Femara side effects

I have taken Tamoxifen for five years and Femara for about six months. I am having problems with blurred vision, fatigue and most of all have been diagnosed with arthritis in my thumbs. I think that maybe these drugs have had something to do with my symptoms.
Does anyone have blurred vision? I wear progressive bifocals and until Femara had no problems with my sight.
I am 53 and don't want to spend another 1&1/2 years with unnecessary problems, when there is no real guarantee of non recurrence.
Help!!

Jeen, in response to your problems with Femara. I've been taking Femara for almost 4years and will continue with it for as long as needed. For the first few months I had very stiff fingers but that has improved. I do get tired (I'm 55) so that could be an age problem or it could be Femara. I'm not having vision problems.
My eyebrows are slowly disappearing and my hair has thinned a bit.

I take 2 Aleve in the morning and 2 at night at the recommendation of my MD. It really helps with the stiffness and joint pain--and soles of my feet. Has not affected my vision but my eyelashes and eyebrows are not visible. I thought they just had not grown back after Chemo, but who knows!

I just started Femara last month. I have noticed Blurred Vision lately. Has any one else had this?

I finished treatment 3/01. Started Tamoxifen. I had joint pain and slowly had problems with my vision. I stared Femara 9/05. I now have large musle pain. Sometimes to the piont that it is hard to walk. Once I get up and move it gets better. I am tired, but sleeping does not seem to help much. I am slowly losing my hair. Just like I did durning chemo. I am also having trouble with my thumbs. Jeen, have you had any treatment for your thumb problems? Aleve does help alot. I was told I have Trigger Finger and will need to have surgery to fix this problem. Thank you for a place to talk. No one in my area is taking Femara.

My right thumb does not work like it did but I attributed that to the surgery to remove lymph nodes. I also find it hard to walk after sitting for a long time, like driving to work or in a long meeting. Just takes me a few steps to get going.

I first tried Arimidex and had chest pains with the pain going down my left arm. My cardiologist told me I should not be taking it.
Then I started on Femara some time later. After a couple of weeks of taking it, I developed Erythema Nodosum as diagnosed in the ER. I woke up in the middle of the night so swollen that I couldn't breath. I also had the horrible red/purple rash on my lower legs that hurt to touch.

I am also having problems with my vision and have been saying lately that I didn't know what was going on because I just go new glasses 6 months ago. I had not contributed it to the Femara.

Thanks for sharing your problems on here!

Oh, the thumbs, after my chemo and radiation, I have a lot of arthritis. I also developed trigger thumbs. My primary care doctor gave me cortisone shots in each and they have been great for a couple of months now.

Just to let you know....I am a breast cancer survivor. I did chemo and radiation, but haven't taken tamoxifin or anything else. I have developed trigger finger in my left thumb, which is unbearable with pain most of the time. My knees hurt so bad that somedays I don't know if they will go out on me. I guess my point is, I think you may be placing the blame on the wrong thing. I think the chemo did this to me. I never had joint pain, or trigger finger until 5 or 6 months after my chemo was over. Anyway, that's my opinion, since I never did any tamoxifin or anything of that nature. Also, I've heard many say that the aches and pains sometimes go away after about a year...I sure hope so!
Best of luck to you!
Cheryll

Jeen wrote:

I have taken Tamoxifen for five years and Femara for about six months. I am having problems with blurred vision, fatigue and most of all have been diagnosed with arthritis in my thumbs. I think that maybe these drugs have had something to do with my symptoms.
Does anyone have blurred vision? I wear progressive bifocals and until Femara had no problems with my sight.
I am 53 and don't want to spend another 1&1/2 years with unnecessary problems, when there is no real guarantee of non recurrence.
Help!!

I had chemo and radiation back in 2000. I completed 5 years of Tamoxifen with no real problem except weight gain. I started Femara about a year ago and the first 6 months were okay - but I have noticed increased pain in my hands (thumbs in particular) and wrists...most severe at night. I have also noticed nausea which is increasing to almost all the time...but was initially only after I would eat something. Is anyone experiencing the nausea effect??

I am a 2-time cancer survivor (2 primary cancers 8 years apart.) I finished 9 months of chemo and then radiation as of October 1/06 and started on Femara right away. It's been 5 months since I started Femara. About a month ago I began to ache all over like I have the flu -- thumbs, hips and knees hurt like arthritis, but muscles also ache. I started taking Aleve a couple of days ago and have had a lot of relief. Am concerned about the long-term effects of taking Aleve daily. I called my oncologist and she said it's ok, so I'm going to try it for awhile and see what happens. I also do yoga and I exercise at a gym 3-4 times a week to keep my body moving. Have tried a heating pad, but it doesn't seem to help much. Would love to hear any other arthritis/pain remedies that have worked.

