Most people will take Femara to treat their breast cancer for at least 5 years. Femara belongs to a group of drugs called aromatase inhibitors. The drug works by lowering estrogen levels in your body, which helps stop breast cancer from growing. The half-life of Femara is about 2 days. The half-life is the amount of time it takes for the drug level in your body to decrease by half.
In other words, it takes about 2 days for your body to get rid of half of a Femara dose. Femara has been found effective for treating certain types of breast cancer. Femara is FDA-approved to treat only certain types of breast cancer. Costs of prescription drugs can vary depending on many factors. These factors include what your insurance plan covers and which pharmacy you use. To find current prices for Femara tablets in your area, visit GoodRx.
If you have questions about how to pay for your prescription, talk with your doctor or pharmacist. Your doctor will explain how you should take Femara, such as how much to take and how often. Below are commonly used dosages, but always take the dosage your doctor prescribes. The standard Femara dosage is the same for all types of breast cancer the drug is used to treat. This dosage is 1 tablet once daily. Your doctor may prescribe Femara along with other breast cancer treatments.
When used for this purpose, Femara helps lower the risk of your cancer coming back. You may have questions about Femara and your treatment plan. Remember, your doctor and other healthcare professionals are available to help you. And they want you to get the best care possible. Breast cancer occurs when breast cells grow rapidly and out of control. Breast cancer cells may form a tumor in the breast and spread to other areas of the body. Taking medications, vaccines, foods, and other things with a certain drug can affect how the drug works.
These effects are called interactions. Before taking Femara, be sure to tell your doctor about all medications you take, including prescription and over-the-counter types. Also describe any vitamins, herbs, or supplements you use. Your doctor or pharmacist can tell you about any interactions these items may cause with Femara. Femara can interact with several types of drugs. This includes the breast cancer medication tamoxifen.
In addition, drugs and other products that contain estrogen, such as vaginal creams, may decrease the effects of Femara. Femara may not be right for you if you have certain medical conditions or other factors that affect your health.
Talk with your doctor about your health history before you take Femara. Factors to consider include those in the list below. However, alcohol can cause side effects similar to those of Femara. If you drink alcohol while taking Femara, you may be at a higher risk for these side effects, which can include:. Your doctor can recommend treatment options other than Femara.
Both Femara and Arimidex belong to a group of drugs called aromatase inhibitors. The drugs work by lowering estrogen levels in your body, which helps stop breast cancer from growing. And let your doctor know if you have more questions about these medications. Using more than this can lead to serious side effects.
You can also call to reach the American Association of Poison Control Centers, or use its online resource. However, if you have severe symptoms, immediately call or your local emergency number or go to the nearest emergency room.
If you have questions about using Femara for breast cancer , talk with your doctor or pharmacist. You may want to ask about other treatments for breast cancer. If so, this article on breast cancer treatment options may be helpful for you. Disclaimer: Healthline has made every effort to make certain that all information is factually correct, comprehensive, and up-to-date. However, this article should not be used as a substitute for the knowledge and expertise of a licensed healthcare professional.
These lists do not include all possible side effects. For more information on the possible side effects of Femara, 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. Femara may cause reduced bone mineral density weakened bones in some people. Estrogen helps to keep your bones strong. But after menopause, your estrogen levels fall, which can weaken your bones. And because Femara also lowers your estrogen level, the drug can add to this effect.
This increases your risk of breaking a bone during Femara treatment. This allows them to monitor how strong your bones are.
If your bones become weak during treatment, your doctor may prescribe medication for you to help strengthen your bones. As with most drugs, some people can have an allergic reaction after taking Femara.
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 Femara.
For some people, Femara may cause fatigue lack of energy or dizziness. And talk with your doctor about ways to help improve your energy level during treatment. During clinical studies , both weight gain and weight loss were reported in women who took Femara for breast cancer treatment.
Both cancer and cancer treatments can often cause changes in appetite and body weight. In this case, stopping Femara can sometimes improve your breast cancer, rather than causing side effects. If your doctor thinks Femara has stopped working for you, talk with them about whether stopping treatment could be beneficial for you. But sometimes Femara is used off-label for other conditions. Femara is used off-label to treat infertility in women. The most common cause of ovulation problems that result in infertility is polycystic ovary syndrome PCOS.
