Which hormonal therapy has least side effects?

[Raquel]

My onc talked to me about shutting my ovaries down and putting me on arimadex. Another dr suggested tamoxifen . I've been on tamoxifen in the past and thought it was horrible, hot flashes mood swings etc! I know women on arimadex experience joint pain too. Has anyone tried both and which one was less awful ? I'm pre menopausal so my oly choice is tamoxifen unless I shit down my ovaries. Any input is appreciated!

[karen z]

Tolerance for tamoxifen and various AIs really depend on the individual. I did well on T for two years (from 53-55 as I was still having periods at 53 when I was diagnosed) and have been on Femara for four years and expecting to go longer. In some ways, T was scarier for me (potential side effects) but F has actually had more side effects (joint pain). I have had a high adherence rate with my cancer meds (and expect that they won't be fun) as I think anything is better than having cancer return. That is my personal opinion but some days are not great. I know that adherence to these pills is not as good as it should be. But, for me, there is no side effect right now that can be worse than the alternative.

[Becky]

I too was on both (Tamoxifen and now Arimidex). I thought Tamoxifen was awful so I got my ovaries removed to go on Arimidex. I have had no serious side effects except vaginal dryness (which may have happened just from lack of estrogen from surgical (or even natural) menopause). I am one of the lucky ones with no joint pain.

[tricia keegan]

I didnt like the potential serious side effects of Tamoxifen so had an ooph and took arimidex, I had some joint stiffness but nothing too awful and just agreed to stay on it another two years (at least) as I'm still cancer free so hate to stop this drug!

[Raquel]

Thanks for your input! I see a couple of you had to take zometa too,was it due to a lack of estrogen from the arimadex ? Oh, and I just read my post and am laughing at my typo, it was supposed to say shut down! Oops! It's nice to hear some positive things about arimadex since I've always heard bad things about joint pain and weight gain.

[tricia keegan]

Raquel, I began zometa this year due to some bone loss which the A1's can cause and this showed in my Dexa scan earlier in the year. I'm still happy to take arimidex though as prefer to deal with bone loss than cancer any day!!
I did'nt gain any weight at all though and my onc is hopeful extra exercise and zometa will help the bone loss.

[Jackie07]

CancerConnect has a thread on the side effects of Arimadex (need to have a free log-on password to access):

http://cancerconnect.com/communities/breast-cancer/forum/topic/arimidex-side-effects/?topic_page=14#post-4418