Hi Melanie: I think you might just sail through the AIs; not every woman has the joint/bone pain side effects, and since you're already on pain meds, you might not even notice if you do. Personally, I'm on Arimidex, and have SOME pain, but not a lot. Exercise totally helps. Hot flashes aren't any worse than they were with tamoxifen. Weight gain is LESS than with tamoxifen. The main issue for most women is loss of bone density, which is pretty much a given. So I think that should be one of your main questions to the doc next week: get a baseline DXA scan, and make sure you pay attention to how much calcium/vitamin D you're getting. You'll need to take care of your bones. Congrats on the clear nodes, though - hope you don't have to do chemo! Good luck - PJH