I’m in a similar situation eight chemotheraiy sessions followed by surgery but with lumpectomy 

full lymph node clearance and about to start radiotherapy next week 

I’ve also been given prescription for Anastrozole and told to start on it straight away 

I haven’t yet started as I feel that the radiotherapy will be challenging enough to deal with 

I had a really tough time on chemotherapy and having come through that I’m really struggling to accept what side effects I might have to deal with just at the point when I feel I should be getting some sort of normality back in my life 

I took HRT for a lot of years with the full support of my GP 

Having to give it up immediately on diagnosis was incredibly difficult and I have already suffered symptoms of menopause 

I am also so afraid of this hormone therapy now and what it might bring 

Hi there , I’m sorry to read your post and what you’ve been through already . It is awful being plunged back into the menopause and these drugs are powerful little @@@@@! I think I had every side effect listed ! That said I take the following which may help you but please check with your doctor first. I had Citalioram for hot flushes the first time round , so have gone back onto them ( mild anti depressant but work for flushes) . I take Magnesium 150mg twice a day for bone pain (Lamberts) , I take Calcium at lunchtime ( you can’t take at the same time as Magnesium as they counteract each other). This helps to prevent Osteoporosis as these drugs cause this . Also worth mentioning , they can increase your Cholesterol and blood pressure . I’m going to ask for baseline Cholesterol bloods and a dexa scan . I also take Pilfood for hair shedding . Good luck to both of you x

Many thanks for replies. So hard to do the right thing. I got through the cancer .don t feel ill .worried about what,s coming ladies we will bit this were strong 

Menapause scares me more than the cancer. Horrible.i hope your ok . I scared taking the tablets .

Many thanks for the advice and I’ve taken note of all the suggestions 

I’ll wait until I’m through radiotherapy before o start 

one challenge at a time 

Hi Moore,

Not everyone gets the side effects mentioned in the literature. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of them. I have had 2 bouts of breast cancer and took hormone therapy after each bout. It was challenging, but I came out the other side. Instead of worrying about the "what-ifs", try to take things as they come. If you have severe problems with Anastrazole, there are other hormone therapies which you could try.

I was first diagnosed 14 years ago and have had a lumpectomy, followed by a double mastectomy the following year. I stopped taking hormone therapy in July 2017 and I still lead a busy and fulfilling life. All in all, the side-effects were well worth it, to give me this extra time with my loved ones. Try not to look too far ahead. Take things day by day or even hour by hour if need be.

I hope that your radiotherapy goes well.

Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on. We are always here for you.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Many thank.s for all replys. I have been very positive through my cancer.and i know i will take every hurdle as it comes. 

Moore 

I had breast cancer last July , I had to start the tablets too but mine are tanoxifen I started these in November , I was scared stiff of these tablets , o was ok at first my side effects started about 6 months after taking them I have horrendous flushes but I went to gp he gave me a tablet to stop the flushes the tablets have put me in to full menapause but I feel that as long as these stop my cancer returning I will put up with it xx 

wishing you luck love Lara xx 

Anastrozole. After my primary breast cancer (lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy), I was prescribed Anastrozole. I took it for five years, silently protesting about its side effects, I was so resentfully. I read that ten years could be recommended. I threw my arms up in the air in disbelief! 

I didn't understand and no one explains it to me. Yes, Moore63, take Anastrozole if your oncologist/breast cancer doctors recommend it. This is not only for the "now", it is for the much longer term, it might save your life, it might prolong it, it might lessen the risk of a recurrence of cancer. In eight, in fifteen, or decades? Anastrozole is a hormone inhibitor, it means the tablet inhibits the cancer from occuring. My understanding is that cancer cells are using our hormone as "food". 

I got the all clear after five years. I was so grateful not to continue Anastrozole! Then I celebrated eight years cancer free, climbing hills like a goat. Suddenly, one morning a couple of months ago, ouch. I couldn't walk without limping. A pinched nerve? I was diagnosed with secondary bone cancer, secondary because my primary cancer was breast cancer. Treatable with hormone inhibitors. I can, but wonder, had I been encouraged to take Anastrazole not for five years, but for ten years, would I have avoided my secondary metatarstic bone cancer? I had no idea that anastrazole was so important to prevent the return of breast cancer, or to prevent breast cancer spreading to another part of the body. I am currently taking Letrozole, another hormone inhibitor. My treatment is working and I am immensely grateful for it. Anastrazole is doable, and potentially securing extra time with loved ones. It is worth it.