I started anastrozole Dec 23rd and I recently stopped on Jan 20th..so I barely lasted a month. I had some minor side effects the first few weeks but what scared the heck out of me was when I started to get some bad chest pains. Once I googled heart pains + anastrozole, all I saw was numerous complaints and articles how anastrozole puts you at a 26 percent increase for heart problems. That scared me to death more than the BC itself.

I'd ask your oncologist what is your percentage rate of reoccurence if you take anastrozole. Mine is 5 percent, so fairly low to me. The average woman has a 12 percent chance of getting BC..I know we are no longer average, but still some of us have gone through chemo, radiation so I consider that starting on a clean slate. The way I saw it for me was 5 percent reoccurence of BC or a 26 percent increase in health-related problems?
It was a tough decision and everyone is different and you have to be comfortable in your decision if you decide to stop. There are many of us out there that have said enough is enough. Just know you are not alone. My best friend who also has BC stopped after a month on it as well due to the horrible side effects as well as she couldn't even get out of bed from severe joint pain and headaches.

Check out this website or google "alternatives to arimidex" and you will at least realize you are not alone in how you feel:

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/79/top...

Most oncologists will tell you to keep taking these drugs and don't want to hear you are going to stop and will scare you into thinking there's no other options. I believe there are by changing your diet and taking certain supplements. Estrogen is not our enemy! If it was, every teenage girl would have BC. We make our bodies stronger by building a strong immune system, not by putting in more unnecessary chemicals into our bodies to deplete the immune system, which is what anastrozole does and why we got here in the first place.
I personally think it's a quality of life question you have to ask yourself. Become informed and research all you can. You are your own advocate. There's so much info out there that we are not being told.

I tried 3 different hormone blockers - had to quit them all - oncologist doesn't like it BUT I'm the one who has to live in this body, not him!!!!!!!!!!!

I researched alot of the meds that are prescribed for the 5 yr "plan" and after reading all the side effects from each of them long term included I chose to not take any of them! Antioxodents will fight any cells that may be floating around as well and there are no side effects, I take a product called DIM-PLUS a multi-vitamin, an immune booster and do healthy shakes everyday. I opted for more quality time and we dont know what the future holds anyway...

I would hold the doctors feet to the flames, so to speak & ask for the percentages. When my oncologist said my cure rate was 93% & those meds only increased my percentage by 2-3%, I said forget it! First my hips ached & hurt so bad I would awake in tears & then not able to return to sleep. The Anastrozole made my shin bones & ankles hurt so bad I felt 90! Nope, not doing it. So I called my doc & said forget it. He then asked if I would be willing to try Tamoxifen? & I said nope. Quality has to play a role somewhere in all of this! That's just my opinion.

I see my oncologist next week and am going to ask to be switched to another med too. I take letrozole now and had taken the Anistozol . The side effects of both of these are just overwhelming. I know that the statistics say they decrease the chance of recurrence by 47% but another 9 years on it is a little too much to bear. I will go through the bag of tricks, but if things don't get better I will have to make that tough decision. I wish there was a better answer but I think everyone has to make that decision on their own, taking into consideration all the factors of their life.