Up to you, Elaine - you need to balance your quality of life vs. reduced risk of recurrence. Will stopping after 3 years, rather than going the full 5, increase your risk of recurrence? Probably. By how much? Maybe not much... and your risk might already be quite low.

Ask your oncologist to explain what your absolute risk was when you started Arimidex; and what it's predicted to be at the end of the 5 years. If your risk of recurrence to begin with was 6%, and the Arimidex brings it down to 3% after 5 years, then what is it after 3 years? Somewhere between 6% and 3%? If you're suffering with tough side effects, the extra percentage point or so of gain probably isn't worth it, right?

As I said - it's up to you. Your body, your risk, your decision. No one can force you to take drugs that are really affecting you badly. Best of luck - PJH