FEMARA Reviews (LETROZOLE)Average Rating: 2.5 (1087 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare FEMARA 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 |
More on FEMARA: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR FEMARA | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 2 | stage 4 breast cancer | I just recently started having joint pain - bad in my knees and feet. I have had insomnia since I started on the drug. Am EXTREMELY tired all the time. I thought that was just from coming off the chemo - now that I see all these comments it makes me think it is this drug. I too feel very old. I was told I have to stay on this the rest of my life as this was my 2nd recurrence of breast cancer - it came back on my lung after 17 years cancer free. | This drug was supposed to be the new miracle drug - It is VERY expensive even with insurace and it seems to be causing an awful lot of problems. I sure hope it is worth it. | F | 53 | 1 years 2.5 mg 1X day | 5/1/2010 | 2 | Stage II Breast Cancer | I have been taking femara since August 2007 and I feel as if I am slowly losing my mind. Problems with memory, especially with words or phrases during routine conversations. I'm extremely tired all the time, my joints ache, even the joints that are not afflicted with arthritis. Sex has become almost non-existent due to vaginal drynessl I can only sleep if I take Lunesta, Demerol, & Neurontin. I also take Effexor in the AM, Levothyroxine, and Triamerene. I'm beginning to lose track of time, dates & important events. Can anybody please help me? | F | 54 | 2.5 years 2.5mg 1X day | 4/27/2010 | 2 | ductal and lobe- triple positive | severe joint pain, hands, shoulders, knees, hips and feet. Hot flashes, memory foggy, headaches, dizziness. Doctor finally has taken me off of the drug. I am off of it for one week and will not take the new one till I know this one is out of my system. Does anyone know how long it takes to get out of you body? | F | 56 | 5 months 25mg 1X day | 4/27/2010 | 5 | idc, left breast | headache, neuropathy in feet. neck & wrist, thumb joints hurt. Muscles ache. Ribs hurt if I twist. sweat a lot upon exertion. losing words while speaking. some swelling of extremities. horrible insomnia. | Taking Femara as a neoadjuvant treatment before surgery. MRI shows that all 3 tumors have significantly shrunk. Ki67 level is 2% according to the 6 week biopsy. I can tolerate the pains, the sleeplessness and the headache so that I can see my family grow. The good news is that it is killing my cancer. Hoping to get more killed before I have a mastectomy in 3 months. Hang in there ladies, this is better than the alternative. | F | 57 | 6 months 2.5 1X day | 4/26/2010 | 2 | stage 2 breast cancer | Has anyone had hives or other skin reactions? I noticed on post about hives. I had all the joint pain, stiffness, fatigue, insomia, vaginal pain and dry skin. It got really bad about 7 months in. I was walking around like I was ancient. It then suddenly stopped and I began to notice a breakout on my arm and rash like hives on neck. Thought femara right off, but Oncologist said I had been on it too long to be an allergic reaction. Ended up seeing various doctors as the rash, hives and inflammation spread everywhere except my breasts and face. Docs have treated and tested and some have given up. Finally my new GP ruled out everything but Femara and said it was classic drug reaction symptoms. My oncoligist insists that she's wrong, but was talked into letting us see if Femara is the problem. | I still don't know if Femara is the problem, but it narrows down to it. Am upset that oncolgist doesn't want to listen and allowed me to get to a point where a dermatolist had to put me on 2 wks of steroids so I could get to a family wedding and go to work. Wonder too if it's worth it when my oncotype score for reoccurance was low and I have had my ovaries removed. Have co-worker on Femara for 4 years with no major side effects. | F | 49 | 11 months 1X day | 4/24/2010 | 2 | ER+, PRneg, Her-2+breast cancer | Extreme fatigue,joint pain,itching,sagging skin, weight gain. Generally feeling old and tired.Takes effort to function and enjoy life.After completing chemo my eyelashes came back thicker and longer, now they are thinning and falling out. These side effects began 5 months after beginning the drug. | I have found that 75mg of Effexor alleviates some of the side effects; however, I'm still not sure if I will continue to take the drug as I see such negative changes in my body composition and general well being.Is there enough data to know the outcome of 5 years on the drug?? Is it worth it? | F | 65 | 7 months 2.5mg 1X day | 4/22/2010 | 4 | stage II breast cancer | Had hot flashes when first started Femara. Those seem to have subsided. Knees achy but exercise does help with that. Feet sore when first getting up but that too gets better when I get moving. | Is Femara working? I hope so. Only been a year, but so far so good. I will keep taking for 5 yrs as prescribed by onc. Exercise really seems to help with the side effects. The cost of this drug is really ridiculous!! I give Femara a 4 because I do think it is working. Be strong. | F | 50 | 1 years 2.5 mg 1X day | 4/21/2010 | 3 | prevent bc recurr | I posted about a month ago but now have more symptoms I see others have..arms/hands go numb during the night while sleeping, currently experiencing pretty bad lower hip pain on my right side, memory lapses, repeating of words or saying them backwards, seem to be getting bruises for no apparant reason, very vivid dreams and I just want to sleep..hard to get up out of bed and get started in the am. | Going to ask about the injection drug and if it would be suitable for me | F | 44 | 6 months 2.5 1X day | 4/21/2010 | 3 | Bi-lateral mastectomy | Aching ribs, knees, shoulders and wrists. Had been taking Tamoxifen for over a year, but experienced vaginal bleeding, and atrophy. Replens MD is a good non-hormonal vaginal lubricant. | I will perservere a while longer. Had first bone density scan done about a month ago. If aches and pains get no worse, I can cope (I think!) | F | 63 | 7 weeks 2.5 1X day | 4/21/2010 | 4 | breast cancer | Maybe some fatigue. Muscle aches | To tell you the truth, before I was to start Femara, I checked this web-site and it scared me half to death, the anxiety it caused me reading this web-site made me wonder how many women it scared off that really need this medication. I know several women who take this with little side effects. I would say mine certainly aren't that severe. | F | 60 | 15 months 30 mg 1X day | 4/19/2010 | 1 | stage 1 breast cancer bilateralmass | Sometimes I feel I can't get out of a chair. My knees, back, shoulders, f Eet and my hands hurt with server pain. I have arthritis in my hands and there getting deformed. I feel I'm aging very fast. I going to be 59 and have twin ten year olds. They don't need to see me complaining all the time its not fair to them. I'm walking down stairs one step at a time. My house is dirty I don't have the strengh to wash the floors. My daughters open up water bottles for me. I love cooking and I can't hold the pots and pans. I'm meeting with my doctor next week. My kids went through so much last year with all my surgery's I feel like I can't do the things I want to do with them. My 86 year old mother walks better then me. | not happy about this drug. Also when i turn in bed my muscles hurt. I feel like I can't talk. My kids are finishing my sentences. Help | F | 58 | 6 months 1X day | 4/18/2010 | 4 | Stage 1 bi lateral breast cancer | Bi Lateral lumpectomy July 2007. Radiation only and started Femara one month after radiation. Dry skin, joint pain, flu like feeling within two months of starting. It was also just three months after radiation. I don't believe I have any side effects today except dry skin, but the dry skin could be from the lack of estrogen from the hormones I took before the surgery. | I started going for acupuncture 2 months after starting Femara as I was feeling bad all over and thought maybe a good massage would help but acupuncture was recommended. This person practices NAET which keeps the energy flowing through the body. I went weekly (two hours at a time) for six months and continue to go every two weeks. I am finally in an exercise routine again. I think the body is put through so much with surgery and treatment (as well as mental anguish) that it takes longer to recover then we realize. I will continue the acupuncture as long as I am on the drug. My oncologist said that one theory for the joint pain is that woman are more flexible then men because they have estrogen in the joints. The Femara blocks the estrogen and therefore causes the pain. Good luck to everyone. | F | 60 | 16 months 2.5 mg 1X day | 4/15/2010 | 5 | Stage 2 Breast Cancer Survivor | Joint pain in legs and wrists. Stiff fingers. Extreme fatigue. Fatigue is getting worse. Trying to increase exercise by walking and yoga. Both help with the joint pain. Plan to continue taking Femara because death by cancer isn't an option for me. | I also have vaginal dryness. What helps is KY Jelly or equivalent. I insert it into vagina before having sex. It really helps. Doesn't take a lot of it, just about a quarter size amount (or less)on the fingers. (apologize for details, but since so many mention the