Short of Breath Fast heart rate third week of Rads

pat1154

Good morning to all!!

 I've been on this site since april and received so much help from all of you while undergoing  2 surgeries for DCIS. I'm once again in need of help,began Rads 3 weeks ago,first 2 weeks went just fine,but now I am having shortness of breath and fast heart rate every day for last 5 days within an hr. from rads.dr order a Ct of chest and all is OK,never had this happen to me before,until last week I walked 2 miles 3 days a week now just a few steps and I'm out of breath. Anyone experienced this sympts.?I'm thinking of stopping rads. can't handle much more.Thank you all so much.

squidwitch42

Hi Pat,

I can only tell you what happened to me, and I had three separate incidents where I had arrythmia during rads. My beats were off every third beat. It was something noticable, and also gave me a cough reflex. I should have gone to the ER where they would have put me on telemetry.  It lasted that long. 

During rads had extreme fatigue set in, added on top of my chemo fatigue. (I also started back to work part time, so not sure if that was the reason for the extra fatigue.) I then started having shortness of breath AFTER my rads, episodic.

Now my thyroid is wacked, and my labs finally showed this last week.  They were fine before Rads, and the TSH is close to 12 now. (T3 T4 not done.) I have a history of hypothyroidism, and already was on synthroid.  I am a very "sensitive" person, where anything that's even a little bit off, such as lab work, I will feel in spades.

My shortness of breath is also related to changes in temperature, and I would get short of breath in the shower, when I got in it.  This is a symptom I had years ago before they diagnosed my thyroid issue, which falls under intolerance to heat. So those were  some of my symtpoms. Were they my thyroid? I also have pleural thickening in my lung now...so hard to tease out the source.

A few questions to ask:

How fast is your heart rate?  Is it regular?  If there are beats that come too early, is there a pattern?  (example normal beat, normal beat, early beat, normal beat normal beat, early beat.) Is there anything that initiates it (getting up,) or does it happen at rest.  If you coughed, would it "reset" back to normal?  How long is the duration?  any caffeine, nicotine right before?

Have they referred you to a cardiologist?  Have they suggested having 24 hour telemetry (you can be at home for this, just a little device you can put in your pocket, with the leads attatched to your chest.) 

and finally   I would hang see if your MD is willing to get and EKG, and have you wait in their waiting room for an hour after Rads OR go over to hospitals gift shop, and when it sets in, go to the E.R. and have them capture this on telemetry and an EKG.

I hope this helped,

Traci

pat1154

hi and thank you for your reply.

I spoke with oncologist last Tue and told him of my synpts, didn't seem too concerned and just told me to speak  with pcp,who suggested I talk to my cardiologist(history of mitral  valve regurge and prolapse been on meds for 14 years) medications had completely eliminated symptoms,I'm certain Rads are causing them to come back,meds do not seem to be effective in the last five days.I'm taking your advice and will request testing,mean while waiting to hear from cardiologist.Thank you again and will keep you posted.Hope all is well with you.

squidwitch42

you are so welcome.  I think we have to advocate for ourselves, and I started my symptoms during Rads too.  So we fall out of the box....but you know yourself best. Wishing out cessation of symptoms and a good cardiology appointment. Please do keep us posted.

traci

Julie50

Funny you brought this up...my 3rd week I stared with this Cough and Shortness of breath which I still have, Red Onco said, to see my GP.  I saw my Onco and he ordered a x-ray of the lungs all AOK.  Saw my heart Dr. Had a CT of the heart OK...I think its the Rad no matter what they say.

 My heart rate is always 100 or more since this...hummmmmmmmmmm

AsiaYM

My heart rate was always around 100 when I was on chemo but there were few days, my heart rate was very high.   Doc checked my blood, gave me magnesium drips and it went down after only 3 minutes.  Your electrolytes maybe off. 

pat1154

To all a Huge thank you for your support and advice. All test came up OK.The shortness of breath was caused by bronchitis, never had it before so didn't recognized the sympts.A round of antibiotics and inhaled solution took care of it. Now, just 2 more weeks of Rads then will put it all behind.. Best wishes to you all.

pattx77

Read this discussion a few weeks ago. You made me feel like I wasn't crazy because I kept complaining about shortness of breath and a heavy heart beat. My doctor said it could not be the radiation and I must have something else wrong. Never had heart problems my whole life. I almost didn't make it through the treatments and would have to take Fri or Monday off just to get my heart a break. I finally made it and it's been 4 days since my last radiation treatment. Today my heart finally feels more normal and the heavy pounding is not nearly as often. Talked to the very knowledgeable lady at my natural drs. office and she said the rads are very close to the thyroid gland which regulates your heart beat and yes it will effect it. I have hypothyroidism already so maybe this makes it a little more sensitive. She also said to take a high quality fish oil and it will build your red blood cells back up from the radiation. Hope this helps!

somanywomen

pattx77 and all.....Just a note since the thyroid is mentioned in these posts...I had seen on Dr. Oz recently that we should be asking for a "Thyroid Guard" when we get mammos and any dental work done...I had my one-year mammo/us (since dx) today and I asked for it and will also ask for it when I go to dentist..He had mentioned on the show that women who have had more dental work (with xrays) seemed to have higher incidences of thyroid cancer....I wish I had known this many years ago and before I had those 30 radiation treatments.....

pat1154

Hi there, sorry it took me a while to respond,just finished Rad yesterday (Friday) I don't remember if  I had mention the forceful and rapid heart rate in  one of my earlier posts but now that  you mentioned it,.this symptoms is the scariest and probably the cause,  or at least in part, of the SOB. I'm OK for the most part when at rest but, any activity now send my heart into a spin. I'm still short of breath,at this point I don't think at was bronchitis (dr treated me with Zpack),my ankles are also slightly swollen. Echo-gram turned out OK,.Oncologist however denies any relation to RADS,while my pcp is certain therapy caused all my problems. I just hope and pray to feel better soon, can't stand this "taking it easy any more".Thanks for listening and all advice.

squidwitch42

pattx77,

You know, you really do confirm my feelings that my thyroid took a hit. I'm not sure if my MD's would concur, but the symptoms were spot on for the thyroid (in restrospect) and my TSH went crazy, where they were fine before RADs. I am just luckly that I had the labs done at two different time points to use as evidence.

Pat1154...have you had any thyroid labs drawn to rule this out?

somany and all, oh how I wish I had asked for a thyroid guard. Hindsight....I have my ultrasound on Wednesday, so we will take a closer look. I'll let you all know if there is anything to report.