Hi SamKatz,

As others have said sadly heart failure is a notable risk with Herceptin, similarly Perjeta (pertuzumab). I was only given Perjeta in addition to Herceptin because my ejection fraction is higher than most healthy people's (including my oncologist's). But over time the H & P will probably cause me some heart failure.

I'm working on my cardio fitness to minimise the damage as I'll be on H&P for as long as they can keep me alive or until the damage to my heart is too great, whichever happens soonest. I have an echo done every 3 months for this reason. It's worth noting that exercise can increase your ejection fraction but obviously you would want to take guidance on what it is safe for you to do.

Sorry I'm not up on thrombophlebitis :( Hope others are able to offer some help there.

Worth noting that there's every chance your fatigue and breathlessness will be down to low haemoglobin levels. I had this a few times and, on one occasion, they did a blood transfusion. The improvement was amazing and immediate. Any damage to your heart from Herceptin or chemo does normally take time, wherease low haemoglobin symptoms can occur very early on in treatment and come on very quickly.

LJx

Hi TwinTwo,

Thank you for the reply. Exercise is difficult at the moment due to the fatigue and shortness of breath. I washed the kitchen floor this morning and had to keep resting because I was puffing away. 

Hopefully the echocardiogram next week will shed some light. I'm crossing my fingers that it is the low haemoglobin level as the symptoms came on suddenly after the seventh cycle.

Good luck with your treatment. 

Of course, I wasn't meaning it as in something you should do right now :) I remember all too well what it's like to not be able to breathe.

Really hope it's a Haemoglobin thing as that can have a pretty 'easy' fix. As an example, a few months back my Palliative Care doc decided I needed a blood transfusion due to my breathlessness. I turned up for it the next day and took the two flights of stairs as usual, but got stuck after a few steps due to the breathlessness. After the transfusion took the stairs down, realised I'd forgotten my bag, ran back up the stairs and was barely out of breath on re-arrival in oncology. 3 days after the transfusion I ran 3km and fast-walked 7km and I could have happily kept going I felt so good.

Of course, I wasn't meaning it as in something you should do right now :) I remember all too well what it's like to not be able to breathe.

Really hope it's a Haemoglobin thing as that can have a pretty 'easy' fix. As an example, a few months back my Palliative Care doc decided I needed a blood transfusion due to my breathlessness. I turned up for it the next day and took the two flights of stairs as usual, but got stuck after a few steps due to the breathlessness. After the transfusion took the stairs down, realised I'd forgotten my bag, ran back up the stairs and was barely out of breath on re-arrival in oncology. 3 days after the transfusion I ran 3km and fast-walked 7km and I could have happily kept going I felt so good.