Joint pains

Hi Teresa,

Sorry if you was wondering what was happening with the site if you tried to join earlier but welcome to the Breast Group.

Joint and bone pain with these hormone inhibitor tablets can be tough going it is because your body is having it's oestrogen removed so although changing the tablets around can ease things there is a chance you will never be totally free of it :-(

How long have you been on Tamoxifen so far, as it can take a while to get the Letrozole out of your system ? Tamoxifen are considered kinder to joints and bones, but a lot of the time you just end up swapping one lot of side effects for others :-(

Know how you are feeling, Jackie is halfway through her 5 years of Letrozole and she says it's like trying to get an old car moving in the morning but better once a bit mobile. Are you on any pain relief tablets to help with the aches ?

Her GP prescribed her amitriptyline 10mg and Meloxicam 15mg daily to help ease the joint pain.

Meloxicam is one of the drugs known as NSAID's Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory drugs which could help you if the problem persists with Tamoxifen.

Some have found Cod Liver Oil with Calcium from Holland & Barrett helps but check out pain relief from your GP first as these will be free with your prescription exemption card.

Hope this helps, take care, G n' J

Hello Lovelyburke

The joint pain can be awful on oestrogen inhibitor drugs. I do empathise with you,  I have been on letrozole (similar to anastrozole) for a year now prior to surgery in order to shrink my tumour, which it is doing.  

The problem is that when you block oestrogen from the body, there are side effects, joint, bone and muscle pain being one of the effects.  The bones and joints need some oestrogen for lots of things as well as the joints and bones.  I walk a mile or two every day and sometimes grit my teeth because of the pain and stiffness in my legs, knees, hips, thighs and I believe walking is good for you to keep the joints moving.  Also, do you take vitamin D and calcium?  This is important whilst on these drugs.  I also take a multi vitamin and mineral, B complex, magnesium, vitamin C etc.

I find the stiffness pretty awful in the morning, and if I have been sat for a long time, as I work from home so I am at a computer quite a bit.  I have taken  to getting up from the chair every half an hour, and walking around for a few minutes, as the longer I sit, the worse the stiffness is.

It does seem as though these drugs affect everyone differently.  Some do not have too many side effects and other seems to have a bad time with the SEs, I know I do unfortunately.  

Have you had a bone density scan when you started the anastrozole? 

You have my thoughts as I do understand how frustrating and awful the joint and bone pain can be.

Personally I think ensuring you have enough vitamin D and calcium, getting out in the sun whenever you can can help a little.

with thoughts

Heather

Thanks Heather for helping me. My bone density scan was excellent & he said my bones were similar to a 25 year old so I was really not expecting any problems so to be honest this has floored me a bit. I'm taking vitamin D & calcium tablets & this has all happened so quickly & caught me out. I try to be positive & really thought I had come through it all pretty unscathed so now I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself!! I haven't really done that so far but this is horrible so I think I'm going to allow myself a bit of upset & sadness. Thank you again & I hope the drugs keep shrinking yours!!

Thanks for the response & by the way, your dog is gorgeous!!

Hi all.... I think your all right with what I'm reading...I'm also new to this... fairly fit before..but these letrozole are knocking the life out of me....was thinking about changing them...but the side effects seem to be the same across the board...whatever supplement you take doesn't help much.... so I think I'm gonna have to get used to being in pain and old before  my time...

Good luck everyone