Does anyone use Medical Cannibis for Joint and Muscle pain from Aromatase Inhibitors?
I'm wondering if this could be useful. I have joint and muscle pain form AI's. And like most, I will be on them for 5-10 years. Due to having hypertension, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are to be avoided. What is the cost? Is it safe to take and drive? My driving licence is very important to me. Does anyone have advice on this?
Side effects of Letrozole
Hi everyone, I haven’t been on this forum for a long time. I was first diagnosed with breast cancer NST in 2017 and underwent mastectomy of the left breast. I didn’t have to go through any treatment but was advised endocrine therapy but after reading through all the side effects decided to go without it. In 2019 another tumour was detected in the chest wall of the same previously operated breast and had to under surgery again. After that I had to undergo radiation therapy and was prescribed Letrozol. Since March 2020 I have been on Letrozol. From the last month I have noticed pain in my left shoulder and difficulty in doing my bra strap. I exercise everyday and also walk 3-4kms daily and, had no difficulties before that. Gradually the pain has become more severe and now it is in my right shoulder too. I am also having a number of other symptoms such as itching, occasional dizziness, dry lips etc which are all tolerable, but not the pain in my shoulders, which is bad. I am finding it difficult to carry any shopping bags too as it aggravates the pain. I am thinking of stopping letrozole as quality of life is more important to me than this life of pain. I would love to hear from anyone who have been taking letrozole and your experience with it.
Exemestane and Joint/Muscle/Tendon Pain
I know this subject has probably been done over and over but I am interested in finding out if anyone has had success with controlling severe pain caused by aromatase inhibitors. I have had endometrial cancer and breast cancer. Both primary cancers. Both hormonally driven. As a result I need to stay on HIs possibly for the rest of my life. I'm 54. This journey started when I was 49. I did 14 months on Letrozole and 11 of them were pure hell. The pain I felt was unrelenting. It started in my hands but quickly moved to hips, knees, ankles, feet. Standing was horrible. Walking any distance impossible. I tried: Exercise - aqua aerobics and swimming Tumeric Duloxitine Magnesium Ibuprofen Celebrex My oncologist changed me to Exemestane and I have been on that since February this year after a 4 week break. It is much better but I still have pain when I stand and walk and have developed issues with my Achilles tendon which is very painful. I have dropped the Duloxitine and Tumeric (the pain didn't get worse because of this), still take 100mg of Celebrex morning and night. Use Voltaren emugel and Magnesium (soluble) at night. I take Vitamin D. I have been going to a specialised gym that works with cancer patients and that has also helped but currently I am not going because of the Achilles problem. I have seen a rheumatologist, a physiotherapist, exercise physiologist. I really would like to find a pain medication that actually takes the pain away when I walk so I could walk and get back to the gym a some semblance of normality. I have recently also stopped working, partly because of these issues. So, any suggestions/ideas I can talk through with y medical team.
Teeth and jaw pain
Hello everyone, I had grade 3 stage 2b IDC, 2 lymph nodes involved and DCIS that was removed but margins involved. Left side mastectomy and axillary clearance. 4 rounds of chemo (had to stop early- toxicity) and 25 radiation, finishing end of May. I have been on Letrazole for 9 weeks and have many of the usual side effects. one that has just started and is quite sore is pain in my upper and lower left jaws. This is new and not something that I have ever had before. It gets worse when I eat hot or cold food and takes a while to settle after, then it is just like a low constant ache. Has anyone else experienced this? I send my love and best wishes to you all xoxo
Arimidex. They’re kidding, right?My surgeon prescribed Arimidex increase
I’m 62 and was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer in late March this year. I feel incredibly lucky not to have received this diagnosis as a young woman, as do many of you are. I also feel lucky that it was detected early and 2 breast preserving operations and 20 sessions of radiotherapy later, I was feeling relatively normal again. I’d been on HRT for 12 years (12 good years I don’t regret for one second), but as my cancer was hormone receptor positive I had to stop. I was really worried about hot flushes but Effexor really helped to reduce the frequency and intensity. I think the anti-depressant aspect had a positive effect on me too. I was really feeling quite chipper. My surgeon prescribed me Arimidex and said if I take it for 5 years, my long term survival prospects are better. I set myself a start date of 1 September and steeled myself for a resumption of debilitating hot flushes. Four weeks in, there was some but not a huge increase and I was thinking “Ok. This isn’t too bad. I can do this”. Then the arthralgia kicked in. I already suffer from arthritis in my right hip and knee, but a long acting anti-inflammatory I take had managed that perfectly well. Now, the pain is constant and keeps me awake half the night. It’s spread to other joints, including my right thumb which is “locked” every morning when I first get up. I read a couple of discussions on BCNA and started taking Panadol Osteo. Nothing. I feel almost crippled. Everything hurts when I get up from sitting or get out of the car after driving anywhere. I hobble like someone aged 92, not 62. I’m so fatigued I can barely gather the energy to drive the car and the most awful gloom has settled over me. I don’t see my surgeon until December, and being the sole practitioner of a small law firm, I have to work Monday to Friday and I have to be on the ball. I stopped taking the Arimidex 5 weeks in (last Saturday) and yesterday I started to feel well again and last night was my first pain-free sleep for about a week. I’m stressed about this because I want to do what I can to survive this psycho disease, but I really can’t live the next 5 years of my life like I lived the last week on Arimidex. If anyone has any tips or recommendations, remedies, drugs, anything that worked for them so that they could function on Arimidex, I’d be so grateful to hear from them. Alternatively, any good news stories about survivors who didn’t take Arimidex would certainly help me to feel hopeful. I’m pretty much the worst worrier I know, so anything positive would be a huge benefit to me. Thanks for listening. Claire
