ARIMIDEX Reviews (ANASTROZOLE)Average Rating: 2.5 (1431 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare ARIMIDEX with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Date added. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 |
More on ARIMIDEX: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR ARIMIDEX | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 5 | Breast Cancer Stage2b, plus nodes | Bone, joint, muscle pain for the first few months. Seem to be aging a bit more rapidly...skin and muscle tone. Need to keep a firm grip on my outlook/emotions. At 6 months most side effects were less. | Healthy diet, DAILY exercise, and mental stimulation all help. Daily exercise is a must to keep the muscle/bone aches away. Read and keep mentally active. Find the joy in life...even when the fatigue wants to overwhelm you. If the alternative is a return of cancer...I'll stick with the Arimidex. | F | 56 | 3.5 years | 5/11/2007 | 2 | Breast Cancer Stage 1A | Joint pain, mild "achy" to severe debilitating. Trigger finger and trigger "jaw". Shin splints, hip pain, forearm pain. Foot pain every morning such that I hobble when I first get up. Hands numb and have to be "peeled" open. Usual other side effects. | I stopped taking it over a month ago to see if any relief of symptoms. I am still experiencing the same severity of symptoms. My oncologist has recommended I see my Medicine MD, and find a way to manage the pain as she does not think it is due to arimidex because I have been off it for over a month. I take as much Advil as I can take, and rub Icy-Hot ointment all over. Sometimes the pain is so bad I cannot sleep. I am 52 and feel 92. I am very active with lots of walking on the job, but feel as if I have been beat up by the end of the day. If I stay in a seated position, my body stiffens up and I have to slowly pull myself out of the chair. I have gained about 25 lbs, and am having a hard time losing it because I am so fatigued I eat to try and get energy. I was on tamoxifen from 9/2003 to about 10/2005 then I was switched to arimidex. I did not have symptoms at first, until about a year into it. | F | 52 | 20 months | 5/11/2007 | 1 | Breast Cancer; Stage I | Severe pain in shoulders, fingers, hips, knees and ankles. Finally becames weak and too painful to walk up and steps. | I now have Arthritis in all these areas which I believe is the result of this medication, Arimidex. | F | 61 | 4 months | 5/10/2007 | 1 | Metastatic Breast Cancer | Bone pain in all of the bones mentioned in previous posts, feet, hands, shoulders, knees, back, arms. Swelling of hands and feet, also nausea occasionally. | My oncologist changed me from Tamoxifen to Arimidex in Feb 07, I had joint pain with Tamoxifen but it was bearable. I have been in extreme pain for the last two months thinking that it would go away. I feel as though I am ninety and would rather take my chance with cancer than continue with this medication. I see my oncologist this month to decide what to go on to now. | F | 49 | 72 days | 5/6/2007 | 2 | Breast Cancer Stage 1 | Every bone and joint in my body ached after 10 months on the drug. I could no longer do the sports and exercise - just walking down the stairs was a challenge. I had mood swings and my family found me nearly impossible to be around. After becoming increasingly depressed and unable to concentrate, I quit taking Armidex. After a month without Arimidex, I can again downhill ski, run, jump and live. My new oncologist agreed that the marginal benefit of Armidex over tamoxifen was not worth the decrease in quality of life for prevent of recurrence of invasive ductal carcinoma. This oncologist didn't oversell the benefits, try to scare me but gave me important information for making a choice. For me, the marginal benefits of Armidex versus tamoxifen are not worth the side effect and loss of quality of life. | I spoke with my pharacist who is hearing from many women about terrible side effects with Arimidex. Hopefully, women who are having the level of side effects that I experienced will be able to access a good medical oncologist who will listen and provide guidance, not a sales pitch for Arimidex. Again, my breast cancer was caught early and the risk of it coming back is relatively small - each woman has to judge for herself the trade offs between quality of life now and possiblity of recurrence. Even if one suffers through five years of more of taking Armidex, one is not assured that one won't have a recurrence. An understanding oncologist can help you to make the right decision for you and your situation. If your current oncologist isn't willing to listen and work