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
- My ankle pain has really ramped up again in the last week. I found some magnesium spray today and decided to give it a try. Has anyone had success with this? How have you gone with it @"Kiwi Angel"?
- That sounds delicious @Romla. I might give it a go. Thank you.
- Just a wee suggestion from another dairy fan Coles brand cottage cheese is an award winning product and I quite like it. Have you tried chopped dates with cottage cheese in a sandwich / on a biscuit ?
- @Brenda5 Me too... It's not fair!!! :s
To which my mother said throughout my childhood when we were whining, "Nothing ever is fair"... WORD - If I look at cheese I put on weight lol.
- But make sure it's low fat because cholesterol... Garrgh!!
- @kezmusc I may have started the calcium thing in conversation with @Romla who was unaware. I'd just been told by my oncologist that the cardiologists had recently changed their guidelines on the subject. Too much calcium lays down plaque in your arteries, a definite no no obviously. Calcium is one of the more easily absorbed from food nutrients we need. Menopausal women require four serves a day. Pass the cheese!
- I know nothing (yet) about Letrozole but noticed @kezmusc post about B6 - that does have a rep for helping iron out period/menopause problems. I had a housemate with ridiculous PMT (dodge the flying frypan stuff) and B6 brought that under control. Not sure how it would apply to AI.
- @kezmusc was me I think and I was going to take them and then looked on the herbs app. Very handy little thing.
- Interesting @Romla thank you for that. See, learn something new everyday. I must say thank you to whoever warned me about the Calcium and Tamoxifen. Could have been yourself of @"Kiwi Angel". Seems that may have been the cause of the heart palpitations. They stopped as soon as I ditched the Calcium, magnesium tablets.
Cheers
