Hi clairebr did you just stop taking them altogether without permission from the consultant or did he tell you to. stop taking them did you also have bad side effects from the tablets kind regards judpet

Hi clairebr think I might have misread your last post sorry did you mean you changed from letrozole to anastrazol and it took six weeks for the letrozole to get out of your system if so are you ok with anastrozol now kind regards judpet

Actually I moved from Letrozole after one year, after complaining about pains & aches, then onto anastrozole for 3 or 4 years (not any better) then moved onto Tamoxifen.  It was only after 6-8 weeks on Tamoxifen that I was able to move again.  I did keep stopping anastrozole myself for a month at a time but because I was doing this the consultant recommended moving me onto tamoxifen which I wasn't keen on because of side effects friends had, but I've definitely been better on Tamoxifen.  I was not going to carry on with anastrozole.  Quality of life was more important than being crippled.

Thank you for your prompt reply could I ask when you stopped taking them fora month did you feel any better also my main side effect is nausea did you have that as well I can’t seem to get rid of it kind regards petjud 

I didn't see an improvement after a month.  I did have light nausea first thing in a morning or just after breakfast, but nothing major.  It was the pain & stiffness that I suffered from.

Hi Judpet,

I'm glad to hear that you have switched to Anastrozole. You are probably expecting too much too soon. As Claire has already said, the Letrozole will continue to be in your system for a few weeks still. It will also take a few weeks for the Anastrozole to start to take effect, so don't worry too much about not seeing an improvement yet.

I sincerely hope that you do see a result soon. If not, have another word with your oncologist and see what else s/he can suggest.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

I have read the sandoz brand of Letrozole is no longer being made, which would have been my first choice aside from Femara, which is so expensive, so hard to get prescribed. So have been looking at the ingredients of Teva and Accord letrozole as the ones my local pharmacies seem to have commonly. I want to choose one which will has less side effects, so decided to look at their ingredients. The ingredients are the same, except Teva has two extra E numbers Accord doesnt have. Tartrazine E102 yellow colouring, the side effects include anxiety, migraine, depression, blurred vision, itching, general weakness, hot sensations, a feeling of suffocation, purple skin patches, and sleep disturbances. It also has E132 which can raise blood pressure slightly. 

Accord only uses Iron yellow oxide E172, which doesnt seem to have any stated side effects. It also has Hypromellose E464, used as a binder or slow releasing agent, and also used in opthalmic solutions to increase eye lubrication. Teva doesnt have hypromellose.

So out of those two, i would prefer to take accord, and not have the added side effects of the 2 extra E numbers, especially the tartrazine E102.

Femara has the same ingredients as Accord, other than having a higher macrogol content of 800, to Accords 400. Macrogol is used for constipation.

It was interesting comparing the ingredients.

I now take turmeric for joint pain, which seems to be working. I also take sea buckthorn capsules and since taking these I don't feel so anxious or low. Might just be a coincidence. 

I'm finding all this very interesting. I started on Letrozole about 9 months ago and initially thought the side effects weren't too bad. I already have arthritis so the increased pain was hard to definitively blame on the drug. However, as time has gone on the spread of joint pain has got worse and recently I started to bleed. I took a week off the drug and everything started to improve. Changed from Teva brand to a different one but all the side effects are back with a vengeance. Oncologist is insisting on every conceivable test to try to find some other reason for the problems but I have chosen to stop again and the effects are lessening. I'm still going through the tests because at some point they will have to admit it's the drug and I think it's only fair for other people that this can't be covered up. 
I'm contemplating whether to try a different drug if they offer it, which I think my gp will back me up with, but I honestly don't know. I feel I lost last year due to the attempts to kill me with the chemo and if I only have a short time left I'm really not prepared to waste it struggling from one set of loathsome side effects to the next.