Letrazole

Hi Carron01

Sorry you've joined the club which nobody wants to join, but well done for seeking help here. 

Everyone's experience is different, but I'll tell you mine, in case it helps. 

Like you, I had a lumpectomy followed by radiotherapy. I was advised not to start Letrozole until near the end of my 15 sessions of radiotherapy, so that I wasn't experiencing the side effects of both at once. My radiotherapy ended on 4 April 2023. I decided to start taking Letrozole on 1 April 2023. I knew medics would ask me when I started to take it, and 1 April was memorable ! 

I was lucky with radiotherapy. Not many side effects, but I did feel very tired about two weeks after it finished. Luckily, I'm retired. I hope you can take a decent amount of time off work. I think you'll need it. 

As for Letrozole, I tolerated it pretty well for about six months. I had hot flushes, but not much else. Having got that far, I thought I would be one of the people who are able to stick with it. But no. I began to get severe muscle and joint pain and feel very tired. 

My very nice breast nurse gave me a two-month holiday. After about a week, I felt so much better and younger again ! I thought the nurse would then switch me to a different brand of Letrozole, but she didn't. She put me on Exemestane instead. 

I started Exemestane in January, ten months ago. So I've got further with it than I did with Letrozole. Very happy to say I don't have any muscle pain - but I haven't been sleeping well recently and I'm beginning to wonder if Exemestane has summat to do with it. 

Wishing you all the best with your treatment, Bear and Tilly