Terrible side effects from Arimidex

[Hazellynn50]

Hi, I have been on Arimidex for about four months now and wondered if anyone else has had the following side effects:

1.  Osteopenia
2.  Polyps on Liver

I came off Tamoxifen after 2.5 years as it had no effect on me, my estrodial was about four times higher than it should have been and I had ovarian cysts and uterine fibroids, so had an abdominal hysterectomy, with oopherectomy.  What I wold also like to know is, do I need to be on Arimidex after the oopherectomy, isnt that enough to stop the Estrodial?.

I now take Fosavance once a week to try and rebuild and maintain my bones and wonder if this is a waste of time as the Arimidex causes the osteopenia, so if I stay on that am I going to continue losing bone density?  The Fosavance has its own abundance of side effects that are pretty scary.

I am in a terrible state of confusion and panic with all this, as my whole situation seems to be going down fast with one horrid disease taking over the other.  I only started off with stage 0 intraductal carcinoma which became a stage 1 due to the hospital losing my results,  and have had lumpectomy, mastectomy, lymph node removal leading to lymphedema, abdominal hysterectomy, and am currently almost at the end of my reconstruction and now osteopenia of the spine and hips and liver polyps.

Sorry, had to vent, but need to try and make sense of all this, any advise, empathy will be appreciated..

[Hazellynn50]

Thank you Sue, Bluebutterfly and Jadpip for your posts.  I took my scans to my gp yesterday and he explained them to me, the problem here is that they were in portuguese as I live over here and unfortunately dont speak the language, he told me that they are polipoids in my gall bladder and not actually in the liver and that they need to be watched closely, I have another scan in April through the hospital, so they will be able to see if there are any changes, Its horrible all this, I feel so sorry for my kids, they thought that everything was fine and then it all starts again.

With regard to nipple night Sue, I will have to take a rain check, not got my implant in yet, and the nipple tatoo will be ages after, but I willl join you then.

Thank you
Hazel

[SueYoung55]

current running joke.. thursdays are nipple night so join in and lets vent about nipples! no squeezing allowed :)

Somehow that part disappeared from the above post LOL

[SueYoung55]

I'll vent with you anytime you want!!

Been there, done that and burned the tee shirt I got for all my efforts!!

I'm a firm believer that they need to make medications that kill diseases that don't harm the patient!!

Welcome to our community Hazel.

NO squeezing allowed :)

[bluebutterfly2222]

Hi,

I am very sorry to hear the terrible time you have been going through!

Just to cover a couple of additional points:

1. No, hysterectomy/oopherectomy does not remove the need for an AI (Arimidex or one of the alternatives), because estrogen is also produced through other parts of the body.

2. Yes, bisphosphonates (such as Fosavance) do have their own set of posible side effects, but they can indeed help balance out the bone loss due to the AIs, plus it has been found that they are associated with an up to 30% lower risk for invasive breast cancer. (A causal relationship has not yet been scientifically established, but many believe this makes them doubly valuable, since they may confer this additional benefit in women already using them to slow or prevent osteoporosis.)

As japdip indicated, we are here to provide both information and emotional support, so please keep us posted regarding how you are doing by adding additional comments to this same thread.

Best wishes...

[japdip]

No problem ... VENT AWAY ... it's good for you even though it doesn't really solve any of your problems.
I doubt that after this length of time the side effects will go away but I question the liver polyps as one of them. I hope you have discussed this issue in detail with your Oncologist; if not you need to do that very soon. It's possible that you could be switched to another medication but keep in mind that most drugs of this type can have the same side effects. As far as needing to be on one of these drugs; you always have to weigh the benefit compared to the side effects and make a decision as to continue the drug or not. Your Oncologist would be able to advise you since he/she has all the medical information necessary to make such a decisiion. I don't think taking something to counteract bone loss is a waste of time though ..... every little bit helps. Don't apologize for the venting ... we're here for that as well as whatever advice or help we can offer.    Regards ....