problem, hoping to help) | F | 49 | 1 years 2.5 MG 1X day | 4/14/2010 | 2 | Rucurrrence of met BC in liver | At first, I felt nothing new, but as the weeks go on I begin to ache -- knees, hips, shoulders, fingers. I had tried 2.5mg of this stuff two years ago when I first got finished with chemo-- after having tried Aromasin and Arimidex first-- and the results were the same for all three -- massive aches all over my body, so that getting out of bed was a major project, and then beginning to walk after that was even worse. I finally said "no more", and my oncologist put me on an injection called "Faslodex" instead. It was wonderful -- no side effects that I could identify at all. However, I had a recurrence in October, and after chemo for three months I'm back on the Femara, but at half a regular dose, hoping that will agree with me more. It seems to produce less pain so far, but who can tell? I've only been on it since mid-March. Like the rest of you, I wonder if the increased length of life that Femara is likely to produce is worth it, when you consider the pain o | F | 72 | 2 months 1.25 mg 1X day | 4/13/2010 | 2 | breast cancer stage 1 | symptoms were gradual until they became so bad that I had to discontinue the use. first symptoms- night sweats, muscle pain in calves of legs which was controlled by exercise then, wieght gain (total of 26 lbs), fatigue, gradual increase in blood sugars that continued even after increasing diabetic medicines, joint pain and muscle pain progressing to all body, high cholestrol, with increase in muscle pain to point unable to walk after starting on meds for cholestrol control Once stopping all meds pain decreased, blood sugar decreased daily until back under control after 20 days. Then started on Aromasin blood sugar immediately went out of control and muscle and joint pain started, blood pressure increased. was on medicine for 10 days and once stopped, everything except blood pressure was undder control and back to normal. | I did not have a possitive response to this drug. Even though I have not read anything about blood sugar being affected, I had major problems with this. | F | 59 | 10 months 20 mg 1X day | 4/12/2010 | 1 | after chemo for protection | After my last chemo I started to feel myself again. I really felt great. Then I took Femara for 5 weeks and started getting severe joint pain, hot flashes, insomnia etc. That was 6 months ago and still feel terrible. | To make matters worse, I was missed diagnoised and have Triple Negative BC so Femara should have never been given to me. When will the aches and pains stop. | F | 56 | 5 weeks 30 mg 1X day | 4/12/2010 | 4 | Stage II Breast Cancer | I started taking Femara August 2009 and I have put a lot of effort to bring my body mass index down since diagnosis last May and I have lost 38lbs. Being post-menopausal estrogen is stored in body fat so on my Doctors advice my objective was to reduce it. I have been exercising daily since going onto Femara, 8 months ago and I have had very few side affects and feel quite well on it. I do have occasional hot flashes and night sweats and some times a little knee and hip pain but that is probably caused by being over enthusiastic with the exercise. It occurs to me that many of the side effects described may also in part be caused by coming off HRT as I did which effectively brings on the symptoms of menopause very suddenly. Overall I have been fortunate and escaped most of the side effects mentioned by other users of this drug. I feel pretty good on the whole. Am I the odd one out or is it that people who don't have side effects simply don't respond to surveys like this? Good Lu | F | 64 | 8 months 2,5mg 1X day | 4/11/2010 | 2 | stage 1 breast cancer | Joint and muscle pains with increased hot flashes, insomnia, vaginal dryness, dizziness, memory retention, urinary problems, constipation, etc | I see that I am not the only one who suffers from these terrible side effects. Because I have a fibroid that may enlarge with tomixifen use, I may be stuck on this for another 2 years. Don't know if I can tolerate this for that length of time. Thought I was crazy with all of these new side effects!! | F | 53 | 8 months 2.5 1X day | 4/11/2010 | 3 | stage 1 IDC left breast mastectomy | hot flashes, tiredness,weight gain, joint pain in thumbs started 2 mos ago. Tested for RA but neg. Don't know if I can take this for 4 more years. | F | 50 | 9 months 2.5mg 1X day | 4/9/2010 | 4 | prevent reoccurrence breast cancer | hip,leg,shoulder weakness & joint pain,joint pain in thumb, mild hot flashes, hair thinning,vaginal dryness,weight gain,insomnia,no energy,get tired quickly, | F | 60 | 3 years 2.5mg 1X day | 4/8/2010 |