I did not have high blood pressure or high cholesterol until I started to log my blood pressure in the GP surgery as they had a machine there that produced printouts. No one looked at these readings until I pointed out my blood pressure was going up and up since being on letrozole.
Today I read a google inspired bit of Artificial intelligence produced info
Breast cancer and atherosclerosis are linked in a number of ways, including increased risk of cardiovascular disease for breast cancer survivors, and the ability of breast cancer cells to increase atherosclerosis.
i thought I would go on and let the forum know what AI said
Risk of cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for breast cancer survivors.
Patients with advanced atherosclerosis are at an increased risk of acute coronary events after radiotherapy for breast cancer.
Atherosclerosis is the most common type of cardiotoxicity from breast cancer radiotherapy.
That is interesting and slightly concerning. As I am on letrozole and having 3 weekly Herceptin injections I have an echocardiogram every 3 months. The results of the first 2 were fine, ejection fraction was 69% from the second one. I had my third on Monday. I had a phone consultation with my oncologist on Saturday. My ejection fraction has gone down to 62%, but that is still within normal range. However it seems that I now have a leaky valve. Clearly this would have been mentioned before if it was present when I began treatment, so my assumption is that it is a recent development.
dear bigpickle it is the kind of situation where you are damned if you do take a treatment and damned if you don’t. At my age 69 I am not looking forward to a healthy old age. I don’t think it works out that way.
I remember once looking at a survey of numbers of people with disabilities and it was clear from that survey that the rate of disability increases dramatically as people age. Pretty obvious really but very few people in older age groups get financial support to help with disability support in or out of their home. They may be able to borrow equipment from occupational therapy departments (which do not provide any therapy to occupy the minds of us oldies) but that’s about it.
There’s no funding for care homes for older people 65 and over who have savings so selling your home is the only way you can pay for care in a care home. My mother aged 97 is in one now and does very little except lie in a single room om her own. All for roughly £7000 a month. Her home is better than a lot of them but I would not want to be there for sure. If you need nursing care you may qualify but my mother doesn’t need this apparently.
Thankyou @seagulls for your research. I agree @bigpickle it is slightly worrying. I was also told, after my echocardiograms almost in passing i have a slightly leaky valve, nobody seems all that bothered. My ejection fraction has reduced slightly since starting Phesgo. After 20 years of moderately high blood pressure controlled with 5 mg Ramipril i have now had to increase if to 10 mgs, again nobody seems sll that concerned or joining dots! I’m doing what i can to eat healthy diet, get regular exercise and maintain weight, just have to keep an eye on things i suppose.
To be honest @pennyp, when I was told about mine, the oncologist didn’t seem overly concerned. He did say that he would book me another echocardiogram, rather than wait the 3 months till the next one, and if necessary refer me to a cardiologist. At one of my many trips to A&E during chemo a heart murmur was picked up by 2 doctors. I realise now that this was the leaky valve. I am not on medication for blood pressure…perhaps I might have to be ?