Feeling hot hot hot
Letrozole or more commonly known as Femara is what I have been taking for four days now.
I was terrified to start this medication because its not made to treat infertility but its actually a breast cancer hormone based chemotherapy drug. The reason doctors prescribe Femara for infertility patients is because it basically suppresses estrogen levels and tricks your body into producing FSH (follicle stimulating hormone). In our case they believe this will form a more mature viable follicle that will produce a more viable egg.
The side effects of this fertility drug is very similar to the more familiar one Clomid. I was so nervous because ill admit I'm on tons of blogs and message boards and have been for a year now researching miscarriage and infertility trying to find out whats wrong with me. On all these message boards women are always talking about their side effects on these fertility drugs.
The common side effects are as follows
Weight gain or weight loss (please weight loss please weight loss haha)
extreme hot flashes
extreme mood swings
swelling
headaches
dizziness
There are some more severe ones as well but I won't list those.
That brings us to my experience on Femara. Tomorrow will be my last day on it this cycle so I feel like I have had a good amount of time to judge it.
Day 1- Saturday morning I took it early in the morning and boy did it mess my stomach up. I had terrible stomach pains until about 12:00 that day. We were at the old spa painting the rooms back to the normal color and I was ANGRY. Mood swing is an understatement. I love painting it usually relaxes me and I usually live for painting walls. For some reason I hated everything that morning. I got to a part were the trim work was hard, and you would have thought I was preforming brain surgery. I flipped out because I couldn't do it and almost started crying. Now if you know me, you know I am a pretty moody person normally but this was even extreme for me. I looked at Jay because he didn't understand why I was acting like that and I said that I couldn't help it and didn't even like myself at that point. I have never had that amount of rage and anger for no reason before. I knew it must have been the medication. We went home and ate and I was fine for the rest of the day. That evening I had a little mood swing right before bed but it wasn't terrible.
Day 2- Sunday we were at church and I was really hoping I didn't have one of my extreme mood swings while at church. I literally had no symptoms whatsoever the entire day on Sunday. The only thing that happened is my hands were really swollen and I couldn't wear my wedding rings.
Day 3 - Monday- Im off on Mondays and usually they are my days to run errands and clean. I started doing laundry and just felt this overwhelming tiredness come over me. I honestly napped for HOURS and got nothing done. I woke up and was having the worst hot flashes EVER. Now I know what women who go through menopause feel like. Of course I decided that it would be a great time to blow dry and straighten my hair. If you have thick curly hair like me you know its a task that makes you hot anyway, add a hot flash side effect and OMG. We have an event every Monday night at church for college students and young couples, thank goodness it was nice enough outside we could hang out there all night. It was a beautiful night and I finally cooled off ha-ha.
Day 4- Tuesday I am now on day four and the only side effects I feel this morning are hot flashes again and dizziness. Lets hope that it for the day.
All in all this experience with this medication hasn't been as terrible as I thought it would be. Honestly for me the worst side effect was that anger I had Saturday. I felt like a crazy person and no one could understand why I was acting like that. I was trying to explain I couldn't help it but I'm sure its hard to understand unless your going through it yourself. I have heard the longer your on these medications the more intense the side effects. Hopefully this is the only month ill have to be on Femara.
I was terrified to start this medication because its not made to treat infertility but its actually a breast cancer hormone based chemotherapy drug. The reason doctors prescribe Femara for infertility patients is because it basically suppresses estrogen levels and tricks your body into producing FSH (follicle stimulating hormone). In our case they believe this will form a more mature viable follicle that will produce a more viable egg.
The side effects of this fertility drug is very similar to the more familiar one Clomid. I was so nervous because ill admit I'm on tons of blogs and message boards and have been for a year now researching miscarriage and infertility trying to find out whats wrong with me. On all these message boards women are always talking about their side effects on these fertility drugs.
The common side effects are as follows
Weight gain or weight loss (please weight loss please weight loss haha)
extreme hot flashes
extreme mood swings
swelling
headaches
dizziness
There are some more severe ones as well but I won't list those.
That brings us to my experience on Femara. Tomorrow will be my last day on it this cycle so I feel like I have had a good amount of time to judge it.
Day 1- Saturday morning I took it early in the morning and boy did it mess my stomach up. I had terrible stomach pains until about 12:00 that day. We were at the old spa painting the rooms back to the normal color and I was ANGRY. Mood swing is an understatement. I love painting it usually relaxes me and I usually live for painting walls. For some reason I hated everything that morning. I got to a part were the trim work was hard, and you would have thought I was preforming brain surgery. I flipped out because I couldn't do it and almost started crying. Now if you know me, you know I am a pretty moody person normally but this was even extreme for me. I looked at Jay because he didn't understand why I was acting like that and I said that I couldn't help it and didn't even like myself at that point. I have never had that amount of rage and anger for no reason before. I knew it must have been the medication. We went home and ate and I was fine for the rest of the day. That evening I had a little mood swing right before bed but it wasn't terrible.
Day 2- Sunday we were at church and I was really hoping I didn't have one of my extreme mood swings while at church. I literally had no symptoms whatsoever the entire day on Sunday. The only thing that happened is my hands were really swollen and I couldn't wear my wedding rings.
Day 3 - Monday- Im off on Mondays and usually they are my days to run errands and clean. I started doing laundry and just felt this overwhelming tiredness come over me. I honestly napped for HOURS and got nothing done. I woke up and was having the worst hot flashes EVER. Now I know what women who go through menopause feel like. Of course I decided that it would be a great time to blow dry and straighten my hair. If you have thick curly hair like me you know its a task that makes you hot anyway, add a hot flash side effect and OMG. We have an event every Monday night at church for college students and young couples, thank goodness it was nice enough outside we could hang out there all night. It was a beautiful night and I finally cooled off ha-ha.
Day 4- Tuesday I am now on day four and the only side effects I feel this morning are hot flashes again and dizziness. Lets hope that it for the day.
All in all this experience with this medication hasn't been as terrible as I thought it would be. Honestly for me the worst side effect was that anger I had Saturday. I felt like a crazy person and no one could understand why I was acting like that. I was trying to explain I couldn't help it but I'm sure its hard to understand unless your going through it yourself. I have heard the longer your on these medications the more intense the side effects. Hopefully this is the only month ill have to be on Femara.
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