with you, you can fire him or her and find another one. That's what I did. Good luck. | F | 64 | 10 months | 5/4/2007 | 1 | Breast Cancer | My bones in my feet ache, pains in thighs and weight gain, hair thinning, what more can I say except no one told me of these side effects, glad I came on this site, at least I am not alone. Wish I could stop this treament but dont want cancer to come back, I will be on Aremidex 2.5yrs seems like I am 90 instead of 56. | F | 2.5 years | 5/2/2007 | 1 | Breast Cancer | My bones in my feet ache, pains in thighs and weight gain, hair thinning, what more can I say except no one told me of these side effects, glad I came on this site, at least I am not alone. Wish I could stop this treament but dont want cancer to come back, I will be on Aremidex 2.5yrs seems like I am 90 instead of 56. | F | 2.5 years | 5/2/2007 | 3 | | 4/29/2007 | 2 | breast cancer | I could live with the joint pain and starting my day on the treadmill to work it out first thing in the morning. Yoga helped. What I couldn't live with was the uncontrolled blood pressure and lipids. I stopped after a year and went back on Tamoxifen. I was up to 3 blood pressure pills and a cholesterol medication. Even though I don't eat meat or dairy my last lipid increase was 30 pts in 3 weeks! I was also given an anti anxiety drug to help control blood pressure. Within a month after stopping I was down to only one med. | My weight is getting back to normal and my hair thinning seems to be normal again. I still have some residual joint pain in my hands and shoulder and knees. Once I get moving it's ok. Starting up from sitting or sleeping is still difficult at times. | F | 54 | 1 days | 4/29/2007 | 3 | breast cancer | I have all the effects the people already mentioned plus more.I can sleep during the night because I'm numb on my right side, starting from my hand all the way to my shoulder.Taking calcium + D, glucosamina with choindintrin, vitamins(you name it) with no positive results.Very bad when I was in my radiation treatment and arimidex at the same time.Only on it since January.Can I expect a better life without pain in a near future? | F | 46 | 4 months | 4/28/2007 | 2 | Breast Cancer | Joint pain especially in fingers, and aches in legs wakes me up during the night and therefore have sleep deprivation. Started trigger finger in the thumb. Fatigue, hot flashes and chills. Slight cough mostly in the evening. Vaginal dryness and dizziness.No sexual desires. Get aggrevated easily. Have found symtoms getting worse, been on this about one year. Going to ask my Oncologist to take me off of this. | Never had so many side effects from one medication. They don't seem to go away. I don't know what is the lesser of two evils here. Have to talk all this over next month with my doctor. | F | 70 | 11 months | 4/28/2007 | 3 | breast cancer grade 3 | Life - but not as i knew it. | I'm so grateful I hit on this site, it's made me feel normal in an adnormal way. I'm in my early 40s and have been menaporsal (zoladex injection) to allow me to take the Arimidex and now I'm of the mind to give it all up and take my chances. I just feel so old when I'm not. I'm as interested in sex as a panda who's been castrated. And the times I've succumbed it hurt so much I had to put a stop to it. and then there's the depression - I've had to take more pills to help as I can't go on HRT. I just want to be me again, to be fuelled by my imagination not with total apathy towards everything and everyone. I don't know if coming of arimidex will help, but I'm hoping it will. I'm of the mind I'll give it another three months then quit. And if I still feel like this I'll restart taking it. That's the plan anyhow. | F | 43 | 2 years | 4/27/2007 | 4 | Breast cancer stage 1 | Joint pain, thin nails, 40lb weight gain, tendon pain, sleep deprivation, depression,extreme fatigue. Sex forgot what that is. Most embarrassed could not have Pap smear Doctor could not get in so did another test. Afraid to stop meds | I had surgery, chemo, radiation tamoxafen til I got a blood clot 3years on arimidex I am afraid to stop.Thought I was dying from multiple organ failure til I found this site.Stopped effexor don't want to take fosamax for osteopenia. | F | 60 | 3 years | 4/26/2007 | 3 | Stage IIB, ER+/PR-, no nodes | Started with Trigger finger in the thumb, has advanced over the last 6 months to overall joint and muscle pain. Tried Tylenol twice a day, then Aleve twice a day, more exercise - nothing mitigates the pain. I feel like I am 100 years old. Some fatigue. More Hot flashes than before taking Arimidex. Trouble sleeping. | I am sure this drug is helping me. And