femara and bone pain

About the same time I started Femara, I have constant sever pain in my right rib area and now pain in my lower right skull. Bone scan was negative. I know this is likely to be bone mets, but is it possible this could caused by Femara, since the bone scan was negative? This discussion is related to <a href='http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/260483'>Bone metastasis rise in CA2729</a>.

t any osteoporous Femara causes swelling and bone pain I switch to Arimidex after being off Femara for 2 weeks and am not having the pain. Please look in to Femara side effects and possible changeing to another drug. I even was in physical therapy for two months because I thought it was me but no it was the drug..

I was on femara and the pain was so bad. I thought my back and knees hurt from exercise the pain was from femara. all my bones hurt. when i went off it within 10 days the pain was gone. I am now on aromatex although not purfect the pain is minimal and if i swim alot it helps with the pain. there are other drugs that do the same.

My last session of chemo was in july 2010. Radiation ended in sept 2010. I have been taking Tab Femara plus tab bone one and zomata (inj) from october-2010. Now I started to have in left knee joint pain. I have spoken to my doctor who advises, it could be post chemo/medication caused and may go away with a passage of time. Now i am going to undertake Bone Scan on advise of doctor. This Bone Scan was earlier done which was okeyed by doctor.. What do you suggest I do,. Your advise?

What Femara does, however, is that it can have a side effect in bone metabolism causing decreased bone mineralization that can cause bone pains and sometimes may lead to increased incidence of fractures. Hope this helps. Regards.

I was on tamoxifen for 5 years and have been on femara for 3. The back pain and joint pain has gotten horrible. I can no longer stand up straight or walk very far. I am 64 and afraid I will no longer be able to walk soon. I stopped femara 4 days ago. I wonder if any else has had this problem with the very severe joint pain, and if it will go away any time soon. The pain and quality of my life is so bad that I am taking the chance.

This drug can cause decrease in bone density and bone mass leading to osteoporosis and sometimes increased tendency to have fractures. If standard pain medications are not helping with these symptoms, I believe that you may discuss with your doctor regarding shifting to a different drug class such as tamoxifen (though tamoxifen has a different side effect profile, mainly from cardiac and vascular side effects).

Hi Olefin, I'm curious why you mention that there is small benefit to an aromatase inhibitor such as Femara. Is that just in your particular situation? I had stage 3 invasive lobular carcinoma, 10 cm, two nodes involved, ER & PR positive and HER2 negative. I've had bilateral mastectomies to remove as much breast tissue as possible thereby reducing my risk for a recurrence by a whole lot. I also had DIEP perforator flap reconstruction in New Orleans with wonderful results.

I could not take femara to much bone pain. I am taking Arimidex but am currently in remission am taking it because I was positive for estrogen and braca 1 patient. good luck on the femara i know someone who took femara and Lupon shot and controlled her cancer for 2 years.

Hi there. Shortness of breath is not a listed common (and even uncommon) side effects of femara and similar drugs. Femara's side effects most commonly involve the bones and the bone mineralization process with more tendency towards osteoporosis and sometimes fractures. I suggest that you inform your doctor about this, as this may be due to anxiety, lung, or heart problem (which can be a side effect of previous treatment like chemotherapy or radiation therapy). Regards and God bless.

I have a good diet, take exercise and my bone density is normal. I am 74.

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.

In the early breast cancer clinical trial, the most common side effects seen with ARIMIDEX include hot flashes, joint symptoms (including arthritis and arthralgia), weakness, mood changes, pain, back pain, sore throat, nausea and vomiting, rash, depression, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, fractures, swelling of arms/legs, insomnia, and headache. Patients taking ARIMIDEX were less likely than those taking tamoxifen to stop treatment because of side effects.

But, I have noticed more and more pain the longer I take it. My ankles, legs, knees, arms and wrists get so stiff and sore, and I feel like I'm 90 when I try to get up. I have oral pain meds...Lortab...but I work full time, and it's hard to pop a pill and head out the door to drive an hour's commute. Any suggestions on how to manage the pain?

Femara does not have that indication, however, the clots kept coming while I was on it. It also caused severe bone pain. A little more than a year ago, I switched to Aromasin, and things have dramatically improved. If her cancer is estrogen receptor positive as well as being slow growing, then the hormone therapies like Femara, Aromasin, Arimidex, etc. seem to be the best choice at the moment.

Of the 81 patients included in the study, 64 (79%) were able to stop taking narcotic drugs for their pain, and 43 (53%) could stop taking other pain medication. Researchers say the resullts should encourage more wide spread applicatiohn o f this palliative interventional radiology treatment." Best wishes...

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.

Besides big joints like shoulder, leg, the joints in every finger is in pain. So my oncologist put be back in tamoxifen. Femara also has risk of causing osteoporosis and I have done bone density test during that time. I am post menopausal. What is recommended duration taking letrozole after tamoxifen?

I have noticed some visual disturbances including vitreous floaters. I have been to the opthamologist who says there is no correlation between Femara and my eyes. Has anyone heard anything to the contrary.

I have been on Aromasin for about 12 weeks. I took Femara for a short time back last fall, and again this spring. Are any of you on Aromasin, Femara, Tamoxifen, or Arimidex experiencing joint/bone pain? If so, do you find it getting worse the longer you are on it? I finally got off IV chemo in favor of taking AI's because IV chemo was doing too much damage and I needed a break.

December 14, 2009 (San Antonio, Texas) — New results coming from 2 mature trials with exemestane (Aromasin, Pfizer) suggest that this aromatase inhibitor differs slightly from the other 2 available products, letrozole (Femara, Novartis) and anastrozole (Arimidex, AstraZeneca). Although all 3 are aromatase inhibitors, exemestane is a steroidal product that binds irreversibly to the estrogen receptor; the other 2 products are both nonsteroidal and are reversible inhibitors.

Also, I have read that Clomid can lead to endo coming back quicker. Is this true and is it also true of Femara? I am very worried that then endo will come back, and I would really like the Femara to work well!! Thank You!

I used Clomid for one cycle and it worked. Did you ovulate on Femara? Some women with PCOS have better luck with Femara than they had with Clomid.

ve been there and feel your pain. Did you start the femara because you were having really long cycles? I take it you don't take your temperature and chart it?

I have been taking Femara since Dec 2009 and started having pain in my hands and trigger fingers two months ago (Feb, 2011) I had injections for the trigger fingers which seem to help and then not. The changes are making me crazy. I have an appt with another hand doc but am worried he will want to operate and it might be safe to stop the Femara. Any ideas out there? thanks.

t really understand that it could have actually prevented my recurrence. It did cause a similiar bone pain to the carbo/taxol I had done. For that reason I quit taking it. There are doctors also using one now called Femara. Maybe one of those would work for you.

Greetings: I have hepatitis C and am taking 2.5 Femara. My oncologist and my Hep C doc are at odds about the amount i should take. My Hep C doc thinks i should only be taking 1/2 that amount. I'm at a loss as to what to do. I recently had a liver biopsy which showed no scarring and have had Hep C for almost 30 years. I am worried that the Femara may be doing untold damage to my liver. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Femara and bone pain

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