Anastrozole

@kmakm honestly I don't think about any of it at all, the list is too long to mention LOL. I have Osteoporosis and an unatural menopause thanks to chemo, oh and neuropathy and ummm body cramping constantly, damaged eye sight. Pain most days. Lets not forget high cholesterol courtesy of Aromasin haha!!! but the Oncologist doesnt want to know about it, he said thats the GP to sort out but hey...yes I know the meds is causing but oh well. Hmmm so the quandry do I stay on the meds and have a possible stroke/heart attack or come off the meds and risk another recurrence??? ta da hahaha! I just get on with life and not too focused on any of this stuff anymore. Though in hindsight I might have chosen differently a few years ago. The Specialists really need to find a new treatment :) xx

Gawd @melclarity, you've really been through/still in the ringer. Wish there was a magic wand... K xox

@Annski I was osteoporotic before breast cancer diagnosis and take 2 Caltrate Bone and Muscle Health plus Minerals tablets - one morning. (These tablets also contain Magnesium but probably not the quantity others have used - powdered Magnesium seems to be very popular with members on this blog. )One late afternoon which fulfills Osteoporosis society recommendations for my age and circumstances. I was prescribed and did take Bisphosphonate tablets but ceased because of fears on Osteonecrosis of the Jaw which can occur with extractions and root canals eg.Basically I found when I needed an extraction marked reluctance  in the dental community here to help - Prof Goss here was the only one who would do so and he did cross laps before the extraction to assess risk.

As I am er+ after radiotherapy I was advised to commence Letrozole which thins bones amongst  other things. Radiotherapy is also a problem for the ribs for breast cancer patients. I was advised to start Prolia injection to counter this problem.Prior to lumpectomy last March I had a cracked rib and because of this I am able to have Prolia injections 6 monthly at the PBS price of $38 rather than full price of $275. To access the PBS price you need to be over 70 or have had an osteopor

I admit to being fearful of both drugs but have been on them now for 8 + months and managing ok. The critical thing for me on Letrozole is to keep moving and so I walk daily for an hour.Walking also helps with my emotional state as Letrozole impacts on that too.I also do a gentle stretch and balance class twice per week. All of the above is to counter joint pain and stiffness.

My medical oncologist recommended Krill Oil tablets which I take daily for joint pain/stiffness - as it’s a concentrated form of fish oil and Omega 3 I think it might help with cholesterol.Yes the other big side effect of Letrozole is spiking of cholesterol- my good low cholesterol more than doubled. I try to be careful about diet - eat minimal red meat and know rolled oats lower cholesterol so have porridge every morning.I took statins for a while but found after 4months they were causing problems - basically I thought I was developing dementia but after stopping statins my memory rapidly returned to normal - this was a frightening episode.

Hope some of the above helps and happy to answer anything else about Letrozole/ Femara. BTW I gather the difference between the two is the pill coating and that the cheaper coating on Femara may have caused problems for some members.

Am glad @melclarity hopped as was about to ask her too as she has done a lot of research on Magnesium and is probably the best to seek advice from about it.

Hi @Annski I currently use Ultra Muscleze Energy by BioCeuticals. It has 320mg of magnesium per scoop in water daily. Ive been using it for a few years and found it does help alot. Magnesium is the most important thing anyone can take and Vit D, as magnesium rejuvenates on a cell level throughout your whole body, so its like the baseline in nutrients to help your body. Hugs Melinda xo 

PS - You'll find majority of people regardless have low Vit D actually, Ive been taking that for a few years now. Just a heads up, yes magnesium is great for muscle cramps but does ZERO for mine. A new GP I now have said to me weeks ago unfortunately the damage from chemo is too bad to combat muscle cramps at all. Yay for me!!! 

For what it's worth @Annski I asked my oncologist last week about supplements, including magnesium. She said there's no call for any of them unless you have a deficiency, eg Vit D. She said some women find Krill Oil helpful with joint pain, and magnesium could be useful if you have trouble with muscle cramps.

Hullo all, finally got through the radiotherapy (25 blitzes) which wasn't too bad until the last week and then skin broke, horribly painful, last two treatments even the nurses could see I was in agony, the Cancer Clinic gave me some clear gel, like Solugel, to be covered with jellied gauze squares and sterile dressing pads, apparently I was only meant to change them once a day but I did it at least three times a day just to get some relief from the open burns areas. Went back to the clinic, turned out I should have been using systematic pain management, not just taking an occasional Panadol. Well, all that's another story. So as soon as the burns were healed I started on the letrozole - Femara, not the generic, don't really know if it makes a difference but a lot of the UK forums seem to think it does. It is over a week now and apart from a few transient flushy feelings I am doing OK with it. Blood tests at GP show too low in Vitamin D so now about to start supplementing that. Am taking one-two Caltrate tablets per day and one Krill Oil capsule. But I see many recommendations for magnesium and have found that there are all kinds of magnesium supplements, powders, tablets, rubbing medicine.Can anyone advise? 

Tru dat @Afraser

I just had a couple of eye operations (nothing to do with bc, my ageing eyes had cataracts). Had a problem with the second op, anaesthetic needle got a super mite too close to the eye. It's all fine now, 1000 to one shot said my (third) anaesthetist. It's a salutary lesson about stats  - it all depends what side of the line you are, and that's precious hard to tell! 

@Lallaby The stats depend on your specific cancer & data as @Romla says. I watched my oncologist do it on her computer the other day. It was our opening discussion about hormone therapy. I'm on the cusp between Tamoxifen & Anastrozole. She even asked me which one I'd prefer! I said you're the expert, I want the one that maximises the duration of the pulse, you decide. She's leaning towards the aromatase inhibitor. I'm dreading it but trying not to as I know there are some people that don't have too many problems.

It's all playing the odds, and is a juggling act between quality and quantity of life. Even when the percentage is low, say 2%, I like to think about it in the human way. That's two people in a hundred. I wouldn't want to get to a point where I was one of those two people and have to look back at a decision I'd made with regret. Still, check back with me when I'm taking the bloody things!!

@Lallaby its about 5%, whilst that doesn't seem much, trust me after having a recurrence even after being on tamoxifen for 4yrs, I wasnt going to argue with a new med Arimidex or Aromasin. So it comes back to how much an individual is prepared to do to stop a recurrence. Im massively into alternate therapies BUT nothing replaces medicine, they are used in conjunction together, thats the point and unfortunately most people miss the point. 

How you feel about hormone therapy is how I felt about chemo...should I or shouldn't I, was quite the quandary for me. My Oncologist couldnt predict either way. All of its a gamble you'll never know what works or doesn't. So I realized it came back to feeling comfortable that you had done all you possibly could to make sure that it didn't come back.

x Melinda