it is not as bad as Taxotere! But I am looking forward to not having to take it anymore. I am glad that I found this site, because I wasn't sure why I was having so much pain. Now I know. I will try out some of the nutrition alternatives I have seen here. | F | 61 | 22 months | 4/25/2007 | 1 | terrible back pain, knee pain, foot pain and loss of interest in sex, spacey thinking, low energy, hurts to walk up stairs, sit, carry grandson who is only 15#-hot flashes, disturbed sleep, weight gain | I have been taking arimidex for almost 2 years and I hate it everyday-seriously thinking of ending this nightmare-quality of life has diminished | F | 56 | 2 years | 4/24/2007 | 4 | bc, stage 3, mastectomy | Memory loss, hot flashes, severe joint pain in knees and ankles, hurts to walk, tired, depressed, no sex drive at all. | After reading comments from others, I am relieved to know the medication is probable cause. My oncologist warned me, but I had forgotten until now. After talking with others in my area who have been on different cancer meds, I feel I have made the best choice with Arimidex. Cannot wait to finish my 5 years and feel younger again. | F | 54 | 13 months | 4/23/2007 | 4 | Stage 3 ER/PR+ BR CA Her2neu+ | I have had diffuse joint and muscle pain in all extremeties and chest. Tolerated these and the hot flashes fairly well till about 6 mo ago(I had taken arimedex for 4.3years). Developed severe rashes and marked bruising; severe fatigue inhibiting my work which is stressful. Memory loss was helped with neutraceutical:phosphytidal serine 100mg 1-2x per day. Did not have sleep problems. 1-2 Ibuprofen 800 (am/pm)seemed to help the muscle/joint pain. The fatigue that hit last summer has really had me down and I am glad to stop the med now. | Last few monthes very tough. Been off of it for 5d and feel even worse with nausea, muscle pain severe,and fatigue. Takes 6d for the drug to be out of your system; so I am hanging on. I twill be great to see how normal feels | F | 57 | 4.75 years | 4/15/2007 | 4 | BC Stage 2; <2cm ;5 of 16 nodes | Below my right thumb is swollen and barely usable. I have had low sex drive due to chemotherapy induced menopause-no change there. My memory is disturbingly bad and it seems like continuation of "chemo-brain", if not the same. Sleep is a distant memory w/o rx meds (not daily-want no dependence). I must reluctantly admit depression-my diagnosis did not depress me, but I now feel emotionally vulnerable. | Will continue because I trust my doctor and he has mentioned Femara as an alternative if the side effects become unbearable. I do know the physician can't help you if you don't tell them what is going on with you during your treatment. The medicine helps my peace of mind; only 36 days on the treatment. Will check back in a later with any new or improvement in side effects. | F | 47 | 36 days | 4/14/2007 | 4 | BC - bilateral masectomy,BRAC2 | Bone pain, weight gain, memory loss,loss of libido,aches and pains in legs and ankles and stiffness in hands and feet in the morning. | Just came across this site as I am about to take my last tablet. I was on Tamoxifen for 3.5yrs and Arimidex for 16 months. I was trying to decide whether to take the Arimidex for a few more months. I have now decided after reading all these comments to finish off today. I thought as many of you have that I was the only one with these symptoms. I feel so much better knowing that I am not alone here and am hoping that when I stop taking the drug the pain and stiffness will gradually go away. Here's hoping! I have felt that while taking the drug it was most definitely doing its job. I felt that my body was being stripped of any estrogen it had, therefore creating an unfriendly place for any cancer to want to live. I had both my ovaries out over 2.5yrs ago as precautionary measure and have no libido, but do feel that the situation was made worse by the Arimidex. I have been cancer free for over 5 yrs and I am determined to be happy, positive and look forward to living a long life. Tomorrow | F | 44 | 16 months | 4/13/2007 | 4 | Breast Cancer, had partial mastecto | Weight gain, hot flashes, bone fractures, dry mouth | I have been on Arimidex for almost 2 years; in this time I have gained almost 20 pounds, I have had 2 fractures on my pelvic bone that my rheumologist contributed to the medication. I now have bone fractureS in my right foot and having to wear a large, hard plastic boot for at least 3 months. It is seldom that I am not in pain; is it from the Arimidex? I don't know. I would appreciate thoughts of others that have experienced these same symptoms. | F | 68 | 2 years | 4/13/2007 |