arimidex joint pain treatment

I have gradually gained 40 pounds, continually have hot flashes and night sweats, have joint pain and now starting to retain water/have diarreah. I had a 135 IQ but after being on Arimidex lost the ability to do math and have problems with simple addition and subtraction. Also I have directional issues. I get lost easily, it being worse if I am overly tired or stressed out. I always keep a Garmin in my automobile. I also have acquired problems with spelling and remembering things.

2 months on tamoxifen, then Onc switched me to Arimidex in Feb 2004. I have had increasing debilitating severe pain in left hip, left foot and both hands. DEXA scan showed increased bone density loss to that of a DEXA scan done before bc (ordered by gastro due to 30+ yrs of steroids). BC surgeon prescribed Fosamax and Calcichew/Vit.D3. A bone scan showed osteo arthritis in both hips, hands and feet. No meds prescribed. I am on weekly injections of 12.5 mg methotrexate for Crohn's.

However after the chemo (4 cycles TC) I resumed the Arimidex and the joint pain has been much more marked. Joints affected for me are fingers, wrist, knees and feet and a general achy back when I'm too active. In general Ibuprofen relieves the worst of it but at age 60 I am feeling much older.

Could it be your tamoxifen causing the joint pain? I took Arimidex for 6 months until joint pain started moving thoughout. Switched to Aromasin and the joint pain stopped. 18 month later now my hips are starting to hurt pretty regularily, will discuss with oncologist next visit. Basically blocking all the Estrogen is not a great thing for the joints.

Is painfful intercourse a common side effect of Arimidex? I even have pain from just touching the vaginal area, plus burning from contact to various soaps except Ivory. Will this go away when I get off of Arimidex in 3 more years? My obgyn wants to give me estrogen cream but my oncologist is against it. What can I do to get relief? HELP!

I was given higher doses of steroids to complete the last two infusions. I experienced the bone pain during treatment, but it had all gone away. I have been to the doctor and am doing well. No cancer. One year later I have started with joint pain in my feet, knees , fingers, hips and arm and shoulder joints. When I sit I can hardly get up and going until it passes. In the morning it hurts in my feet and ankles to start walking but passes. Is this residuals from the chemo?

Since then I have had many of the typical side effects such as hand/joint pain, neuropathy in my hands, hot flashes, wakefulness at night etc. However, my sight in one eye has also begun to noticeably deteriorate. I know, because I had my eyes checked and a new eye prescription just before I started taking Arimidex. I saw my eye doctor again last week and my vision has deteriorated from 20/40 to 20/70 (with correction) in just a few months.

I hate to tell you but I am on Arimidex and I have joint pain in my hips and knees and my fingers are stiff and swollen -- It started two weeks after I started the Arimidex --- It may be gentler than Femara but for me it hasn't been a walk in the part either -- Sorry your mom is feeling so poorly -- I hope they help her quickly -- maybe she should be taking Calcium with Vitamin D in the meantime

Hi Japdip, Thanks for your reply. Yes, it was approved by my doc. The joint pain and hot flashes were much worse as well. I'm getting handfuls of hair every day in the bathtub drain. I am concerned that the hair loss is irreversible or may not grow back until I am finished with Arimidex. What I have read is the jury is still out if it's permanent or not, and I haven't read anything about going from one AI to another. I learned that Aromasin and Arimidex are quite different.

As many of you know or have experienced, the AIs ( Arimidex, Femara, Aromasin), which are used to treat hormone-receptor positve breast cancer, often produce joint or muscle pain as a side effect. For about 20% of women, the side effects are so severe that they stop taking their medicine, which increases the risk that their breast cancer will recur.

I have been on Anastrozole for year, 4 more to go (5 ys.) I have the worse Joint pain, stiffness, hurts to walk, get up from chair, I get out of bed hurting, I ache everyday. My skin and stays so dry, my hair grew back after chemo, but is lifeless, thin, etc. I do not like this Pill and want to discontinue, but my Oncologist said it is doing me more good, to keep taking it. This pill is really aging me, dry wrinkly skin, no energy, cant walk and move like I want to.

