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

Hi

I started letrozole a few weeks after surgery and was taking it through radiotherapy. I must admit, I didn't even think about double side effects and I don't think this impacted me at all.

Letrozole seems very different for everyone, but I'm lucky and whilst I have some aches and pains, it really doesn’t stop me doing things. Gentle regular exercise helps and when I haven"t walked enough, the pain is worse.

Radiotherapy gave me no side effects at all during the 15 daily sessions.  I have developed lymphoedema afterwards, which has resulted in some swelling in the breast.

Hope this helps with your decisions, best wishes 

I had no problem with taking Letrozole at the same time as radiotherapy.  But I can certainly identify with what you've found, Bear and Tilly.  It's been nearly seven months since I started taking Let. and recently the aches and pains have really kicked in.  What you say about contacting your breastcare nurse is encouraging, though, so I think I'm going to get in touch with mine.   In the meantime, I've signed up for a couple of things at my local fitness centre, which I'm hoping might help - just pilates and beginner gym stuff - and I'm going to take a walk down there for a gentle swim tomorrow. 

 It's such a help, being able to swap notes here, isn't it?  A problem shared is a problem halved, as they say, especially if it's in the middle of the night, which it is as I write!

I think I started Letrazole after right breast radiotherapy. As all have said, each person tolerated it differently.

From my perspective the muscle aches, tiredness were bad but tolerable.

The symptoms I just couldn't deal with were hot flushes, loss of remaining boob density, my areoles going from brown to a light pink  (sounds minor but it affected me emotionally) and vaginal dryness.

Rather taking Letrazole for the rest of my life I felt my quality of life was more important from a mental health pov so stopped. I've not changed to anything else. Rightly or wrongly, we shall see.

Hope it goes well for you

When I first started on Letrazole I suffered with aches and pains, I was advised to take it a night to reduce impact is symptoms 

I was given anastrolzol within a week was very bad with side effects.I have now been given letrozol but very hesitant to take it due to my reaction before any comments would be appreciated

hi Molsey

Sorry to hear that you had bad side effects on anastrozole.  I suggest that you give the new medication a try as you may not have side effects.  You can always come off it if you have bad side effects with it.

Best wishes

Daisy53

Hi, I had started Letrazole prior to RT and disn’t  have any issues with either.