side effects of femara

Hi,
I  had a lumpectomy in 1999 and had radiation for invasive lobular breast cancer.  Very tiny lump about 5 mm.   Nodes were clear so I didn't have chemo.  I was on tamoxifen for 5 years and have been on femara for 3.  The back pain and joint pain has gotten horrible.  I can no longer stand up straight or walk very far.  I am 64 and afraid I will no longer be able to walk soon.  I stopped femara 4 days ago.  I wonder if any else has had this problem with the very severe joint pain, and if it will go away any time soon.  The pain and  quality of my life is so bad that I am taking the chance.  My oncologist told me more than a year ago that I could stop taking the drug, but I continued hoping that it would provide a greater protection against a reoccurance.

[PaulMD]

Hi there.

Femara treatment can indeed be taken for another 5 years after the initial 5 years of Tamoxifen and has proved to add additional survival benefit.  However, one side effect concerns the effect of femara on bone metabolism.  There is significant risk of decreasing bone mineral density and therefore cause some bone brittleness when taking this drug.  I suggest you have yourself worked up for bone mineral density or osteoporosis.  The bone pains should also be evaluated for the possibility of bone metastasis, which can be initially misconstrued as drug side effect.  Regards and God bless.