I tried first tamoxifen made me tired and nausous then I tried Femara, the pain was so great in my joints and muscle went off it I am now on Arimidex and 5 months into it it seems ok. I have gone off it once before one of my races because of pain. Arimidex is in the same family as femara only a little gentler..As my doctor said he doesn't know if it will help and it is not chemo but I am 16 months past chemo and have been on an estrogen blocker the whole time.

However, 4 yrs down the line, I stopped it 4 weeks ago, due to severe bone pain (hips, hands and feet) and the pain has gone! I still feel I need protection for at least another year so am seeing a new Oncologist (mine retired last year) soon for evaluation and hope she will prescribe either Femara or Aromasin. All the AI's affect bone density, tamoxifen doesn't and before starting one of these you should have a DEXA bone density scan for a baseline. It is a difficult decision I know.

Hi, I was recently (2 weeks ago) diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Actually, I still have some more tests to go, but my doc says he's fairly sure it's Crohn's and not ulcerative colitis. Anyway, I started prednisone right away and the major symptoms stopped in less than a week. But I have lots of joint and bone pain, including a pretty severe case of TMJ.

I learned that some weman experienced elevated blood pressure and blood clots while on Arimidex. And Arimidex is known to cause high blood pressure and blood clots. How do know for sure that Arimidex is the cause of my high blood pressure?

I have been on Arimidex for 4 months Femara first two months but the muscle pain was to severe. Not to many effects in the first two months-of Arimidex- just a headache and some joint pain are my side effects. My surgeon ordered my Onco-I was a 17 with 8 percent rate of distant mets in 10 years low chance of recurrence for me. I will probably feel better when time passes as you say.. My doctors tell me I have a good prognosis. .

I, too, have joint pain and swelling in hands (and sometimes feet) w/femara. I have developed a trigger finger and dequervains tendonitis in bilateral wrist w/thumb pain. Had to go off med for a month and also have sites injected w/cortisone. Never had any of this before. Oncologist said she had seen trigger finger before no dequervains tendonitis? Wondering if anyone out there has had any of these side effects? And what do you think of this? I am miserable w/all this discomfort.

insitu underwent lumpectomy left breast with lympnodes removed 1 positive, had 33 radiation treatment and am taking Arimidex.

My side effects are joint stiffness, fatigue (which I think is because the Arimidex can keep you awake at night) and what I call a 'foggy brain". I also had my ovaries removed in Jan09 so it is hard to tell if the Arimidex causes the hot flushes or the surgical menopause. No depression or mood swings. All these things are more inconvenient than anything else. Whatever your doctor prescribes just try and if you find it intolerable, tell the doctor and try another.

I have been out of work and my life disrupted for a month and am already loosing everything due to financial stress 6 more months of treatment with chemo and work disruption i fear will ruin me. What are my chances with just arimidex treatment? PET scan shows negative to any cancer anywhere else. I have lobular and ductal breast cancer .

t be reached even for a biopsy to be taken the Arimidex cleared it by the next scan (6 months). I should point out that Arimidex was the only medication I was taking, no other treatment. The only reason my cancer has now returned is because a relief GP gave me the results of a bone scan and found that I had osteoporosis so she took me off it and by the time I saw my oncologist (another 6 months) the cancer had returned and metasized in my intestines and spine and ribs. Great fun!

My last session of chemo was 12/1/10. Radiation ended 1/7/11. Up until that time I did not have any joint pain. About 45 days after the last chemo I started to have joint pain in all my joints. I have been reading on this web site how this seems to be very common. However, all the questions when answered state that this outcome is not due to the Chemo or any other treatments for the Cancer. I am now on Tomoxiphin, but this started to occur prior to the start of the drug.

Arimidex joint pain treatment

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