I have been taking arimidex for almost 2 years. I have the most excruciating joint pain , every joint in my body is painful, worse at night when trying to sleep.For the last 2 months I have constant pain in my right knee making walking difficult. I have been told that I have no alternative but to continue to take the tablets! 
:cry:
I took Arimidex for over 2 years and suffered with the same joint pains as you, sometimes excruciating!! The hospital changed me onto Aromasin (exemestane) which is a similar drug. I have been taking these for 18 months, still have some joint pain but nowhere near as bad as when on Arimidex.
Hope this helps. Good luck
I was started on Levesterole and really couldn't tolerate it at all. Really bad aches and pains but the worst was the loss of any kind of functioning brain! One morning I couldn't remember how to switch on the TV. I was changed to Anastrozole (the generic version) and it's a lot better but still there. Different tablets have different side effects for different people. I don't agree that you don't have a choice. You always have a choice - if you chose to go for a better quality of life over a higher chance of a recurrence, you would have that right.
Hi I took Arimadex for about 18 months and thought I was going to die from pain. Every joint in my body felt as though I was being stabbed over and over again. It got so bad I couldn't walk and told my oncologist I would rather die from a further bout of cancer than carry on taking them. He changed my prescription to Exemestane and wow what a difference - it took about 6 days before I began to feel like I was a normal woman again. I have been taking them now for 3 years and have had no problems with them at all. I hope you can sort this out and can't understand why they haven't offered you an alternative.