug, and I am so suspicious of the AI Letrozolel causing this that I just quit taking it 7 days ago, to see if BP improves. There are definitely studies that AI' s can cause cardiovascular problems in some people, hypertension being one type. At 75 I don't want to ruin my heart in an effort to prevent the spread of breast cancer. So far it's not metasticized. I'll let you know how this goes. Has anyone else had heart-related reactions like this taking AI's? It seems from reading here that most folks can be on AI's for years and not have adverse reactions.

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Profile picture for Rubyslippers @triciaot

SingleCare offers a coupon that you might be able to get 6 doses for about $250. There are different discounts by location.
https://www.singlecare.com/prescription/fulvestrant?,6%2C%205ml%20of%20250mg/5ml%20Syringe%20of%20Fulvestrant.
AstraZeneca has a webpage with supports for lowering costs for fulvestrant. Lower drug costs are not available for Medicare patients, but they have links for outside organizations that MAY help.
https://www.myaccess360.com/patient/faslodex-fulvestrant/patient-affordability.html
It looks like Medicare would maybe pay for fulvestrant if you had the injection in a hospital. These days many clinics bill like they are a hospital so an out patient clinic may qualify. I’d suggest talking to the insurance clerk at your medical facility. They often know what hoops to jump through to get something paid - because they’ve been doing the paperwork for it with other patients. Doctors often aren’t aware of what their own insurance staff handle.

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Thanks for all of this information! I’ll look into it. Lots of good suggestions.

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