Anyone having this weird side effect?

catlady44

I finished my chemo on April 14 - 12 Taxols followed by 4 ACs. Periodically my hands will tingle, but I think that's pretty normal. The weird thing that keeps happening is that I'll just be doing whatever, when I get this rush of warmth and almost numbness take over my upper body, most noticeable in my hands, arms and face.. It almost always happens when I'm standing. It feels like my arms weigh a thousand pounds. I usually just stand there until it passes. I don't know if I'm borderline fainting, or just what is happening. I just wondered if anyone else had these side effects or knows anything about them.

Thx for any suggestions!

Spookiesmom

I don't know what this could be, call your PCP or MO ASAP and tell them.

Kicks

I second Spookiesmom - call your Dr.

vlnrph

Don't wait until next week - talk to someone on call tonight or go to urgent care. You may be aware that Adriamycin has toxic effects on the heart and women experience cardiac symptoms in ways different from men. I'm worried about you waiting to see what happens...

Beachbum1023

Call the Dr. please do not wait! I have a really hot flush that will happen and my face gets bright red and I have shortness of breath. Adriamycin affects the heart and best to go get checked out. I have reduced EF% from the chemo, so I have a new ECHO every 3 months and heart meds twice a day. NOT trying to scare you, but you should get checked ASAP. Everyone reacts differently to the AC, I just got the short straw!

catlady44

I talked to the doc and he said it's just the chemo working out of my system. My echo was normal. Those last 4 treatments really wiped me out. It's hard to find anything that sounds good to eat, but I'm doing what I can. I suspect I'm dehydrated because I have a hard time keeping up on that. My chemo brain forgets to drink more water! I think I'll just be struggling with these side effects for a while. I have surgery June 5 so if it continues, I'll definitely be letting the surgeon know. She already has some tests I'll be getting to make sure I'm strong enough to have the surgery.

Thanks for all your responses!

PinchGrowInch

Agree with the 'get help now' advice!

Have you started hyperventilating without noticing it's happening? Worth watching for it.

Good luck!!

catlady44

I don't know if you're alluding to panic attacks but I'm familiar with those and know which symptoms to look for. I'm not hyperventilating or anything. I'm having trouble with dehydration right now. In the morning my pulse as gotten up to 130, but by the evening it's normal. I talked to the doc and he said it's most likely dehydration and told me the other symptoms to watch for that could indicate a bigger problem. I had lab work on Friday that will hopefully show if this is a more severe kind of dehydration that just drinking alone will help. I'm keeping a close eye on my vitals and I'm going to be calling the surgeon to give them a head's up on what's been happening. I know heart or bp issues can seriously effect anesthesia risk. My docs always encourage me to call whenever I have any worrisome symptoms. They said the last thing I need right now is stress or anxiety it's always better to call than worry. Last time I saw my onc I apologized for all my overeacting and said I just found all this to be so scary. He said it's no bother at all and cancer is a scary thing to go through. I am SO lucky to have these docs! Actually the whole staff has been incredible and thank God for that. This is hard enough without dealing with a bunch of aholes!

NATSGSG

Hello:

There's another method of cancer treatment called IMMUNOTHERAPY, besides chemo and radio therapy. If you are interested in reading more about this method of treatment, here are several links for more information. It seems there are fewer side effects from this type of therapy:

(1) This article discusses the progression of using immunotherapy in breast cancer treatment:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3587160/

(2) This article talks about combining immunotherapy with other therapies for better cancer treatment outcomes;

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3608094/

(3) This article talks about combining chemotherapy with immunotherapy aka chemoimmunotherapy:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2919833/

(4) Below link discusses using our own immune system to treat cancer:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3587160/

(5) This link talks about how immunotherapy can impact how cancer is being treated:

http://www.cancerresearch.org/cancer-immunotherapy/impacting-all-cancers/breast-cancer

gulyssa

I also had AC & T and got the tingling which was explained to me as neuropathy I was prescribed neurontin.
as far as the warmth feeling, I get warmth on my chest up including my arms feels like I'm heating from the inside out makes me very dizzy. I was told its chemo induced menopause.

I hope this helps!

catlady44

Chemo induced menopause sounds about right for me. I'm 44 and was already premenopausal before cancer so I have a feeling I'm full blown menopausal now. I'm glad to not deal with periods anymore, but wow these hotflashes are intense! My last chemo was April 14 and my hair is growing back quickly, my skin isn't as yellow, but not one thing has changed as far as my lady parts go. Not even the slightest discharge and I've always had a lot of discharge (sorry if that's TMI). The docs sort of seemed surprised when I told them I wasn't menstruating yet, but they weren't alarmed by it. I'm always saying, There is not one part of my body that hasn't been messed up from chemo!