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Is it Letrozole or just me

Anne49
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I've been on Letrozole for about a year now after a fairly rubbish go with Tamoxifen.

At first I thought L was great, it was so much less trouble for me but now a year in my side effects are getting worse. I have bad joint pains in my hands, shoulders, knees, ankles and it is getting me down!

I have trouble driving, opening ring pulls, opening my wardrobe and last week was a real humdinger...we were on holiday and I couldn't pull on my one piece swimsuit. That was me in bits, I felt so demoralised and humiliated. I wonder what is coming next, will this continue to worsen as I go towards 5 years on Letrozole, will it stop at this and get no worse...I want answers so I can decide to keep taking it or take my chances.

Anyone got the same issues?

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    Hello Anne49,

    First of all, a big welcome to Cancer Chat. I hope you will talk to others here who have experienced similar side effects with Letrozole. Poor you that's unlucky considering you already suffered bad side effects with Tamoxifen.

    We have some useful information on Letrozole here and joint pain is indeed listed as a common side effect affecting 2 out of 10 women. So it might be worth talking to your medical team about it to see what they can advise and whether they think it could be a long term side effect. You are also welcome to ring our team of nurses on this free number 0808 800 4040, Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and ask them any question you may have on letrozole.

    We have had quite a few threads in the past on letrozole you might wish to a look at and respond to if you want. In particular, I would like to mention [@dawn1974]‍ 's thread here which has had many responses from several ladies who, like you, experienced achy joints. So do feel free to post a response on that thread and hopefully you will be able to share experiences.

    I hope this helps and that you get to talk to others soon who have dealt with similar issues.

    Best wishes,

    Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

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