Hi Hettybridges,

Welcome to our forum. I am sorry to hear that you are having problems with Femara. I was diagnosed with breast cancer 11 years ago. I had a lumpectomy, followed by Tamoxifen. I took this for a year, but then discovered another lump in the same breast. This time I had a double mastectomy, followed by Letrozole for 6 years. I stopped taking this in July 2017.

All hormone therapies carry side -effects. Some side -effects are worse with one prticular drug, whilst others are worse with another. I found that my emotions were all over the place when I was taking Tamoxifen and, I had a lot of night sweats. When I moved to Letrozole, I had a lot of trouble with all of my joints, so much so that I had to have both of my knees replaced.

It is hard to say how much my medication has added to my joint problems, as, like you,  I did have a few arthritic changes before I started on it.  I am glad to see that you have discussed this with your consultant and, that you are soon to discuss this with your rheumatologist. I am sorry to say that I still have pain in my joints despite having been off Letrozole for 3 years now. I appreciate that everyone is different and, that this is just my experience.

I hope that someone else will come along soon with better news of their experience. Don't forget to ask your doctors the percentage difference in life expectancy that you are likely to get with and without this medication. Do you know what type and grade of breast cancer you have? There will obviously be more benefit in taking medication the more aggressive your cancer is.

I hope that you manage to find a satisfactory solution to this problem shortly. Please keep in touch and, let us know how you get on. We are always here for you.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx