Hi ladies, I’ve looked to see if there’s a thread about this already but can’t find one, but apologies if I’ve missed it!
I was just wondering if anyone is experiencing the same as me?
Before breast cancer I was a relatively fit 42 yr old. I went to the gym a couple of times a week, walked regularly, blah, blah, blah.
Admittedly I was, through necessity quite sedentary through treatment (mastectomy followed by 6 rounds of FEC 90) but glad to say that all finished just before Christmas last year. My life is beginning to get back to normal, I’m glad to say and I’m cancer free. I have now joined an exercise group, started swimming again and walk at least a mile and a half each day (dependant on the weather).
I have noticed that my resting heart rate has increased significantly since having cancer. I have an app on my phone (there’s an app for everything these days!!) that takes my pulse when I wake up first thing in the morning and it’s in the 80s and sometimes 90s, whereas before all this it was in the late 60s early 70s. I know that the medical profession do not consider it to be an issue unless your resting heart rate is over 100bpm but this does not feel right for me. I know it could be several things - a side effect of the chemo - a side effect of the tamoxifen I’m now taking or that I’m not as fit yet as I thought I was.
Has anyone else experienced this? If so, what did you do about it? Is there anything you can do about it?
Thank you.
Hi Glittergirl. I very rarely read the posts on this part of the forum (being a secondary lady!) but just spotted yours and it struck a chord so I had to reply and to hopefuly help you. I have had a lot of heart problems due to my treatment over the years (some 11 years since primary dx and now 6 years since secondary dx).
Firstly I have had high blood pressure whilst on hormone treatments, firstly Tamoxifen and then Arimidex. Once I have had to stop them (due to progression) my BP has returned to normal.
Secondly, since having FEC in 2008 for my secondaries I developed heart problems which included a high heart beat/rate and its only now, due to some fantastic work by a great cardiologist, am I back to normal. Mainly during these last 6 years I wasn’t on the right medication and things could have been sorted out sooner, or not even got as far as they had. The type of chemo you had, notably the ‘E’ part of FEC is known to cause heart problems in some cases and the best thing to do is to go to your GP and explain what you feel like and deal with this sooner rather than later. It could be effects of Tamoxifen, I know a lot of women don’t get on with it although I was OK on it, once I had my high BP sorted. Or it could be something else which can be dealt with quickly rather than doing what I did and leave it until it becomes a big problem. I don’t mean to scare you at all with this but if it’s something that you’ve noticed yourself that isn’t quite right I would get it checked out. In fact my cardiologist was on the Today programme the other week saying the very same thing about how the treatments can cause heart problems, especially as people are surviving longer from cancer/s, and the quicker you can treat any problems, the better.
Hope this helps and I’ll keep an eye out if you reply on here, otherwise please PM me and I’ll definitely pick it up :smileyhappy:
Nicky x
I am sorry that your have this worry. I have a walking app so understand where your coming from but it is just an app - if you want to know exactly what is going on then discuss it with your GP ~ proper tests could be done.
If you discuss it with your GP your mind will be at rest and that alone could lower your BP let alone a heart rate.
Best wishes
A high resting heart rate can be indicative of an over-active thyroid (it was for me). Totally unrelated to the breast cancer. Has your GP tested your thyroid function?