I have been having problems with my heart for some time. Its been thumping (not racing) & I have a little bit of breathlessness but this has been put down to stress/anxiety. I have recently been told by my cardiologist that the herceptin has damaged my heart muscles. I cannot understand why it has taken so long for this to be discovered as I have had problems for months. My injections have been suspended (I have had x12 of x18) and I am on yet another different medication. I have been told that there is a 65-70% chance that my heart will make a full recovery. Has anyone else had this problem with herceptin? Kathy Somerville x
Kathy sorry to hear about your heart problems. I’m on Herceptin too & when they did the first MUGA scan they found my heart function was 50 in a normal range of 50-80. I am only 52 & previously very active/sporty, so it was a (another!) real shocker. I think the anthracycline chemo must have been responsible. I have been borderline for Herceptin throughout, but because my tumour was so aggressive, she said exceptionally they would continue to give down to 45. I am just managing to hang in there (had 14/18), but do feel very exhausted after effort/breathless going upstairs & the hot weather has really floored me. Not sure what, if any, the treatment is after Herceptin. I am taking Pycnogenol & co-enzyme Q10 which are allegedly supposed to increase EF by up to 20%. Did they say yours might improve spontaneously? Good luck with everything xx
Kathy
sorry you are having all those symptoms
how frequently have they been monitoring you? And when are they reviewing you ?
i looked at as many studies on herceptin v cardiac damage as I could find before I started mine and I am hoping the stats they have given you are actually on the pessimistic side.
for the first time in my life this week I had swollen fingers which I blamed on the unusually hot weather
ive had 5 out of 18 injections.