Nancy,
Our approaches seem similar. Aleve (I take 440mg in the am and 440mg in the pm--oncologist and gp say this is ok), yoga, gel pads in my shoes and lots of walking/jogging. About a week ago I started to take a tablet of glucosamine, chondroitin and msm; 2 in the morning and 1 at night. What a huge difference! I can move again and actually exercise! Wish I had tried this months ago. An older aunt just mentioned that she takes it for her knees and hips.

I finished chemo and radiation about a year ago and have been on Femara for 8 months. I started with Arimidix but found I just could NOT move.

I have been on Femara since August 2006. I have mostly aches and pains in my fingers. I stretch them to get rid of the pain. I have found that getting up and walking every 30 or 60 minutes helps with the pain. Flying is horrible! I have found that acetaminophen and exercise are the biggest help. My hair took a long time to grow back, my eybrows & lashes are all there. I did notice that after I shave my legs, I only need to shave every few weeks rather than every few days. Isn't it funny - we want hair on our head, but not on our legs.

KJSD

So right about the hair though my lashes didn't really come back. Body hair generally is not the same and I love not shaving so much! I bought Glusosamine at the drugsore and it helps with stiffness--I fly a lot for work.

thank you all for sharing your experiences . I´m felling the same with femara, flashes, weight gain, horrible pain in my hands and legs, as you said when you move it makes it easier. I´m asking my doctor about taking glucosamine , it gave a flash of light thinking that I have to take this for a long time , if it gets better , I´ll love you forever.

I just passed my 10-year mark. I was originally diagnosed with BC in 1997 (6 of 8 nodes positive). After chemo and radiation, I was started on Tamoxifen which I was on for 7 years. After Tamoxifen (which I was on for too long) caused uterine cancer, which resulted in complete hysterectomy, I was put on Femara. This was in January 2004. Since I'm 10 years out, the doctor mentioned discontinuing Femara because there are no studies about it's long-term benefit or side-effects. I'm scared to death to stop taking anything, however, Tamoxifen caused a new primary cancer, how do I know that Femara might not eventually do that too? Also, I have no prescription insurance so being able to save $280.00 per month would be a huge relief. However, if I stop and it comes back, I'll never forgive myself. I just don't know what to do. Anyone else been in a similar situation?

im on arimidix fof 2yrs. my vision went first& my hair has thinned out but last 12mths bone pain and last 2mths my hands/feet so stiff/pain especially after sitting for only 10mins plus. so relieved to have found this site of info as i thought i would soon end up in a wheel chair from arthritis and couldnt understand why. im in my mid 50s

Coco,
Interesting that you mention vision. I thought it was just part of aging but it did start with the med. I understand about the stiffness and use Aleve and Glusosamine. It has made me active again in a way that I had given up on. I thought I was doing my yoga before but now I REALLY can stretcg. Feeling better has made me a nicer person too. I did not realize how the side effects were making me quieter, less outgoing.

Jeez, I'm glad I found you guys. I didn't know WHY my eyesight seemed to be getting worse to quick. I just started taking Femara this past month. Past few days vision has been blurry, I'm very tired and noticing a little bit of the aches and pains (I was on Arimidex but the joint pain got really bad so we are trying Femara) Arimidex did not make me this tired however or this sick to my stomach (thought I was getting the flu). I also had trouble with right thumb pain..worse at night. Ortho injected it with something and it feels ALOT better. He said I can have these shots every 6 months. I would glad put up with ALL the side effects if I knew it guaranteed that I'd never have cancer again.

I'm also glad I found you guys. I have been having alot of pain in my shoulder that runs down my arm, I still have alot of pain in my right breast.(Thats the one that I had my lumpectomy in.) It has been since August since I have been thru with my chemo and radiation. I started on Femara 8-25-06 and the side effects have been going on from there. I have been sick to my stomach alot and having chest pains.(I've had to go to the hospital for that.) I also seem to be tired all the time. I've gained weight and can not loose it at all! It seems the only good thing coming out of this is not having to shave as much as I use to. Under my right arm (sometimes) it fells like it is swollen and it hurts to touch it. Then sometimes it feels like theres a SOS pad that has been rubbed under my arm. Has anyone else had anything like this?