In all of these cases, Femara is used to treat infertility by inducing causing ovulation. Doing this temporarily lowers your estrogen level. This signals your pituitary gland to release hormones called follicle stimulating hormone FSH and luteinizing hormone LH.
These hormones stimulate an egg in your ovary to mature and be released from your ovary. This is how Femara causes ovulation. This use of the drug is called ovulation induction. This condition is called controlled ovarian hyperstimulation, or superovulation. But actual success rates of Femara for achieving pregnancy or having live births depend on many factors. These include:. If you have questions or concerns about using Femara for infertility, talk with your doctor.
International guidelines recommend letrozole the active drug in Femara as an effective drug for inducing ovulation. The usual dosage of Femara for inducing ovulation is 2. Your doctor may ask you to start taking the drug either on day 3 or day 5 of your menstrual cycle.
Day 1 of your menstrual cycle is the first day of your period. Sometimes your doctor may recommend that you take a higher dosage of Femara, such as 5 mg or 7. One study looked at using doses higher than the current standard dose to treat infertility. But more research is needed to know whether higher doses of Femara are more effective than lower doses. Examples of both mild and serious side effects that can occur when using Femara for infertility include:.
Your doctor might ask you to take Femara on either cycle days 3 to 7 or cycle days 5 to 9. Day 1 of your menstrual cycle is the first of your period. Be sure to always take Femara exactly as your doctor recommends. You can take Femara at any time of day. Femara contains the active drug letrozole, while Clomid contains the active drug clomiphene.
Clomid has been discontinued, but generic versions of clomiphene are still available. Femara and clomiphene are both used to induce cause ovulation in women who are having trouble becoming pregnant. For these women, infertility may be caused by problems with ovulation, or it may not have an obvious cause called unexplained infertility. Femara is used off-label for this purpose. However, clomiphene is FDA-approved for treating infertility in women.
Femara and clomiphene work in slightly different ways in your body to induce ovulation. But both drugs are usually taken for 5 days at the start of your menstrual cycle. Whether Femara or clomiphene is more effective for you may depend on the cause of your infertility. But studies comparing the two drugs have found slightly differing results. A study found Femara to be more effective than clomiphene in treating infertility in women with PCOS.
A review of studies also found Femara to be more effective than clomiphene in treating infertility in women with PCOS. Another review of studies found Femara and clomiphene to be similarly effective in treating unexplained infertility. Many drugs are available to treat infertility. Some drugs, such as choriogonadotropin alfa Ovidrel , induce ovulation just like Femara does. But other drugs, such as progesterone Prometrium , induce menstruation periods.
And there are other drugs used to treat infertility that do other things in your body. Hormone therapies stop estrogen from encouraging breast cancer cells to grow.
It works by stopping an enzyme type of protein called aromatase from working as usual. Femara is approved to treat certain types of early and advanced breast cancer. With advanced breast cancer, the cancer has spread to nearby areas or lymph nodes called locally advanced breast cancer , or it has spread to other parts of the body called metastatic breast cancer.
Femara has been found to be effective in treating advanced breast cancer. Talk with your doctor about how long you should take Femara for adjuvant treatment of breast cancer. Your doctor will help you to weigh potential risks and benefits of taking Femara for a long period of time. Risks of extended treatment to consider may include weakening of your bones or raised cholesterol levels. When letrozole is given 6.
How long will I have to take it? Taking letrozole with other drugs. Letrozole is a drug used to treat breast cancer in women who have gone through the menopause. You may also hear it called Femara, which is its best-known brand name.
There are a number of other brands of letrozole, all of which contain the same dose of the drug. Men with breast cancer may be given letrozole, although another drug called tamoxifen is more commonly used.
Some breast cancers are stimulated to grow by the hormone oestrogen. Letrozole belongs to a group of drugs called aromatase inhibitors. Letrozole is suitable for women who have been through the menopause and whose breast cancer is oestrogen receptor positive. Find out more about the side effects of letrozole. Letrozole is usually given after surgery to reduce the risk of breast cancer coming back or spreading.
Letrozole can also be used to treat breast cancer that has come back recurrence.
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