embolism in lung due to femara?

[sarah]

Hello,
A good friend with bc is on Femara and was just admitted to hospital because of an embolism in her lung. How serious can this be and is this common? She's a big daily hiker and no colesterol. I suppose she'll have to stop taking Femara and take a different drug, what would she most likely be given instead?
When I had my shortness of breath and chest pain, the pneumonologist thought it would be an embolism but it was my heart from radiation so I guess it's a known side effect.
thanks
sarah

[tricia keegan]

Hi Sarah,

I'm sorry for your friend and didn't realize this was a side effect, I've taken the sister drug Arimidex for seven years now and plan to continue but your post made me think twice and will be interested in reading more replies on this.

I'm interested because my hubby and I quit smoking eighteen months ago but lately I've felt very short of breath which I thought was unusual and put it down to some weight I had gained recently, do you know what symptoms your friend had??
Sending good wishes to her and hope she's feeling better very soon.

[jaykay]

I am under the impression that the risk of embolism is with tamoxifen, not the AI's.

[tricia keegan]

Ah, I was thinking I hadn't heard of this with an A1 before.

[Jean]

this may offer some answers....

http://www.nhs.uk/medicine-guides/pa...e&preparation=

While it is not common it can happen.
1 in 10,000

Jean

[sarah]

Hello Tricia,
she had severe pain in her chest and they feel the embolism was caused by the Femara which she's been taking for 3 years. She's also had radiation but no chemo
I also took Femara for 6 years and had radiation. Then last year I had a heart attack and I've had fibrosis in my lung for years now both were apparently due to the radiation but now I'm wondering if the Femara wasn't partly to blame??? I'm off Femara and was before my heart attack/ extreme chest pain and breathlessness.
Her pain was at the bottom of her breast and strong. she's no wimp although I've been telling everyone about my chest pain turning out to be a heart attack and having to have angioplasty and a stent put in because I don't want other people to be stupid like me and possibly die from a preventable heart attack. I thought I had winter asthma!!!!
so if you have pain in the chest area, do have it checked out by a cardiologist and if it might be lung, a pneumonologist also. better to be safe. unfortunately my artery was only shown on an angioscan (not sure of the word in English) but a scintigraphie (ENglish???) showed the damaged heart from the heart attack and that apparently can't be healed but the artery is open and the pain is gone for me.
My friend is in hospital for a week, with oxygen, anti-inflammatories and anti-clot infusion and she is in intensive care. It sounds as if she may stay on Femara!!! but her oncologist is not at the hospital until Monday when hopefully things will become clearer. The pain was gone. she wanted to have a foot operated on (she's a big hiker) that was causing her pain but was told that's out of the question for ever!
A friend who's on Raloxofene has heard that all anti-ER drugs have the potential to cause clots - she reads lots of medical stuff. I'll see my oncologist next week and may ask about this.
Boy the side effects can be deadly! Still the heart op was so much easier than any of the cancer stuff!!!
stay healthy and happy
love sarah

[tricia keegan]

Thanks Sarah and I'm so glad you've recovered from your heart op which must have been very scary. I'm due to see my Onc in two weeks and will discuss with her then, I've been taking Arimidex for seven years now and have heard the latest studies are showing ten years to be of benefit but I'm keeping an open mind on that. I do hope your friend has a swift recovery from this and as a keen hiker myself I'm sorry she can't have the op that could help the pain she's in, there's aways something with this disease it seems! xx

[sarah]

Hello Tricia,
Yes I've heard also that it's better to stay on longer than 5. I was on Femara for 6 and if I hadn't stopped before learning about staying on longer, I probably would have considered staying on longer. I stopped Herceptin and Femara at the same time. Good luck. If your heart's good and you don't have any chest pains, they will probably say why not stay on it longer since it seems so helpful and apparently us HERers tend to recur after 10 or 12 years, although the 2nd time it was just under 5 for me.
stay well
sarah

[tricia keegan]

Thanks Sarah and sorry for your recurrance too and I just love your dog btw!