Chemo and Heart Failure

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lexie2002
lexie2002 Member Posts: 147
edited April 2019 in Chemotherapy - Before, During, and After

I'm sorry, I tried asking a question regarding this and I don't think I was suppose to put it where I put it ? :(

I am lousy at using these boards....

I just was told that the chemo I was on damaged my heart function. They are calling

it heart failure and I am so worried, AGAIN. :( I'd love to hear from women who have experienced the same situation? I've been having

echos for years because I have an issue with my valve but on this echo it showed decreased heart function. I've been consumed with worrying about recurrence and now this?

HELP...

Lexie2002

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  • Numb
    Numb Member Posts: 432
    edited April 2016

    I can't really offer you any advice lexie but I am on the same chemo as you and I did notice increased pressure on my heart since I started, however, I spent a day in the hospital during the week getting an ECG, Chest X-ray and MRI and was just told that this is all just part of the chemo side effects.  I sure hope this doesn't get worse with the next 3 infusions. 

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  • lexie2002
    lexie2002 Member Posts: 147
    edited April 2016

    Thanks Numb for your response.

    I've been told chemo (especially the one I took) can cause heart problems. Sometimes it doesn't happen right away.

    It's hard to believe how many things we have to go thru after the fact......

    I have learned it's really important to tell other women to check their hearts. Did you have an echo before chemo? If there is a problem they

    can start women on heart meds.

    I know there's gotta be other women out there who could share their experience... Don't get many responses to my questions... Go figure

    HUGS,

    Lexie

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  • Artista928
    Artista928 Member Posts: 2,753
    edited April 2016

    Adriamycin can cause heart issues. My MO had me do an echo before starting it for 4 rounds (with cytoxin). Anyone who is going to do the AC regimine should have an echo done beforehand to make sure output is in good range, even if they feel healthy.

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  • reflect
    reflect Member Posts: 576
    edited April 2016

    I also had an echo before AC. I'm so sorry this has happened to you, and hope your docs can help. I worry about this too.

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  • msphil
    msphil Member Posts: 1,536
    edited April 2016

    hello sweetie i developed heart failure do to chemo but i think also from rads i had Lmast so rada over heart BUT im doin great had pacer put in 2007 then removed in 2009 and Icd implanted never had any trouble Praise God no ine believes me when i tell them i hear, You look great never would ve guess they say.now am a 22yr Survivor this yr. Praise God. msphil. idc stage 2 0\3 nodes chemo b4 and after L mast chemo rads n 5 yrs on tamoxifen.

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  • anotherNYCGirl
    anotherNYCGirl Member Posts: 1,033
    edited April 2016

    I was born with a heart murmur, and had an echo before starting AC/T. The results were unclear because of TE's that blurred the echo, but I was given the ok to get the treatment anyway because it is an important chemo. After the first dose I needed blood pressure meds, which I am still taking (although 1/2 as much as when I was undergoing treatrment.)

    I, too, worry about heart issues, but there wasnt much option for me.

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  • lexie2002
    lexie2002 Member Posts: 147
    edited April 2016

    I am so thrilled to see women adding to this discussion. Like I said, I haven't had too much luck getting responses.

    I was told during an employment physical that I had a heart murmur. Well, I was 19 and I didn't think anything of it. Over the years as I would

    see doctors for various reasons they started saying more and more about it. Like "did you know you had a strong heart murmur?" Later on they would

    say, did you know you had a BAD murmur? Then I started wondering what was going on. I did have issues later on, docs telling me that my valve had leakage. My goodness, I didn't haver a clue anything was really wrong. When it came to chemo the Oncology docs said that the reason Cardiologists don't like chemo is because it can damage your heart, and here I am today with a whole new problem. Being told a few weeks ago that my heart function has decreased was really a shock to me. I guess I shouldn't really have been surprised. I am choosing to think positive though and take it day by day. They want me to have an MRI on my heart now too. Yikes :(

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  • tessu
    tessu Member Posts: 1,564
    edited May 2016

    My heart function was unexplainably low-normal on the gamma scan just before starting chemo --- ejection fraction by private cardiologist ultrasound (US) had been great, about 70%, in 2012, but now by gamma scan only 55%. I visited the same cardiologist for US between taxotere/Herceptin and CEF --- same EF, nothing focally wrong with my heart to explain the drop; suspect damage from repeated bouts of my autoimmune vasculitis (although I've had no moreheart symptoms since the first time it hit). About 3 weeks pfc last January both gamma scan and US showed the same EF, and I started the every-three-weeks Herceptin shots. A control gamma scan the end of March showed the same EF --- which measures systolic function --- so I continued on Herceptin. However I got the full gamma scan results a week ago, and they show a definite drop in diastolic heart function to below normal. This is apparently an early sign of the kind of heart failure caused by chemo. The cancer doc had said my heart was still fine.

