Hi, im new to this forum. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016 and had mastecomy plus chemo and put on letrazole for 8yrs. In March this year I was feeling unwell and thought I had covid so dismissed it and assumed it would pass. Unfortunately I ended up in hospital struggling to breathe and had a collapsed lung, due to plural effusion. I was so shocked when they told me that I had secondary breast cancer with chestwall mets. Im on Ribociclib plus letrazole. Ribociclib has been reduced to 400mg now due to side effects. I know this sounds petty, but over the last 3 cycles I am struggling with severe hair shedding. Has anyone else encountered this problem. It's really getting me down. Im also switching Mirtazapine to sertraline and side effects are really bad. I can't seem to get Cancer out of my head.
Hi HellsBells
I am sorry you have secondary breast cancer. The side effects of your treatment sound unpleasant. I have lost my hair twice through treatment, so get how difficult it must be to have shedding with a treatment you have to continue with. My treatments were both 6 month blocks, and I was grateful my hair grew back. I have secondary breast cancer too, but mine is tnbc, so I don’t have experience of ribociclib and letrozole as they wouldn’t work for me. I got my secondary diagnosis in 2022 and it took some time to get my head around it. Initially I didn’t expect to survive for long given the reputation of tnbc, but I was lucky in my response to treatment. Eventually the consequences of treatment became something I accepted I had to live with. My new normal and the price I paid for being a survivor. I hope you can improve the side effects.
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I have metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer, in remission
