Letrozole: When will I start feeling/seeing side effects?
I started taking Letrozole (Femura) about a month ago. When will I start feeling/seeing side effects? what are the main side effects you have? Does anyone not have any side effects?
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i've been on it now a couple of months since my mastectomy and I feel nauseous all the time. i've tried taking it with lots of water, food, not with other meds i take etc-but the nausea doesn't change.
anyone else feel nauseous?
@melanid my doc was fine with alternate days. I imagine you need a "steady state," so maybe every 48 hours doesn't achieve that-? I continued with full dose and am curious if anyone who did alternate days had a decrease in side effects.
I did my research on letrozole. And the 2.5 mg is the standard dosage. Didn't matter if your 200 lbs or 100 lbs, 20 years old or 100 years old. The half life is around 48 hours so it is possible (just my thought) that a person could take it once every 48 hours and you would still have 50 percent of the medication in your system. If you don't take it at all the medication lasts in your system up to a week. So🤷. I wonder if they have done any studies on this dosaging. I don't know why there are not more options on this.
I’m able to get Arimidex for 60.00/month vs 25 for generic. I’m much happier on the brand but if I needed to go back I could manage the original ACCORD. Which manufacturer was ultimately good for you?
@anjalima I took brand name Femara (letrozole) though at the end I found one generic manufacturer whose version didn't bother me.
I would think the dose does not matter because the side effects are caused by lack on Estrogen.
Stands to reason. It’s the fillers that can cause unwanted side effects beyond estrogen suppression effects. I have now taken the Anastrozole brand Arimidix and side effects much less ( hardly at all) which is a change as I had mild to moderate joint stiffness and discomfort ( which I mitigated by yoga and walking/hiking) insomnia and night sweats . Now much milder in all areas. SAME amt. of drug, 1mg Anastrozole
@ellerbracke I took the full 2.5mg every day for 5 years. My doc was okay with a half dose but I continued on the full dose. I would love info on whether reducing dose even makes a difference in terms of side effects because effectiveness depends on suppressing estrogen, regardless of dose, and that is what causes side effects. So whether 1.25mg or 2.5mg or even 0.5mg I would think the side effects would be the same. But I don't know.
I want to thank everyone for their comments. I've taken Letrozole now for almost 3 years, with no major side effects at all. From time to time I have some joint or muscle pain, but with stenosis, sciatica, piriformis issues, and overdoing it with yard work, that may be totally unrelated.
However, I just checked my prescription bottle, and saw that I am on 2.5 mg once every day. I will look into research on this, and discuss the dosage with my oncologist during my next visit.
The drug insert for letrozole says that a 20% does of 0.5 mg suppresses estrone and estrone sulfate below detectable levels. This info comes with the medicine and is online.
Even 0.1 mg suppresses estrogen by 75%.
https://www.drugs.com/pro/letrozole.htmlThe thing is, if estrogen is suppressed, no matter what the dose is, won't side effects be the same?