WHY would I put myself through this?

I think she has been getting herceptin while on the taxotere, so that it good. They are doing studies in Europe that address length of time for herceptin, including much shorter. Who knows...maybe a couple months will turn out to be enough.



TLG...are you sure that weight gain isnt related to the anti depressant you are taking? That is a side effect of many of them. If you are clinica,ly depressed, would you give up that because you are worried about gaining weight? Same principle, I guess.



As the others said, herceptin is totally managable. I havent gained weight...didnt realize that was a side effect. I am mildly tired about a day after infusion, and it isnt a big deal. Runny nose...yes. Nails are thin, but look fine, knock on wood. I have three infusions to go.



My biggest side effects are weaning myself off my anti-anxiety drug, Pristiq. I started on cymbalta for panic disorder, which I loved, but cant take it with tamoxifen. Was switched to pristiq for hot flashes for 6 months and it did very little. Getting off that has been terrible.



Tamoxifen....Im not crazy about it. Some joint aches and I constantly worry about blood clots. Other than mentally worrying about it, however, it isnt awful. Exercise actually helps a lot.
You will learn to live with whatever decision you make and hopefully it will all work out well.

I second that Omaz!

My oncologist actually said many ladies think the Cold Caps would be too much work.  The whole BC thing is "too much work."  Anything that would help me to feel better about myself during treatment would be worth the effort, IMO.

TheLadyGrey I'm truly sorry that you're feeling so terrible right now. Chemo is just miserable for some of us-I had an awful time with SEs. By the end of TC #6 I had gained 12 pounds in spite of horrible GI issues and not eating much. My abdomen was bloated and my legs felt so heavy and painful that it was an effort to go up one flight of steps in my house. I believe it was a combination of anemia, Taxotere SEs and overall steroid SEs. Add to that that I was exhausted/fatigued and emotionally wrung out.

So much of what you say resonates. I was so angry when people essentially told me how to feel by virtue of their comments. I also now feel in retrospect that during my last year of treatment a lot of information was withheld from me and that many times my concerns were minimized. Not one single provider ever told me about potential sexual side effects. I came out of the haze of chemo and was shocked that sex was now painful and my libido was gone too at age 42. A year later, it's no better. Shortly after chemo ended, I tried to bring up the subject with my MO and just got the "oh it's menopause...it should improve with time...blah, blah, blah". To sum it up, I was angry and physically and emotionally wrecked at the end of chemo.

I just finished the year of Herceptin and found it to be very tolerable. I'm glad that you are open to the possibility of taking a break and resuming Herceptin later if necessary. I think you'll find that you can make a better decision when you are no longer in the grips of chemo. And by the way, you are most certainly strong enough to go through more. The only reason you feel like you've reached your limit is because chemo has taken so much from you. But you are done with chemo and you are going to start regaining your strength, physically and emotionally. Take the time to regroup and get the rest you need and you'll be back in fighting form before you know it.

Gray Lady, I had my first infustion today without chemo. It's going to be interesting to see what herceptin does without chemo in regard to side effects.

I was very impressed with the infusion room and the nurses are so nice. I was there over 6 hours. Every time I had a side effect they stopped the infusion to let my body adapt. I learned that the first infusion is a double wammy. All the others are half what you get the first time.

The side effects first were a cold wave running throughout my veins...especially in my legs.

Second side effect...a headache...first around the sinus cavity and later it worsen.

Heart rate went way up.

Light headed (probably due to the bendryl)

Slight itchy.

Shivers.

Sick to my stomach, nausea, and feeling like I was getting the flu.

For the side effects:

I was given first tylenol

Second, meds for nausea.

Third, benadyrl...

Fourth steriods.

Tonight I am exhausted...mostly because I didn't sleep much last night....only 1 hour. I still feel cold, and a headache. I hope I'm better tomorrow as I have to teach which means standing on my feet all day.

