Arimidex side effects
 

Hello Sisters!
I'm having trouble with the side effects from Arimidex. The joint pain has been a constant struggle but I'm getting through it using water aerobics and walking. And I don't mean strolling, I mean pushing myself to walk between 3-6 miles every other day! The warmer my joints get the better I feel. I've been on it since Jan 1st, 2012.
I have also found that taking a claritan every day helps with the pain. But, none of this is helping my trigger middle finger joint pain! On both hands the middle finger joint locks up and I can't lift it! Anyone else out there have/had this problem?
I appreciate the advice!
Lorraine

Re: Arimidex side effects
 

Sorry for the pain you are experiencing. According to the abstract below, athralgia is one of the side effects of AIs. Wondered if you can take pain meds designed for arthritis? If the walking has been helping, perhaps you can also do some 'finger' exercise?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22677000

Re: Arimidex side effects
 

The abstract below mentioned about steroid...

Anticancer Res. 2012 Jun;32(6):2331-6.
Short-term and Low-dose Prednisolone Administration Reduces Aromatase Inhibitor-induced Arthralgia in Patients with Breast Cancer.

Kubo M, Onishi H, Kuroki S, Okido M, Shimada K, Yokohata K, Umeda S, Ogawa T, Tanaka M, Katano M.
Source

Department of Cancer Therapy and Research, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan. ohnishi@surg1.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp.

Abstract

Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are important therapeutic drugs for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. However, adverse effects of AIs such as arthralgia have been extensively reported. We performed a joint prospective, multi-institutional investigation to find out whether a low-dose and short-term prednisolone is effective against AI-induced arthralgia in 27 patients with breast cancer. Patients were administered 5 mg of oral prednisolone once a day in the morning for only one week. Patients were then asked to answer a questionnaire about joint pain symptoms at one week, one month and two months after the beginning of prednisolone use. Joint pain symptoms improved in 67% of patients immediately after prednisolone use, with 63% still reporting analgesic effect at one month, and 52% at two months after beginning internal use of prednisolone. At one week, one month and two months after the use of prednisolone, 30%, 30% and 26% of patients reported improved daily life, respectively. Our results suggest that prednisolone could substitute non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, acetoaminophen or cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors in patients with AI-induced arthralgia.

Re: Arimidex side effects
 

I also have some pretty bad joint pain also but doesn't it go away after we stop arimidex? I'm counting on this!

Re: Arimidex side effects
 

Thanks everybody! @Pray....I'm on Arimidex for 5 years and I just started January 2012!
The steroids, low dose or not have ugly side effects for me...voracious appetite and I get moody & mean. Bad combination!
Last night I taped my middle finger joints to stop myself from curling those fingers, oh the things we're willing to do! Lol
Have a great weekend,
Lorraine

Re: Arimidex side effects
 

i ceased taking Arimidex after only a couple weeks. it had rather ferocious effects on me. the worst was blurred vision. i thought i was going crazy. daily headaches. i also had balance/dizziness issues and found i could barely finish a sentence when speaking. i had not heard of such SE's. i had the routine body aches and fatigue. but the others were serious (oh and a rash on my face too). i finally read that they were serious enough to cease the drug immediately and call the doctor. turns out they are signs of an allergic reaction - so word up to anyone out there who ever experiences the blurries and the rash!!! so i am now on a 2 wk hiatus from any med at all, and i have to admit it is wonderful. my vision returned to normal in 2 days flat. i have only about 2 hot flashes a day, and mild at that. i HOPE my oncologist will just put me back on tamoxifen for the duration. i have 3 more years to go, though i am post menopausal. i saw her partner friday and he said there is minimal difference between taking tamoxifen for the duration or an aromitase inhibitor. i will take my chances! i don't like the looks of femara either. for 2 cents i would go off all drugs, but my sister's friend who battled stage 4 HER2+ cancer for 7 years died today. so that gave me a kick in the ass. pardon my french. i can tolerate tamoxifen and i'd be an idiot not to take it, especially when i've got such a good survival rate. but to me, arimidex was the devil.

p.s. my feet, ankles and hands also swelled, and i guess my whole body too. i lost 5 whole pounds in water weight between thursday and today, sunday.






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Re: Arimidex side effects
 

I have had terrible shoulder and right arm pain with Arimidex and it has not progressed to the frozen shoulder stage which means it hurts to move my right arm in any direction. Physical therapy has not been much help. I am scheduled for a cortisone injection tomorrow. Any suggestions? I also find it almost impossible to lose weight on this drug despite a very healthy low cal diet, and at least 45 minutes of excercise each day. I have to continually remind myself that this drug keeps the cancer from returning.

Re: Arimidex side effects
 

wow, sorry to hear about the shoulder, and you are really doing such great work with the diet and exercise. it's frustrating to have to then cope with pain and failure to lose weight. on the up side, though, remember that if you're building muscle doing weight-lifting etc, you might not lose much. my boyfriend does CrossFit, which is brutal, 5x a week and has only lost 10 lbs, but his body has changed dramatically. and lord knows, weight lifting is excellent for our bones dealing not only with menopause and these bloody drugs.

that said, my onco took me off arimidex after my problems and now i am on femara. it's only been a work, but so far i've only noticed some insomnia. so i simply switched to taking it in the morning instead. slept like a baby last night. sure, arimidex is the first go-to drug, but it's not the only game in town. you can try asking your onco about femara and see if that works. valerie

Re: Arimidex side effects
 

Hi all! Thanks for writing, it helps to hear from others.
I've been on Mobic 15mg for my joint and bone pain. Believe it or not, it helps! I'm so excited about this medication. It sure beat using narcotics to sleep! Hope all is going well with all of you.
Love~Hope,
Lorraine

Re: Arimidex side effects
 

it sure does. :) thanks for the Mobic tip. so far i have no joint or body pain with femara, though i know it can possibly cause that. i'll keep that in mind, though i currently just took myself off Oxybutynin (for hot flashes) because hallelujah and knock wood, femara is causing fewer of those for me. but since i run and already have osteoarthritis in my knee, it's good to hear about something good. i used to just run. now i run against cancer. :)

v

Re: Arimidex side effects
 

V-ness,
You run against cancer....I walk against it!!
Best to you,
Lorraine

Re: Arimidex side effects
 

Talk to your doctor. A different AI might be more tolerable for you.