Epirubicin and heartburn

Hi ladies,

I just had my second round of epirubicin. My rounds are two weeks apart. First round, day 2 was feeling sick, some nausea, dizziness, feeling out of it etc.  Day 4 I woke up feeling like I was having a heartattack, serious pain and fear. I decided to google before calling a an ambulance, glad I did. Apparently it was acid indigestion which I’d had plenty of in the past but it always manifested as a burping/burning in the throat. This felt like someone was squeezing my heart. Anyway, drank some water with baking soda and had immediate relief. Started taking omeprazole and while I had no more serious attacks I still dealing with discomfort. Fast forward to round two, day of chemo in the evening. Chest pain and my heart racing, 110 beats per minute while lying in bed. Googled again and read that others have had the same experience and while very uncomfortable, not dangerous. It’s 1 am and I still can’t sleep as I only get relief when I’m upright/walking. I’ve switched to pantoprazole and doubled the dose and had baking soda and water, no relief from general indigestion discomfort. I’ve read that others have had so many problems that the dose or drug was changed. Does this make the chemo less effective and if not then why are they giving larger doses when less will be just as effective? Thanks in advance for any advice!! 

Just to say that I was in agony with heartburn as well. I was taking 40 mg of omeprazole twice a day in the end and that did get in under control.

 

Plus I had my chemo cut down from 6 sessions to 4 because my blood counts went too low. I think you just have to leave it to the doctors in the end and follow their advice.

 

You might try a meditation to help you with your racing heart:

youtube.com/watch?v=Fpiw2hH-dlc