With all that said, it wasn't all that bad. The nurses were kind, attentive, and caucious. I saw my oncologist today at least 4 times. I also learned that the first infusion is the worse. They said the next herceptin infusions should be a piece of cake.

It's good to see what side effects can be without the chemo drug. When we take more than one drug it can be confusing which drug causes what side effects. 

 You were very sensitive to the drugs.  If I react as you did, I might make the same decision. Since, I'm not doing chemo the nurses said it won't be that bad. Hope they are right.

Tlg-i can't remember what anti-depressants you were on, but I hope you didn't quit them cold turkey. I was o. The lowest dose of pristiq and you arent supposed to cut them in half, so I weaned off by days. Finally jst had to stop and it was awful. Worse than chemo.



I think m onc thought I was nuts at my last infusion as I was telling him how terrible I felt...nausea....headache....tired....he was baffled trying to figure out what was going on as I hadnt had much problem with herceptin. It suddenly dawned on me to tell him I had quit Pristiq totally. He pulled up the SEs and I had them all. Still have a few, like the brain zaps, but That is wose at night and getting better.

LadyGrey~

Are you having shedding or major clumps coming out?  Mine did level off from the shedding when I finished chemo.  Have you increased your iron as this seems to help with the shedding?  Let us know how you are doing.

Hugs.

Hugs 2 u TLG!!!!  And I SO get the venting!  love this site and all my bc sistas!

Tlg....didn't do the cold caps, but most of my shedding happened 2-3 weeks in, then slowed considerably, so I kept just enough hair through most of chemo, along with all eyelashes and eyebrows. Then....three weeks after chemo ended, I shed most of the remainder, eyelashes and eyebrows fell out. There were new ones coming in tho, so it didn't last too long, and my wig had long bangs fortunately so no one really noticed.

i too gained flab around the middle without gaining weight. Mine is upper middle. It is very frustrating. I think it is a combo ofbeing thrown into menopause from chemo, and taking tamoxifen.

Alice, perhaps some find our posts interesting because we challenge the status que. Gray Lady is braver than I to at least try conventional meds. I've had too many bad experience with drugs to take the leap. I've had a bad reaction to herceptin being one of those whose heart is effected. To continue the treatment, I'm doing slow and weekly infusions. I'm hoping this helps. I'm now under the care of a cardio specialist.

Right now, I have the flu. I haven't been had a virus like this in several years. It's gone into my chest so I'm not doing too good. Yuk! I also have a runny nose. I feel bad for all the women who take herceptin who deal with a runny nose.

Lady Gray, chea seeds help hair growth. It's helped mine. A good friend who could hardly walk, who had bone on bone took chea seeds. She now runs 2 to 3 miles a day without pain.

OBXK...sometimes the treatment is the gun.

Ang7,

I don't speak for eve.

There is a natural tendency for people with cancer to desperately want a treatment to absolutely provide some benefit, enough that they decide to do it. But with early stage breast cancer, for the majority some treatments provide no benefit, and/or cause damage. So even though many people are terrified by the possibility that the cancer can come back and may think that treatment is always worth the risk because medical people recommend it, it still may not be a good choice.

AlaskaAngel

Hi Evebarry and Lady Grey

I guess the reason why both your posts resonated with me so much is that I've also been wondering re the potential benefits re the potential challenges of chemo.

You have both managed to express the fear re chemotherapy and I thank you so much for that. So well articulated...

Eve: I did read about your fears re your heart...understandable!

Lady Grey: Thank you for your comments...You are not alone.

Alaska Angel: Kudos to you re surving 12 years at least. I take your point that there are no certainties and watch your posts - and particularly your signature re your diet - with interest. Maybe vegan is the way to go!

Who knows which element of the treatment plan is helping us - surgery, cheomo, immunotherapy, radiatio - but combined with a healthy diet and reduced chemical load, it's the best we've got in my humble opinion.

Actually, we're not doing too badly:

http://www.umm.edu/patiented/articles/how_serious_breast_cancer_000006_6.htm

With love

Alice