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Edwin's avatar

Anastrozole – Here we go again

Dr Vernon Coleman

Over a couple of decades ago there was a plan to give a drug called tamoxifen to every adult woman in Britain. The idea was that the drug would stop women developing breast cancer.

Now, tamoxifen can be a very useful drug.

If a woman has a hormone responsive caner, tamoxifen is a powerful treatment. (My wife has breast cancer and takes tamoxifen every day. You can rest assured that before she started taking it we weighed up the pros and cons very carefully. For the record, we decided that anastrozole was rather too risky. And Antoinette has breast cancer and would have taken the drug as a treatment.)

But, as with all prescription drugs, there are risks and tamoxifen has a number of side effects. It can actually cause other types of cancer. And when the plan to give tamoxifen to millions of women was first publicised, I fought a very successful single-handed campaign to stop the mass medication of women. (In those days I was writing five weekly columns, including one in The Sun newspaper, and regularly making TV and radio programmes.)

Here’s how I summarised my thoughts in my book `How to stop your doctor killing you’ (which was first published in 1996):

`I was astonished and horrified when drug companies and doctors conspired to persuade completely healthy women to take a drug (tamoxifen) in order to try to prevent breast cancer despite the fact that it is known that the drug can cause cancer of the uterus.’

Now, there is a plan to give a drug called anastrozole to hundreds of thousands of women `to stop them getting breast cancer’.

The mainstream media has been endlessly enthusiastic.

However, I haven’t seen much space given to the side effects known to be associated with this drug.

Probably the biggest problem is the reduction in bone density which can occur with the dosage given to women with breast cancer. You can probably imagine the problems which can occur with bone loss. For this reason, women given anastrozole for breast cancer are usually advised to have regular checks.

But that’s not the only problem.

Here’s a partial list of some of the side effects known to be linked to anastrozole. Naturally not all women will get all these side effects. Some may not get any of them. But, remember, the plan is to give this drug to healthy women.

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Edwin's avatar

Commonest side effects include:

Blurred vision

Bone pain

Chest pain

Dizziness

Headache

Nervousness

Pounding in the ears

Slow or fast heartbeat

Swelling of the feet or lower legs

Less common side effects include:

Arm, back or jaw pain

Chest tightness

Chills

Cough

Difficult or painful urination

Difficulty breathing

Dizziness, severe

Fever

Headaches which continue

Hoarseness

Hot flushes

Increased blood pressure

Lower back or side pain

Nausea

Pain, tenderness or bluish colour of foot or leg

Sore throat

Sweating

Unusual drowsiness, dullness, tiredness, weakness or feeling of sluggishness

Vaginal bleeding (unexpected and heavy)

And other possible side effects may include

Blistering or peeling of the skin

Confusion

Constipation

Dark urine

Depression

Diarrhoea

Difficulty in swallowing

Dry mouth

General tiredness

Incoherent speech

Increased urination

Itching, skin rash and hive-like swelling on the body

Joint or muscle pain

Light coloured stools

Loss of appetite

Metallic taste

Muscle weakness

Puffiness or swelling around the eyes

Red skin lesions

Red, irritated eyes

Sores, ulcers and spots in the mouth or on the lips

Stomach pain

Thirst

Upper right abdominal pain

Vomiting

Weight loss

Yellow eyes and skin

It would be nice to see doctors in the mainstream media discussing these problems and pointing it out that it isn’t necessarily a brilliant idea to give a powerful drug to huge numbers of healthy women who have nothing wrong with them. (The same concern covers other prescription drugs – such as anything prescribed for the overweight.)

But that’s not going to happen, is it? And I have no doubt that drug companies will be relieved to know that I am still completely banned from all mainstream media and from all social media.

Maybe readers will encourage their friends and neighbours to visit this site and read this article. I would then suggest that women might like to mention the article to their GP or to any media doctor. For the record, the list of side effects I’ve given above is a generally accepted list. Just search the internet if you don’t believe me.

Vernon Coleman’s international bestselling book `How to stop your doctor killing you’ is available via the bookshop on www.vernoncoleman.com

Just go to the section headed `Health books’.

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Lynn's avatar

Was there any side effects left out? Unbelievable.

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Thomas A Braun RPh's avatar

What the Medicine man avoids doing is testing for Vitamin D deficiency in women diagnosed with breast cancer. If they did, they would find a positive correlation between Vitamin D blood deficiency below 50 ng's and the diagnosis of breast cancer. Oops. No need to push Tamoxifen. No money to made here. Same with Covid con. Avoid side effects of RNA injections by treating with simple drugs such as HCQ and Ivermectin and key nutrients including Vitamin D. Discrediting HCQ and Ivermectin was absolutely needed to codify RNA injection money making con as the way to fight the virus.

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