Skip to main content. Home Information and support Facing breast cancer Going through breast cancer treatment Hormone therapy. Taking exemestane with other drugs 1. Exemestane works by reducing the amount of oestrogen made in the body. Who it is suitable for Exemestane is suitable for women who have been through the menopause and whose breast cancer is oestrogen receptor positive. If your cancer is hormone receptor negative, then exemestane will not be of any benefit.
Side effects of exemestane Find out more about the side effects of exemestane. When exemestane is given Exemestane is usually given after surgery to reduce the risk of breast cancer coming back or spreading. Stopping exemestane Your treatment team will tell you when to stop taking exemestane. Last reviewed: February If you have shortness of breath or chest pain , call your doctor immediately. In most cases, you'll take Aromasin for 2 or 3 years. Doctors may recommend that some women take it for a longer time.
While costs vary, Aromasin can cost several hundred dollars per month. Aromasin also is available as a generic medicine, which is usually less expensive.
If you have health insurance, check with your insurance company to see if and how much of the cost of Aromasin is covered. If you don't have health insurance or your insurance doesn't cover the cost of Aromasin, ask your doctor or nurse about programs in your area that may be able to help.
The phone numbers are:. You can also visit the Aromasin website for more information. You can also read the Breastcancer. Create a profile for better recommendations. Aromasin and Arimidex both come as tablets that you swallow. Aromasin and Arimidex both contain drugs from the same class called aromatase inhibitors. A drug class is a group of medications that work in a similar way. Therefore, these medications can cause very similar side effects. But they can also cause some different side effects.
These lists contain examples of mild side effects that can occur with Aromasin, with Arimidex, or with both drugs when taken individually. These lists contain examples of serious side effects that can occur with Aromasin, with Arimidex, or with both drugs when taken individually. The use of Aromasin and Arimidex in treating early hormone-dependent breast cancer has been directly compared in two clinical studies from and Researchers found that both treatments were equally effective. The survival rate is the number of people who were still alive at the end of the study.
Aromasin and Arimidex are both brand-name drugs. There are also generic forms of the medications. The generic form of Aromasin is called exemestane. The generic form of Arimidex is called anastrozole. Brand-name medications usually cost more than generics. According to estimates on GoodRx. Like Arimidex above , the drug letrozole Femara has uses similar to those of Aromasin. Femara contains the active drug letrozole. Both Aromasin and letrozole are aromatase inhibitors drugs that lower the production of the hormone estrogen.
Early breast cancer occurs only in the breast or the lymph nodes in the armpit, while advanced breast cancer has spread outside the breast or those lymph nodes. Aromasin and letrozole both come as tablets that you swallow. Aromasin and letrozole both contain drugs from the same class called aromatase inhibitors. These lists contain examples of mild side effects that can occur with Aromasin, with letrozole, or with both drugs when taken individually.
These lists contain examples of serious side effects that can occur with Aromasin, with letrozole, or with both drugs when taken individually. The researchers found that both treatments worked equally well. This is compared with Aromasin is a brand-name drug. It has a generic form called exemestane. Letrozole is a generic drug. Aromasin can cause mild or serious side effects. The following lists contain some of the key side effects that may occur while taking Aromasin.
For more information on the possible side effects of Aromasin, talk with your doctor or pharmacist. They can give you tips on how to deal with any side effects that may be bothersome. Most of these side effects may go away within a few days or a couple of weeks.
Call your doctor right away if you have serious side effects. You may wonder how often certain side effects occur with this drug. As with most drugs, some people can have an allergic reaction after taking Aromasin. Symptoms of a mild allergic reaction can include skin rash and itching.
A more severe allergic reaction is rare but possible. Symptoms of a severe allergic reaction can include:. Call your doctor right away if you have a severe allergic reaction to Aromasin. During Aromasin treatment in women with early breast cancer, joint and muscle pain can be common.
Clinical studies showed the following:. In another study of early breast cancer, researchers found the following:. If you have joint or muscle pain while taking Aromasin, tell your doctor.
They can recommend treatments that may help. Hair loss can occur with Aromasin treatment. Studies show that 1 out of 4 women who took hormone therapy such as Aromasin for breast cancer had hair thinning or hair loss.
Women being treated for advanced breast cancer are more likely to have hair loss than women being treated for early breast cancer. Because Aromasin reduces the level of estrogen, hair production and growth slow down. Many women take Aromasin after taking tamoxifen for a few years.
Losing hair can be upsetting. But in most cases, hair will regrow after treatment is completed. Before you start taking Aromasin, try the following to prepare for the changes in your body hair. Aromasin may increase your blood pressure. In a study of early breast cancer, 9.
In another study of early breast cancer, A study of advanced breast cancer found that the reported increase in blood pressure was similar between Aromasin and megestrol. There were no reports of weight gain or appetite changes in women who had early breast cancer and were treated with Aromasin or a comparison drug. Having depression or trouble sleeping during your treatment may also affect your weight. You may eat poorly or feel too tired to exercise.
Talk with your doctor about how you can stay at a healthy weight during your treatment with Aromasin. They may recommend a specific diet, an exercise plan, and tips on how to best care for yourself. Depression is a possible side effect of taking Aromasin. During clinical studies of early breast cancer, depression was reported by:. The changes in hormone levels with Aromasin treatment can affect your mood. However, factors such as the diagnosis of cancer itself, aging, worries about your future, and your genetics can also contribute to depression.
If your doctor finds that you have depression while taking Aromasin, they may prescribe antidepressant medication. Or they may recommend lifestyle treatments such as exercise or mindfulness.
In addition, your doctor may suggest seeing a mental health professional or going to a cancer support group. In a study of early breast cancer, 4. Bone fractures were reported in 4. Estrogen is important for bone growth and strength. Aromasin decreases estrogen levels in your body. Over time, your bones can become thin and brittle weak , which increases your risk for fractures. Extended treatment beyond 5 years with Aromasin increases the risk of losing bone density and having a bone fracture.
Your doctor will check your bone mineral density before you start and during your treatment with Aromasin. If you already have low bone mineral density, your risk for more bone loss and fractures is higher. Vitamin D is also important for strong bones. So before you start taking Aromasin, your doctor will order lab tests to check your vitamin D levels.
So aromatase inhibitors reduce the amount of estrogen in your body, which makes it hard for hormone-receptor-positive breast cancers to grow. Rather than reducing estrogen, tamoxifen blocks the effect of estrogen on breast cancer cells by sitting in the cancer cells' estrogen receptors. Most doctors prescribe one hormonal therapy medicine -- either tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor -- for 5 years.
This is called monotherapy. Arimidex is approved by the U. Aromasin is not approved by the FDA to be given as monotherapy, but many doctors use it this way. Other doctors prescribe tamoxifen for 2 or 3 years and then switch to an aromatase inhibitor until hormonal therapy has been taken for a total of 5 years.
This is called sequential therapy. Aromasin is approved by the FDA to be used in sequential therapy, after tamoxifen has been taken for 2 or 3 years.
There are some chemical differences between the three aromatase inhibitors, so some doctors believe that there may be different benefits and risks for each, depending on each woman's unique situation. This large study, called the MA. After surgery and any other treatments, half the women took Arimidex while the other half took Aromasin. When hormonal therapy was started, the women planned to take whichever aromatase inhibitor they were prescribed for 5 years.
After 4 years, the likelihood of being alive with no cancer recurrence disease-free survival as well as the likelihood of being alive overall survival , was the same in both groups:.
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