It is a common fact that treating breast cancer is a difficult journey that women take to rid themselves of the disease. However, getting to the light at the end of the tunnel and kicking cancer to the curb can be even harder because of the medications that women take.

Aromatase inhibitors, a drug that stops the production of estrogen for those whose breast cancer cells are stimulated by it, is commonly prescribed to postmenopausal women to treat cancer. But a study has shown that these type of drugs have numerous, troubling side effects that makes women quit them, risking the return of cancer.

According to Lynne Wagner, lead investigator and associate professor in medical social science at Northwest University Feinberg School of Medicine and clinical psychologist at Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, symptoms from the drugs most likely cause women to stop using them.

The number one reason why women stop using the drug was because of joint pains, but aside from this, aromatase inhibitors have other side effects like hot flashes, decreased libido, weight gain, feeling bloated, breast sensitivity, mood swings, irritability, and nausea.

In the study, after surveying 686 women, researchers found that after three months of treatment, 33% to 35% of women had sever joint pains, 28% to 29% had hot flashes, 24% had decreased libido, 15% to 24% had fatigue 16% to 17% had night sweats, and 14% to 17% had anxiety. Researchers noted that these percentages increased as women were on treatment longer.

Because of these side effects, 36% of women ended treatment early at an average of 4.1 years, and that just after two years, 10% had quit, while the others quit between 25 months and the 4.1 years.

In another study on the subject, Lisa Gallicchio, PhD, from the Prevention and Research Center at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, compared those taking aromatase inhibitors to those who did not, reported MedScape.com.

In Galliccio's study, she found that those taking inhibitors were 5 times more likely to report having hot flashes, breast sensitivity, and chest pain than healthy women; 4 times more likely to report night sweats, cold sweats, and hair loss; and about 3 times more likely to report leg cramps, weight gain, sleep disturbance, tendency to take naps, and forgetfulness.

However, aromatase inhibitors with all of its side effects, is better than taking tamoxifen, a drug that interferes with the activity of estrogen, according to BreastCancer.org.

Findings show that aromatase inhibitors are the best hormonal therapy to start with, and that it has more benefits and fewer serious side effects than tamoxifen. In fact, switching to inhibitors midway in the five years of hormonal therapy offers more benefits than five years of tamoxifen.