Heart burn and back pain from chemo??

LNBCA

My mom had her last AC treatment last Wed., and she has gotten really bad heart burn from it throughout all of her treatments, even the Nexium doesn't get rid of it sometimes. Last  night she got really bad heartburn again, and had a horrible pain in her back. This has happened once before, (the pain in her back), but last night was the worst. Has this happened to anyone else, and what did you do to alleviate the pain/heartburn? Thank you so much!

Babs37

Does she have gallstones? I have gallbladder stones and when they are acting up the pain does radiate to my back, between my shoulders and in the "pit" in the middle just under the breasts. When I had digestive problems and heartburn because of AC and Taxol chemos or for me it was worse during rads, the gallstones acted up and caused pain in my back. 

Babs37

Just to add that years ago, before being diagnosed with gallstones by US, my doctor put me on Nexium hoping it would help with my pain but it didn't do nothing for me. If she doesn't know, maybe she could ask for an abdominal US. Just saying...…

LNBCA

Thank you for replying Babs. I remember quite a few years ago she had an attack with her gallbladder, they could never find any stones, but said she had "sludge" in her gallbladder. I wonder if that sludge has turned to stones now? She had an US a little less than a year ago and was diagnosed with Diverticulosis, I don't believe they found any glallstones. I looked up some info on having back pain with severe heartburn, and this is one of the articles I read: (for anyone wondering about this same issue)

One reason that heartburn and back pain are linked may be due to the location of the pain. Most people that suffer from severe heartburn may report back pain as well. The reason for this is that severe symptoms are caused by more stomach acids flowing back up the esophagus than in the case of mild heartburn. With severe symptoms, the pain is often so intense, it has nowhere to go but to radiate to the back. This gives the sufferer not just one, but two pain experiences to have to handle. When heartburn is this severe, there is no question as to whether or not the back pain is linked to the primary problem.

kane744

My first BC experience, I had such bad heartburn I thought I was having a heart attack.  Never experienced heartburn before.  Was rolling around on the floor in such agony.  Out of desperation, my DH gave me two GasX and it went away almost immediately! Funny (or not) before my first chemo, they sent me home with prescriptions covering practically every side affect there was, but nothing for that.  So, try GasX and see what happens.  Anyway, now I'm into my second breast cancer battle.  Other breast but TN in this one as well.  Am having a BMX with no recon. Treatment will be the same except I may be able to dodge rads if nodes turn out clean.  Hope your mom gets through it all with no more problems.

ali68

I got very bad heartburn the only thing that helped was eating crackers every hour.

LNBCA

Thank you for your replies!

Kane744-this is also my mom's second triple negative diagnosis. First time was in 2006, all has been fine until this last March, triple negative again, stage 1 again, opposite breast. She never had such bad side effects from her first chemo, as the oncologist she had then gave her a much less stronger type of chemo, (not sure what kind she had). Funny you mentioned the Gas X, she said she took one of the strips and it went away.

I keep wondering why she didn't have this type of chemo in 06 (dose dense AC, then Taxol). But then I wonder why they aren't giving her the same chemo she had the last time. It seemed to work, and she was hardly down at all, it just made her a little tired. I guess different oncologists make different decisions.

njprn

I had horrible indigestion with chemo. Nexium 2x day gave some help. Is your mom taking dexamethazone? Steroids have lots of GI upset. A chemo nurse suggested that could be part of my problem so I stopped the dex after chemo. She warned the nausea could be worse so to I took my chances with the compazine and zofran as needed. Don't let yourself get hungry ( much worse), crackers all the time. and ginger in any form tea, candy, gingerale, raw etc. I felt ssooo much better off the dex!! Hope this helps! Good Luck!!

PS I also had back pain. I used a back brace and massage chair which helped alot. Meds are ok but I tried to add as few more chemicals as I had to, esp ones that involve the liver like Tylenol, Advil etc.

LNBCA

Yes, she is also on the steroids, and she does let herself get hungry, especially that night she had that horrible episode. She was feeling pretty lousy all day and didn't have much of an appetite, and this bad episode happened at night. Thanks for the tips!

KELL414240

Don't know if this helps but the steriods did that to me. Is she having sterioids with her treatment? If so, maybe they can cut back for her. After the first treatment, and they realized that I wasn't going to have a reaction, they did decrease them both with the AC treatment and with the Taxol later. I do really think it has something to do with the gallbladder as well as I have had that same feeling a few weeks after my mastectomy and they did CT scan and I had an inflamed gall bladder duct and they felt like it was sludge or a small stone. It really kept me from recovering from the mastectomy. I felt like I couldn't breath without pain shooting up my back. Do take nexium or something as it does help. It may not completely make it go away but can make it tolerable. Good luck to you!!!