Herceptin?

Options
vanlex
vanlex Member Posts: 121
edited June 2014 in Managing Side Effects of Breast Cancer and Its Treatment

Hello ladies,

I am over the hump of TCH and now just have Herceptin....Problem is, herceptin makes me feel wonky!  I get queasy and just generally feel like crap the days of the herceptin infusions.  Anyone else experience this?  My onc has been giving my steroids to deal with it, but I want off of the steroids so I can try to lose the weight that I have gained with chemo.

· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • marjie
    marjie Member Posts: 1,134
    edited April 2012

    I was similar, but never took anything for it.  They would give me tylenol just prior to my Herceptin tx and I was usually pretty sleepy, achy and wiped for a day or two....but I could still function.  I noticed headaches, and some jaw pain/tooth sensitivity too, but not all the time.

    By the end of my Herceptin treatment, it really only made me very tired and a bit achy for a few days...almost like I was coming down with something.  I think the more extreme symptons that I first attributed to Herceptin were actually the remnants of taxotere.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • sewingnut
    sewingnut Member Posts: 1,129
    edited April 2012

    In the beginning of Herceptin alone the infusion was 30 minutes. At the advice of these ladies here I asked for a longer run time. The achy side effects were less when run over an hour time. I also had a queasy stomach but prilosec took care of that.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • MizMarie
    MizMarie Member Posts: 332
    edited April 2012

    I've been receiving Herceptin on the "90 minute plan".  I found that with Herceptin only, I have much more joint pain.  I assume it's because I don't have the steroid buffer that I did during chemo, and the pain does diminish after the first week.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • SpecialK
    SpecialK Member Posts: 16,486
    edited April 2012

    The longer I was on Herceptin alone I also had a headache that never really went away.  Once Herceptin was done it did go away, but it took about a month.  It was kind of low grade - not the kind of headache you would immediately jump up and take something for.  I also had the achy back/hips/legs which was a combinatin of Herceptin and Femara.  I took a brief Femara vacation due to a surgery and once I went back on it a week after surgery the aching was nowhere as bad - it seemed to coincide with being off Herceptin long enough for that SE to disappear.  I also did the 90 minute infusion and found it helpful - my first H only was 30 minutes, and my hips hurt so much I couldn't sleep!  That had never happened with any of the 6 previous tx, and during those my H was 90 minutes.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories