Hi everyone, I started taking Anastrozole 6 days ago, after only 4 days I am in dreadful pain at night in my lower back, hardly any sleep. I have never experienced pain like it, I do have a problem with my lumbar spine due to an accident needing surgery many years ago. I phoned my cancer nurse, she told me to stop taking the tablets, much better nights sleep last night. So I know that the Anastrozole is the cause, I can't contemplate life with so much pain and so little sleep, how would I get back to work, or even just function normally? I had a sample of my stage 1 ER positive tumour sent to Prosigna for genetic scoring, this came back as less than 3% chance of recurrence. I am going to have radiotherapy in the next couple of weeks. Has anybody decided not to take Anastrozole?
HI
I know the nurse has suggested not taking the Anastrozole, but it might be worth you trying different brands before you give up on them completely. The coatings of different brands have huge differences. Accord and Teva for instance are very similar in their coatings for instance (I'm perfectly ok on these). But once I was given a different brand of Anastrozole and it felt like I'd been hit by a truck in joint and muscle pain. You can check the brands that are available and then Google the slip that goes with the tablets showing their ingredients - that way you could test out a few brands and see how you get on.
I now have on my prescription slip - TEVA/Accord Brand Only to ensure that I'm not given any ones that don't agree with me.
I hope this helps and best wishes, Lesley
