Concerned about the side effects of anastrozole

@tenayalake86 my oncologists don't do markers. They tell me they are unreliable. Just to be clear!

Yes, I was less creaky in the morning. As a side thought, I will note the irony of a medication to prevent recurrence creating bone pain....which is one of the symptoms of metastatic breast cancer. Talk about messing with your mind!!!! (For what it's worth, my oncologist told me that metastatic bone cancer is painful all the time, so if my aches and pains were in the morning only, I didn't need to worry. That advice helped a lot.)

I’m just a year in on letrozole, after a blood clot on tamoxifen. I am very stiff, have weak bones to start, foot fracture in October. I’m wondering now that you are off of it, did the joint pain and stiffness get better? Thanks

Oh, and I'm glad the side effects are settled down for you. I hope they will for me also. Thanks for your note.

Thanks. Actually, after I wrote you, I realized they are online on my computer. Duh! I can't understand the medical shorthand. I'll add markers to my list for my appt. next month. I like and trust the oncologist I'm seeing, but it can't hurt to ask him. I thought I had asked about markers but this disease is very challenging and I don't remember everything he says. And I don't take very good notes. Thanks for the heads up.

@tenayalake86 don't bother getting anything out of the car. Nice of you! I was just wondering if you meant a test for cancer markers, which my doc doesn't do, and it seems yours doesn't either. I found side effects settled down but everyone is different. Hope yours do too!

I'm sorry I don't have that info in front of me atm. I get two blood tests done every 6 months. They are supposed to show presence or absence of enzyme changes related to the cancer and other data bits like vit D, which I was low on. That's important for your bone health. I have the folder in my car downstairs. I will post or reply more specifically when they're in hand. My specialist is also going to order a bone scan every year. I had my first one and it was fine, but that was a baseline test. He will monitor any changes. I'm still not sold on the med. I have two pages of questions to ask him next month. I do not like the side effects at all. I have high anxiety most of the time. Committing to the med is a daily thing with me.

What kind of blood tests are you having?

Thanks for your response. I guess that's why I need periodic blood tests and the anastrozole.

@perplexed I had to make all the arrangements for the Breast Cancer Index myself. This was in 2020 just before COVID hit. One of my oncologists loved the idea and said she was going to start using it. I believe it is now in the NCCN guidelines. I wondered if docs were now using it.

I had no choice considering my spinal fractures. I wanted to do 7 years because I read that 7 was as good as 10. But I did 5! The BCI was a firm no, which helped.