Suggestions for Joint Pain?

[Cath]

Hi Kathryn,

I was on Arimidex (generic form) for approximately 3 years. I had extreme joint and muscle pain which worsened over time. My onc changed me to exemestane which is a generic for Aromasin. My joint/muscle pain is so much better. These AI's can be brutal. Hope you find some relief!

Cathy

[Debbie L.]

Kathryn, it seems these AIs affect each person differently. Or at least, to different degrees. There is one more AI you could try (Aromasin/exemestane). There was a study awhile back that showed that changing from one AI to another helped reduce pain. Interestingly, it didn't seem to matter which AIs were first/second. There seemed to be something about the change, or about the way each person's body handled the different AIs.

When I had pain on Arimidex, my onc prescribed Celebrex (2nd generation NSAID/Cox2 inhibitor), which did help some. There are various studies looking at NSAIDs/COX2 inhibitors to slow or prevent cancer growth, so that's a possible benefit also. On the down side, Celebrex is the same class of drug as Vioxx, now a drug of infamy for its association with increased risk of cardiovascular troubles. As they say, no free lunch.

The same thing seems to be true for NSAIDs (individuals respond to each one in the class differently). Some people seem to get no relief from Aleve (naproxen) but ibuprofen works well for them (I'm one of those). Same with the selections of COX2 inhibitors. So if you don't want to go the prescription route with NSAIDs (Celebrex is not OTC), you could try ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil). You can take as much as 800mg (4 OTC pills) every 8 hours. Although that much is probably not a great idea for the longterm, it would be worth a try to see if it helps.

Another intervention that has been shown to reduce pain from AIs is exercise (which you're already doing), and perhaps specifically stretching exercises like yoga. I think yoga helped my pain (but who knows for sure).

And yet another remedy that has helped some (both anecdotally and in small studies) is supplementing with Vitamin D, especially if you know your levels are on the low side.

There was someone on this list who had a creative solution. She switched back and forth between AIs whenever the pain became too bad, and said she got relief at least for awhile, when she discontinued one and began the other.

This article from early 2013 offers an overview of some of the things I've mentioned. I wish it had more answers. This Vitamin D-specific one of 2015 did not find a benefit (although both control and experimental groups supplemented with Vitamin D so that's a possible explanation).

Good luck. I hope that with time, and experimentation, you will find a solution.

Debbie Laxague