# long term anastrozole use



## mattsilf (Aug 23, 2014)

Ive been curious about this and have been trying to find studies on long term side effects.  What ive mainly come across is joint pains, which I already knew about.  Im looking for studies/research that shows anything more than the joint issues. Anyone else ever look this up?


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## heavyiron (Aug 23, 2014)

*Information sheet about the adjuvant use of anastrozole (also called Arimidex).*

Anastrozole given as part of an adjuvant therapy program is usually taken as a pill once a day every day for 5 years. 

Anastrozole is a hormonal therapy. Anastrozole works by lowering estrogen levels in your blood and tissues. This is accomplished by anastrozole lowering estrogen production in your body. In women with strongly functioning ovaries (who are still premenopausal) anastrozole is not strong enough to prevent ovarian estrogen production. Thus the use of anastrozole is only recommended in women who are postmenopausal. Because anastrozole is a hormonal therapy for most women taking anastrozole the side effects are very mild and do not include chemotherapy like side effects of nausea, vomiting, or hair loss.   

Anastrozole is generally considered a useful anti-cancer medicine for early breast cancer.  This is because:

1) It is effective in reducing the risk of breast cancer recurrence in postmenopausal women who have had hormone receptor positive breast cancer. It is also effective in reducing the risk of getting a second breast cancer. 

2) For most women the side-effects caused by taking anastrozole are very mild. 

You should know that:

Although taking anastrozole can cause benefit by decreasing the risk of recurrence of breast cancer, many women who take anastrozole have some mild side-effects, a few women may have severe side effects, and a very few women might die as a result of taking anastrozole.  

Anastrozole has a well established role for the treatment of women with recurrent metastatic breast cancer, and new information supports its use to help prevent breast cancer recurrence for women who have had early breast cancer. This information comes from a clinical trial in which 6241 women participated who got either tamoxifen (the standard therapy) or anastrozole. These women were postmenopausal. Most of the women had an estrogen or progesterone receptor positive breast cancer.  These women because they knew that tamoxifen was only about 40% effective in preventing recurrence accepted random assignment either to a planned 5 years of tamoxifen or to a planned 5 years of treatment with anastrozole.  

The results of this study have been recently published (in July of 2003) with data from the first 47 months of the planned 60 months of treatment.  What the data showed was that the anastrozole treated women had about a 20% reduction in their risk of recurrence compared to tamoxifen. For the average woman who had a tumor that was estrogen receptor positive in this study, there was about a 10% chance having a breast cancer recurrence in 4 years if she received tamoxifen and a 8% chance if she got anastrozole.  This was for the average woman. For women who had more late risk based on their initially having positive nodes, there was more benefit. For women who had less late risk based on having initially no positive nodes, there was less benefit.  Because the trial was reported with 4 years of follow-up for the average woman who is participating, and we do not yet have information about the long term effectiveness and safety anastrozole as compared to tamoxifen.  Thus we cannot tell you for sure what the long term relative risks and benefits of anastrozole are.  

Although the current recommendation is that 5 years of anastrozole be given, it is possible that a longer or shorter treatment program will be recommended in the future.

You might select anastrozole over no tamoxifen because you hope the early results will hold up and that the long term benefits of anastrozole would improve things for you on average, and that the long term safety would be acceptable, but neither can be absolutely guaranteed based on the informative, promising, but still early data that we have. 

Based on the first 4 years of data the comparative benefits of taking anastrozole for an average woman after breast cancer surgery are:

Reduced risk of developing recurrent disease. 
Reduced risk of a second new breast cancer in the opposite breast. 

Keep in mind that some problems happen in women whether or not they are taking anastrozole or tamoxifen.  Based on the first 4 years of the clinical trial data women getting anastrozole compared to those getting tamoxifen the percentage of women reporting problems any time during the study were:








Some guidelines recommend that if you take anastrozole that you should be screened for signs of osteoporosis and receive medications to help maintain you bones if you are found to have signs of osteoporosis. 

Because anastrozole works by lowering your natural production of estrogens, there are good reasons to believe that if you take estrogen supplements, you will not get the benefits of anastrozole. Therefore if you are considering taking supplements that have hormonal effects you should inform and discuss whether this is advisable with your health care team. 

You should discuss and obtain additional information from your breast health professional team about the possible risks and benefits for you of taking anastrozole.

(1) Anastrozole alone or in combination with tamoxifen versus tamoxifen alone for adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with early breast cancer: First results of the ATAC randomised trial.  The Lancet 359: 2131-2139, 2002.

(2) Baum M. Buzdar A. Cuzick J. et al.  The ATAC (Arimidex, Tamoxifen Alone or in Combination) Trialists' Group. Anastrozole alone or in combination with tamoxifen versus tamoxifen alone for adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer: results of the ATAC (Arimidex, Tamoxifen Alone or in Combination) trial efficacy and safety update analyses.  Cancer 98(9): 1802-10, 2003.

_You may find it useful to consult the excellent patient information that is present on the Internet at http://www.arimidex-us.com/_

_Revised 10/04_


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## mattsilf (Aug 23, 2014)

Awesome, thanks Heavy. So as of this moment, there are very slim chances of severe side effects(blood clot/stroke). I though at one point I found that it negatively affects your cholesterol,  but I must be mistaken. Thanks again


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## skinnyguy180 (Aug 23, 2014)

What about lipids?  How does adex affect lipids?  I have read people on here mention it negatively affect lipids.   But haven't researched it.


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## mattsilf (Aug 23, 2014)

skinnyguy180 said:


> What about lipids?  How does adex affect lipids?  I have read people on here mention it negatively affect lipids.   But haven't researched it.



Another thing id like to know. I put some time into research, but like I said, I only came up with the joint problems on cancer pages. The study Heavy posted sheds a little more light on what im looking for but I think ive seen more out there. Guys like me who are planning on blast/cruise and guys already on it, use AIs year round. Im sure im not the only one who would benefit from knowing.


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## mnmsnowbeast (Aug 23, 2014)

I have a question,if my rat already is using this product with no sides,what dose should i set as a base,as of now he has only run about 20 on a 1cc slin pin,should i increase his dose or stay there,also how often?


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## mattsilf (Aug 23, 2014)

mnmsnowbeast said:


> I have a question,if my rat already is using this product with no sides,what dose should i set as a base,as of now he has only run about 20 on a 1cc slin pin,should i increase his dose or stay there,also how often?



What are you running through the slin pin?


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## mnmsnowbeast (Aug 26, 2014)

Sorry i had a brain fart,thinking about anastrozole and igf1 at the same time,the nasty zole is liquid and taken with a dropper,but i still dont know what dose to take daily in order to keep sides down,as of now the only sides i have,are water retention,from my aas stack.


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## angelicajack74 (Sep 17, 2014)

Arimidex and aromasin are two different aromatase inhibitors, anyone who doesn't recommend arimidex "anymore" is a fool.


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## mattsilf (Sep 22, 2014)

mnmsnowbeast said:


> Sorry i had a brain fart,thinking about anastrozole and igf1 at the same time,the nasty zole is liquid and taken with a dropper,but i still dont know what dose to take daily in order to keep sides down,as of now the only sides i have,are water retention,from my aas stack.



I dose it at .5ml eod


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