    So yes Herceptin is hurting my heart, although some of this could be a delayed effect of CEF chemo. Since I will be getting another heart check in June, and by ultrasound not gamma scan (because I now have an iv phobia and unashamedly begged), I'm going ask that hospital cardiologist if there is anything I can do to prevent more damage.

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  • tessu
    tessu Member Posts: 1,564
    edited May 2016

    lexie2002

    I hope the heart MRI can help your doctors figure out what's going on and fix it, or at least give you meds to control whatever symptoms you are having. (((hugs)))

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  • lexie2002
    lexie2002 Member Posts: 147
    edited May 2016

    Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm nervous about getting the MRI.... :( I know I have to do what they tell me though. I've been put on a few heart meds and I have been told they are trying to figure out the right dose. Some nurse calls me once a week. (sometimes it's annoying to me! LOL )

    I see you take Arimidex. I've been on that drug for I think 3 yrs now and the real thing that's depressing me is all the hair loss... My hair had finally grown back and things were going ok but after a bit I saw my hair start to thin and thin and thin.... Between the hair loss, constant sweating like a pig and being unable to lose weight very easily I hate this drug but at the same time I'm grateful that it was even an option. " I know I shouldn't really complain about the hair issue , but I do care about not having to look like I did when the cancer seemed to be starring me in the face everyday....."

    How are you doing on Arimidex?

    HUGS to you too tessu

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  • Houston2016
    Houston2016 Member Posts: 317
    edited May 2016

    Hi ladies, I too am worried about the heart failure with AC. I had an Echo test and no history of heart problems. After third infusion May 19 and Neulastin injection on May 20 I began to feel some chest pressure when laying flat, neck and shoulders aches, it was there in the first round. I want to ask my OC for TC on the fourth round because I don't want future heart damage.

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  • lexie2002
    lexie2002 Member Posts: 147
    edited May 2016

    Houston2016, I just got my MRI on my heart last week. Since they saw heart function decrease on my echo they wanted this MRI done. I've been on some heart medications (lisinopril and coreg) and the test didn't show any improvement yet... I sure hope it doesn't get much worse. The cardiology dept. checks in with me on a weekly basis. You are suppose to check your BP and weight everyday. These numbers tell them if you have any room for increasing the medications to help decrease the load on your heart when it pumps. I also saw my Oncologist last week and asked her about it. Well, she says it can happen from chemo but in her experience she only has a few women that ended up with heart damage. She told me also I think that 5 to 10% of breast cancers aren't caught on the mammogram. Well, mine was missed for 3 yrs and I ended up with heart damage too. Go figure...... :( I also want to stress that she also told me this is doable.... Keep a positive frame of mind regarding this and take one day at a time. Are you going to be taking Arimidex when your done with your infusions?

    HUGS

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  • Artista928
    Artista928 Member Posts: 2,753
    edited May 2016

    Houston, I had a scare 2 weeks ago when I developed shortness of breath and chest pain. First thing I thought, the adriamycin? rads? which I had 5 days of. Went to hospital and was tested/scanned for heart and lungs. Lower lobes of both lungs were partially collapsed and the echo and tests showed heart is ok. I have TEs so of course 2 of the pics couldn't be taken with these over the heart but card said ef is 70 and everything looks good.

    3 more days of rads and same symptoms were creeping up. Pcp said everything looks good. Too soon for it to be chemo and rads (finished chemo 3/28) and lungs sounds good so thinking now is muscle spasms in my chest. Got rx for flexeril and doing better. My problem too was I shallow breathe or stop breathing all together so I have the incentive spirometer and am cognizant of breathing. That was pain like no other so throughout all this madness, don't forget to breathe!

    Anyway, hope you feel better.

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  • Houston2016
    Houston2016 Member Posts: 317
    edited May 2016

    Hi Artista, no I don't have chest pain but just the affects of something on my chest, after the Neulasta, then the soreness around neck and shoulders couple of days after my IV. This is my third round AC and I want to switch to TC I really don't like the heart effects five or ten years later. I don't know am I worrying too much?

    Hi Lexie, my OC plans to have me on Tamoxifen after all this is done. I don't know about you but I'm very weary about drugs and Tamoxifen is known to cause endometrius cancer. I just have to deal with things one thing at a time. Thanks.

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  • lexie2002
    lexie2002 Member Posts: 147
    edited April 2019

    Hi Houston2016

    Did your AC ever effect your heart? I see my Cardiologist tomorrow and I'm not sure what to expect this time. Your right about the drugs. I was told taking the Arimidex is another way for me to fight back though..... When my Oncologist told me awhile back that she does not have many patients with heart problems from chemo, and I was just unlucky. She says she sees maybe 1 in 1000. Why am I that 1?? :(

    Hope your doing well.

    lexie2002

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