anastrozole and right foot!!

Hi PMA , I’m another Anastrozole pill popper! I don’t know about the thread you mention but I have painful feet and funnily enough my right foot is the worst! I don’t know why your BCN can’t see the connection as joint pain is one of the main side effects of both Anastrozole and letrozole, I’m sure. In fact I’ve just googled Anastrozole side effects and read that: ‘Arthralgia (joint pain or stiffness) has been reported as over 30%.’ It’s definitely my joints that hurt and mainly my feet. When I first started my right wrist also hurt but that seems to have stopped, maybe because I retired after a year of it and now rarely write or use a computer (I was a teacher so did a lot of both). I find that exercise generally helps and regard walking as my sanity saver. 
Sadly I think the breast clinic teams (though mine are very nice, I’m not really complaining) don’t really know that much about the side effects of the hormone treatments. I’m grateful for the (hopefully) protection against recurrence but do find the side effects challenging. 
There is a thread here called something like ‘Oestrogen reducing medications’, in the Diagnosis and Treatment section, maybe it was mentioned there? 
Good luck with it all, love and hugs, HFxx 

Thanks HappyFeet1! (appropriate name!) x

Hi I take Anastrozole too and have pain in right foot and right wrist thinking now you said it's due to this tablet

Hi PMA 

https://community.macmillan.org.uk/cancer_types/breast-cancer-forum/f/questions-about-diagnosis-and-treatment/231236/anastrozole-feet-pain

Here's a link I found with anastrozole causing foot pain.

I was on anastrozole for the 5 years  - luckily for me with very few side effects.  However, the coatings of the tablets by different manufacturers can be significantly different.  I was ok with Accord and Teva, but tried a different brand once and suffered considerably with joint pain.  It's worth investigating brands available to you and what is in their coatings.  A Google search for what is in the coatings of each of these brands will let you know which ones are similar and which ones are different. 

https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/anastrozole/medicinal-forms/

I was astonished how the Consillient Health one debilitated me!  ( I tested it twice to ensure it wasn't in my head and the same thing happened each time - so I got the doctor to write Accord brand only on my prescription slip).

Kindest Wishes, Lesley

Thanks very much for the useful links Lesley. I'll bear in mind the different manufacturers. I've only taken Crescent so far.  I was once prescribed Key Pharmaceuticals but I've kept them back as their use by date is much later than the others. 

Hi, I am on exemestane (Aromasin) but I have very sore feet. Both feet! I had a problem in my left ankle, subtalar joint from an injury 17 years ago. During chemo, my osteoarthritic pain diminished (probably due to increased steroids) but I did get some neuropathy and my toes suffered quite a lot. 2 years on my pain has increased exponentially and I find walking painful. To make matters worse this has led to weight gain which exacerbates the pain. I recently had 5 corticoid injections in my feet with marginal effect. Having read this thread I am wondering how much is due to the exemestane and the consequent depletion of estrogen and how much would have happened anyway. I will keep reading this thread to see if anyone comes up with a miracle cure!!!

I expected to be dancing around after chemo. double mastectomy etc but life isn't like that!

Good Luck to all

I should also maybe say I have been helped by the NHS making me some made-to-measure footwear. I have size ten boots that support my ankles and have very very big toe boxes to help relieve toe pain. If anyone remembers Florence from the Magic Roundabout my footwear resembles hers BUT it does enable me to walk. x

Hi PMA,

I also have had intermittent foot pain: plantar fasciitis, I bought some shoe inserts that really helped.  But I see that you are on the Crescent brand.  I have been taking that one for about 6 weeks now (18 months of other brands) and I feel rubbish on it.  I have a photo taken on my birthday at the beginning of February and I looked and felt pretty ‘normal’ but now I have bags under my eyes and I feel headachy and fatigued constantly.  Yesterday it occurred to me that it could be the Crescent brand so today I asked my GP if she could request a completely new brand for me - we went with Arimidex by AstraZeneca. I really hope it helps.   Hope you get some relief soon.

Best wishes,

thank you Kiki1. That's very interesting. I'll bear that in mind.  I really hope your new brand helps you. All good wishes