Forum Discussion
Early Days on Letrozole
So, I started taking Letrozole on the 1/6/18.
My oncologist says I have to be on it for 10 years as several ongoing studies are indicating cancer preventing benefits beyond the seven year mark. It's a watching brief though, so I'm prepared that the advice might change in this time.
Three days after starting it my ankles started to ache. A lot. It got worse and started to wake me up at night. Whether I exercised or not didn't make any difference. I took some osteo-panadol for when it was really painful but I didn't fancy living on that, so on the advice of many people here, and my oncologist, I started taking krill oil. Within a few days the pain was down to a manageable level. Hooray!
Three weeks later though the ache ramped up. At exactly the same time my hot flushes, which had subsided to a bearable level after chemo, suddenly got a lot worse. Longer, stronger and now with extra bonus sweat!
I persisted with the krill oil for another week but there was no change. So in my personal clinical trial, I came off the krill oil for a (painful) week, and then started magnesium. Again on the anecdotal evidence from the good folk here, many of whom say it helps.
I also had a foot, ankle and lower leg massage at one of those mall massage joints on the same day as I started magnesium. It was utter bliss having my aching ankles worked on!
Something changed, because again the ankle pain subsided to a bearable level. Now whether this was something to do with the massage, or the magnesium, a combination of both, or my body simply adjusting to the rapid withdrawal of oestrogen, I simply don't know.
My oncologist says no evidence that magnesium works on anything other than cramps. However I'll keep taking it for a couole more weeks and then stop. I'll observe what happens and then, if the pain returns, I'll move on to the next thing in my 'clinical trial', which is curcumin. The onc says her patients have reported success with that. There'll be a magnesium spray test at some point as well!
My ankles still ache but it's at a lower level at the moment. All our bodies are different, der, but I thought I'd share my experiments in managing Letrozole side effects. It might be useful to someone! K xox
My oncologist says I have to be on it for 10 years as several ongoing studies are indicating cancer preventing benefits beyond the seven year mark. It's a watching brief though, so I'm prepared that the advice might change in this time.
Three days after starting it my ankles started to ache. A lot. It got worse and started to wake me up at night. Whether I exercised or not didn't make any difference. I took some osteo-panadol for when it was really painful but I didn't fancy living on that, so on the advice of many people here, and my oncologist, I started taking krill oil. Within a few days the pain was down to a manageable level. Hooray!
Three weeks later though the ache ramped up. At exactly the same time my hot flushes, which had subsided to a bearable level after chemo, suddenly got a lot worse. Longer, stronger and now with extra bonus sweat!
I persisted with the krill oil for another week but there was no change. So in my personal clinical trial, I came off the krill oil for a (painful) week, and then started magnesium. Again on the anecdotal evidence from the good folk here, many of whom say it helps.
I also had a foot, ankle and lower leg massage at one of those mall massage joints on the same day as I started magnesium. It was utter bliss having my aching ankles worked on!
Something changed, because again the ankle pain subsided to a bearable level. Now whether this was something to do with the massage, or the magnesium, a combination of both, or my body simply adjusting to the rapid withdrawal of oestrogen, I simply don't know.
My oncologist says no evidence that magnesium works on anything other than cramps. However I'll keep taking it for a couole more weeks and then stop. I'll observe what happens and then, if the pain returns, I'll move on to the next thing in my 'clinical trial', which is curcumin. The onc says her patients have reported success with that. There'll be a magnesium spray test at some point as well!
My ankles still ache but it's at a lower level at the moment. All our bodies are different, der, but I thought I'd share my experiments in managing Letrozole side effects. It might be useful to someone! K xox
373 Replies
- @sickgirl Have a read of this thread.
- Thanks you Afraser. Really appreciate the honesty about issues relating to treatment and side effects. The best forum for answers. Thank you
- @Flaneuse swimming should do it to but still might need to push thru it for awhile until your body adjusts.
- @Afraser Thank you ! :)
- Excellent news, enjoy your swimming!
- Thanks @Romla. Oh, if only I could walk as I used to. I used to do bushwalking and long-distance mountain trekking. After I slipped on any icy path in Switzerland in 2005 my left knee was stuffed, and I had a total knee replacement in Jan 2016, but it wasn't really successful, so I was then limited to walks on flat-ish paths. Until my mastectomy I was walking at least an hour a day, and even during chemo I walked at least half an hour a day. About a month ago I did something to my Achilles and now it's painful to walk more than a few minutes until it comes good. However - there's a glimmer of hope: this afternoon I had my breast check appointment and re-inflation to max of my expander, and the dr says I can start swimming again from next week, starting off very gently. Yay! The only time I know I'll be without knee pain is when I'm swimming, and now it will help with all my other aches as well, and with sleep, and with my mental wellbeing. Yay again. @kmakm @Eastmum
- @Flaneuse to say walking thru it wasn’t easy to start with as had some 15 / so minutes of discomfort initially for each walk but kept it up as found it was making a difference that was noticeable.
- @Flaneuse I too was like that at the beginning for a few months.As hard as it sounds try walking through it .My sons were basketballers and were taught to do this during a match when injured. I remembered this when I started Letrozole and found I could walk through joint/bone ache which was a big issue most mornings.I also found it helped with fatigue , feeling low /stressed and also more often than not gave a good night’s sleep.It’s odd for me to advocate this as am anything but athletic .It also helped with my weight although not the reasonI took it up.
- Aching joints and bones, generally SO weak (after about 7 weeks). A few days ago I changed to taking it with dinner and I think one thing has changed: whereas I used to spend every evening nursing an aching shoulder and upper arm, that hasn't happened.
- Starting on letrozole in 2weeks, my oncologist has given me a holiday of sorts after taking Anastrozole for 8months I had sore feet and hands and not sleeping and generally not well.thanks for all the info will try all of them surely some of it will help.thanks for the comments they made laugh about one sock
