Exemestane

Hi, I went through a medical menopause with zoladex and am now in exemestane too. My BCN recommended sage tablets, they are fine to take with hormonal cancer and have definitely made a difference for me.

I went through chemo and did find mine very intense at first and they calmed a lot in the months that followed.

But I was still getting anxiety with them and they were fairly frequent. I had tried sage once I'd recovered a bit from chemo and it helped but then wasn't sure if I was allowed to take it. My flushed got a bit worse so I was delighted when BCN said I could take it again and found it improved things.

I get one probably every 2-3 hours now and most of the time they go away again quite quickly, whereas they stayed for a while before I took sage. 

I do other things that help - a fan by my bed that I use when I have a night sweat, I have those cool pillows to use overnight too. My feet can get super hot so they are lovely to relieve that. 

I dress in layers and take stuff off as soon as I feel one coming on. 

Recently, I have tried a bit of cognitive behavior techniques to stop them getting bad. So when one starts, I think about the fact they don't last long and that it will be over soon, rather than panicking thatni feel so out of control. That has helped hugely to reduce their intensity - the more I worry, the worse they are! 

Things thay make them worse are alcohol, heat (I'm finding nightsweats much easier to get rid of now the nights are cold), spicy food and stress. 

I've seen some people on here try acupuncture with great success. 

I hope you can find something to make them easier to handle. I just think that I probably would have had to deal with this anyway, which keeps me going with the pills. 

Good luck

Hi I have just finished 10 years on this drug, I took Venlaflaxin (venlablu) slow release twice a day and it definitely helped reduce them. 
Having just finished them at the end of Nov this year 2021, I have noticed a difference and also my hives have disappeared.

Good luck try and persevere the longer term benefit to you remaining cancer free longer will be worth it. Do make sure you take Vit D for your bones and get you regular Dexa bone scans

Hi CherryBrandy. 

Do you know how often a dexa bone scan should happen and do I need to ask my GP to refer me or will my oncologist do it?  It is over a year since I had my first dexa scan. Was on letrozolefor 6 months and for the last year exemestane

Thank you. Well done for coming through this long journey x

Hi Callista

I’ve only been taking Anastrazole for about a month but the achiness I had at first is much less. I do still have hot flushes but they only last a few minutes and yes I do get the burning up feeling. 
Just thinking about what you’ve said though… side effects normally get better over time. Stress does affect them.. just thinking about something stressful can bring a hot flush on.. but I’m lucky that I can just strip down to a vest top and still don’t have much hair after chemo and can just laugh about it. Sorry - rambling! It does sound like it’s a tough situation for your family with your hubby’s mother in a hospice. I would seek out whatever TLC there is for you to help look after yourself and maybe your husband

I’m sorry I don’t know about the bone scan… I’m going to go on bisphosonates, which protect the bones. So I don’t know if they just don’t bother with a bone scan as they’re doing everything they can? (I should ask!)

Anyway good luck and hugs! It sounds like you were doing pretty good with side effects, but then life happens 

Take care xx