Sunday, June 5, 2011

Another day = more confusion

As I wake up this morning (after 11.5 hours of sleep) I find three articles on the same topic - Aromasin, an existing drug for breast cancer treatment may help prevent it.

The first part of my confusion. Aromasin is in a class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors. I am on a different one called Femara. I was told they were all the same and I would start with Femara and if I had reactions to it or handled it badly, they would switch me to another. My confusion here is if they are the same, why isn't Femara and the other AI included in this article? Or if Aromasin is different than the other two, should I switch?

The second part of my confusion is that I thought I was taking it as part of the prevention plan against a recurrence in the first place. I did take Tamoxifen for two years and then am on Femara for three years total, two more years. Is this study only for people who are at risk but never had breast cancer in the first place? I am considered at risk because I had it once so should I take switch to Aromasin and stay on it for life?

I will need to discuss this with my oncologist when I see her in August. But that would require me to REMEMBER to tell her about this. Chemo brain prevents me from remembering more than the basics in life sometimes. Last week my husband says he likes being married to someone who is more of a space shot than he is.

I just believe its all a part of the evil conspiracy to confuse patients. Destroy their brain cells with chemo and then give them conflicting information they can't understand and will forget to ask their doctors about. I don't understand, I am confused.

1 comment:

ChuckieFrog said...

They are both Aromatase Inhibitors but I reacted differently to both. Femara is the worst for me causing huge back aches for me and acute stomach pain. Aromasin just made my hands and feet ache. They all seem to have different side effects. I could not take Arimidex at all because of migraines. Don't you love it?

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