Long term effects from Herceptin ?

Hi NanaBetty welcome to the forum and sorry to hear about what has been happening for you. It does sound like your energy levels have changed and you yourself feel more tired and worn out so its well worth calling your GP and getting an appointment with them. Maybe they can do some bloods to check you out and as you have already said I understand as well  that Herceptin can damage the heart so again well worth you getting this all checked out.

The Hot flushes are a partly a result of the meds and its the god awful side effects that they inflict on us which  we have to tolerate to rid ourselves of Oestrogen. Maybe worth asking the GP about this as well because there will be things that can maybe help you to get some sleep.  xx

Hi NanaBetty, do you still have a medical team/oncologist/GP you can ask as I'm afraid I don't know and given no one has responded to your post I don't think anyone currently on here knows either.  Either way I would definitely go and see your GP and see what they suggest.  

By answering your post I will also have bumped you back up to the top of the list where it will be more easily seen again and hopefully someone who can help you sees it this time.

It might also be an idea to post this question in the chemotherapy group HERE as I think it's the ladies on there that are most likely to be able to help you if it is chemo related.

I wonder if it's also possible that you might have got covid without realising it and that's what's causing this.  I recently suddenly felt exhausted with the least exertion and also had an inflamed enlarged thyroid which my doctor is convinced was a result of covid.  I was asymptomatic if I had covid and this all happened after I would have been clear of it (my son came home from uni with covid without knowing he had it).  The tiredness was post viral fatigue and the enlarged thyroid was a separate side effect of covid.  Anyway it has all passed now and I am fine.  Hopefully it's something similar for you and it's post viral fatigue.

But do go and see your doctor to get some tests done. x

Please get checked out. Chemotherapy can cause heart damage. It is more likely to be the chemotherapy than the Herceptin if this is your issue. The effects on the heart of Herceptin are more immediate, hence the heart scans, and if damage is detected and treatment stopped it is generally reversible, which is not the case with chemotherapy damage. 

Hi, yes I agree with what veeayvee has said, I’ve just started herceptin and the effects are more immediate on the heart I’ve been lead to believe rather than long term, chemo on the other hand can have longer effects.

Of course it could be totally unrelated and another far more minor issue hopefully, but our minds always take us to the worse case scenario especially with what we’ve been through, best to get it checked out properly, good luck x

Thank you every one. I have an appointment booked with my GP on Tuesday morning. I will let you know my progress. 

Hope it goes well. Definitely best to get checked out,

Good luck xx

Hi "God willing" and everyone that replied to me. I had a ck up with a cardiologist who said my heart was working normally at rest and has recommended an "effort test" to see how it is performing under pressure. So thank you every one x

Glad you are getting it investigated NanaBetty, so far sounds like good news and hopefully the rest of the tests will be the same. 

So pleased to hear that xx