Letrozole and Goserelin

Hi Sunshine75

Welcome to the forum and sorry to year that you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer. While I’m not on her one therapy treatment because my breast cancer was triple negative I noticed that you haven’t had any replies yet and I thought that I reply to so so that you are bumped back up to the top of the discussion. J

Hopefully someone will be along soon with the experience you are looking for.

Best wishes

Daisy53

Hi, I've been taking letrozole for almost a year now.  For me the side effects are minimal, a few creaky knee joints if I have sat for too long and a little stiff in the morning, but nothing more than that and very manageable, but we are all different. I am post menopausal so this also makes a difference.

For me, as my cancer is ER+, the letrozole gives me a better chance of preventing reoccurrence so that is why I am happy to take it.  Hope this helps. 

I started zoladex implant (goselerin) during chemo which put me into a sudden and intense menopause, probably made even more intense due to the chemo. I then started exemestane , a similar drug to letrozole, before radiotherapy, so about 6 months after starting zoladex.

Any medical menopause is going to be more intense at first than a natural one as your hormones are stopped so suddenly, but all my symptoms have significantly improved in time - maybe 6 months of feeling fairly rubbish and then getting easier and easier and they've now reached a plateau - I don't think anything will improve much now until I come off everything. I started zoladex in November 2020

I didn't notice a difference with hot flushes etc when I started exemestane, but it does make me a bit stiff in the morning and if I've been sitting for too long. This quickly wears off with activity.

I went through a few months or so of having bad wrist pain, but that is manageable now too. And I do activities that use my wrists a lot so that didn't help.

I was mid 40s when I was diagnosed so was going to go through menopause relatively soon anyway.

All my side effects have been menopausal in nature. I don't know if coming off exemestane in 4 years will make any difference to that, and as I say, everything is manageable now. I don't have the energy levels I did before cancer but I don't know whether that is menopause related from the zoladex, exemestane related as it stops all other oestrogen in your body, or just the after effects of chemo and all the other treatment.

If you've already gone through chemo, then the menopause should be manageable for you - you've come this far with it so if they are recommending that, then I would give it a go. You are going to go through menopause at some point anyway, so that is unavoidable. But I would give it a good 6-12 months before giving up as it will take time for your body to adjust.

Hi Sunshine75,

I have been on Letrozole since November. For me, there are quite a few side effects some of which have intensified in the past month to six weeks and I have been advised to stop taking the meds for a couple of weeks to see if they reduce. If they do, then a different tablet might be offered. I have letrozole as I have already been through the menopause some years ago. The main symptoms which have intensified are the brain fog and the arthritic pain. I have not had the hot flushes really (a few moments of feeling a tad warm but that's all). I have increased bowel movements and mouth sores. But neither is particularly unbearable.It is the arthritic pain I suffer with. But we all react differently to these meds and there are others to change to if they don't agree with us.  It is a case of weighing up the benefits against the side effects  and you might find you don't get any side effects as not everyone does. I found out on Friday from a nurse at Breast Cancer Now, that there is a calculation they can do to see what percentage benefit taking these inhibitors can give one. I am going to ask my oncologist about this. 

Thanks for this information and you've collectively raised some of the main issues I'm worried about. What I didn't mention initially, is that I've had Systemic Lupus for 16yrs. Because of this, it's brought on early onset of osteoarthritis and bone infactions in my knees. I think I will need to discuss these concerns with my Rheumatology consultant. I need to make sure that I know all that's in store, potentially for someone like me. My oncologist didn't really discuss any of these things. Side effects were given to me on a pamphlet when I was leaving the hospital, but after he'd booked the appointments.

I went into chemotherapy, not knowing half as much as I do now. Just don't want the same thing to happen again, as this is a longer adjustment to live with.