Arimidex

Hi Gals, I was diagnosed in feb with lobular invassive brest cancer, had a lumpectomey, Radiation, and am now on arimidex and having lots of side effect. I'm thinking of not taking it and looking for other ways to combat new masses. I'm not hearing much about changing our diets. It seems our Immune systems are so depleted we really need to fix our nutrition before we do anything else. Please let me know what you all have discovered. I also found emu oil and a balm of aloe and calindula very helpfull for my redhead skin during my radation treatment. It ended 3 weeks ago and my brest is almost back to normal now. No blistering or pealing.

Thank-you all for your strength and input...Lori

Hi Ponyplus,
You have had a busy time since Feb! Glad to hear you had such wonderful results from the balm of emu oil, aloe and calindula. I am waiting for my radiation and am very fair-skinned (redheaded family and me a blonde)! I live in Canada; do you know where I can purchase the above? Would any reputable health food store carry it? Did you rub it on throughout your treatment, and how many radiation cycles did you have? I am having 25. Were you tired with your radiation treatment? I take Arimidex too, since Jan/05 and have begun to have joint and bone pains, and arthritis....just within the past month and a half. I was fine before this, so of course, they are eliminating that it maybe mestastis, but so far, clear..so it must be the Arimidex. However they think it may also be lymphedema beginning, as the pain is all on my left side where I had the mastectomy. I am seeing a physio twice a week, but the pain is not leaving and she is worried she maybe aggravating it. I see my oncologist for my 3-mth checkup on June 9, so will see what he has to say on the subject. You don't want to run to the doctors everytime you have a pain do you? Keep your chin up....and talk soon. (Jane)

Hi,
I live in Canada. I have found that the best product to support the immune system is the thymic peptide extract. It is in a liquid form and the treatment last 10 days (3 ml per day for 10 days). The difference between this thymic peptide extract (called Thymunex) is that it modulates the immune system rather than just boosting it. I know many cancer patients who tried it in combination with other products with good success. This is especially recommended after chemotherapy since it simply destroy our immune system. You can check on the website and look for the Thymunex. Go to the science page and you will find some information about this product. They also have another product which is recommended by the doctors for 10 years. It is called CarTCell. It might be useful for you.
Good luck! Steph

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2001 that had spread to my underarm lymph nodes. I had a partial radical mastectomy followed by chemotherapy and then radiation. I was then put on tamoxifen which I took successfully with virtually no side affects for two years. My oncologist then switched me to arimidex because its effectiveness has been demonstrated to be so much better than tamoxifen. I stayed on it for one year but the bone pain kept increasing and my leg joints became unbearably sore.

At my next visit I reported my misery to my oncologist and he switched me to femara which is almost an identical drug (there is actually a third aromatase inhibitor drug available but I can't think of the name) with the same success rates. I've been on femara now for two months and the bone and joint pain have gone away completely. Talk to your oncologist and ask him if femara is an option for you.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996. Had the lump removed with chemo and radiotherapy to follow? Took tamoxifen for five years. At the beginning of this year it returned and had a mastectomy and prescribe amidex. Have been taking it for four months. Yes my legs do ache but also take calcium and vitamin D. Yes I do get hot flushes but nothing I cannot cope with. I thought I was doing ok until I read some of the comments on this site. Will the aches get worse or am I just lucky that at the moment I can cope. Will ask about femera next time I visit my doctor. Thanks for information.

My experience was that the first few months on Arimidex were just fine. The bone and joint pain set in after several months and got worse progessively. My oncologist explained that every person's body responds to drugs in ideosynchratic ways, so what affects one person doesn't necessarily affect the next person in the same way. With three virtually identical drugs available, he said we can switch again if femara becomes intolerable too. We also agreed that the benefits of this class of drugs outweigh the downside, so the object is to find the drug that is least bothersome. He also said that the body takes about 3 or more months to adjust to these drugs, so if symptoms in the first few months are troublesome to stick with it for several months before making the decision to change to another one.