Weight gain on Letrozole

• Hello,  I am on anastrazole and have been on it for 4 months and no weight gain.  Never took letrozole.  Everyone is different too.  I eat plant based so don’t have the saturated fats .

Good luck with everything.  Can you see a dietitian and they can help you ?

Barbars

Hi Barbara, yes I am going to have to have a word with the doctor or BC nurse if it continues. What protein I have is mainly fish or chicken so not too worried about saturated fats. Going to be a challenge. Thanks!  

I know what you mean;  you go through all of the other treatments and then whammy the AI’s.  I have severe dry mouth at night and wake up in the middle of the night and my lips feel stuck together.  My skin is feeling drier too. Otherwise doing ok for now.  
You can lose the weight and it may take a little time but you will succeed.

Barbara

The ridiculous thing was, I queried the side effects with the oncologist who was taken aback that I was questioning it, just assumed that I would jump at the chance to take Letrozole, I also asked my GP about them, and, bless her, she immediately replied, "no side effects, nothing to worry about" ??????? Normally i trust her and rate her highly, but she said this, I got the pills, opened the box, and the list of side effects on the leaflet was so long I almost fell asleep halfway through from exhaustion. Thanks for your  kind words. 

You are so right the list goes on and on.  You literally could doze off reading all of them.  For every good thing there are negative effects too.  Our bodies miss estrogen!!

Barbara

A lack of oestrogen can interfere with your gut flora so if you're finding you're bloated after 2 days, that is more likely to be a tummy issue than gaining weight. I take a daily probiotic now which seems to help. I also find that I need to stay active or my tummy gets bloated. I had already given up gluten before diagnosis, but if I do eat the odd bit of bread now, my stomach swells up like a balloon.

Just experiment with diet and hopefully you should find something that works. The side effect (recurrence) of not taking the hormone treatment is far worse in my opinion 

I gained weight on it on my tummy (6 months pregnant) and after a couple of years on my upper arms and around my knees. I've gained about 7kg which won't shift,  even with intermittent dating. A plant based diet and lots of exercise (over down the last el swimming about 2 hours a day and nothing). Or bodies make oestrogen in fat cells and mine is trying to do that. I read somewhere that mesozoic changes the way cells deal with fat. 

I've been on anastrozole for 3 months. Fine and no weight gain. I'm very active, I think that's important xx

Yes for sure.  Sometimes I wish I could just chill out more.  A side effect of these drugs is weight gain so for many it is a real struggle.  I lost 10 pounds going through the 2 lumpectomy surgeries and radiation but also needed 2 dental extractions as I fractured the roots of 2 teeth during that time so needed extraction and bone graft.  After radiation was done I had the dental implants placed.  That was a real bummer added to all the other stuff but am getting my crowns soon so all is good now.  Breasts feel good now too.  Used to get a lot of zinging like pain after surgery and during radiation but that is gone now.  Finally got better when I started doing breast massage after radiation treatments done.  
Barbara

Hi @Polgara,

I've taken Anastrozole for the 5 years and I am the same as Londonmumof2 in as much that I've put on about a stone (7kg).  But, I looked around at other ladies of a certain age who've been through the menopause and not had cancer and they all have the same weight gain around their stomachs, so I think over time the weight gain may prove normal.

Having said that in the 2 weeks of taking the tablets that is very unlikely to be weight gain as it's a gradual thing - as suggested already.

I signed up for the One You on the NHS to try and follow this, but as I have a bad leg (from a road accident) any exercise is limited for me, which is why I think I have gained weight more.  I am a vegetarian, so healthy eating isn't the issue, but the lack of exercise is.  So, I think to reduce the weight gain that is pretty inevitable with losing oestrogen, then exercise and healthy eating etc is important.  Although, as I say, it might be that it's just normal for ladies post menopause.

Best Wishes, Lesley