Paranoia?? Headaches???

[weezie1053]

Okay, I have debated for days whether to write this thread or not for fear of looking like I might be paranoid or in "last treatment withdrawal?" Here goes...

My last Herceptin treatment is the 16th of November. A couple of weeks ago, I started having headaches. They never really seemed to be settled in one location. One day, the front of my head, and a couple of days later, the rear of my head hurt. For several days now, the pain has settled in the lower right sight of skull. When I nod up and down, it feels like a muscle pull or if someone is yanking my hair. The pain is becoming increasingly sharper. When the pain was in the front of my head, I figured, Okay, it is a sinus headache, and took Claratin. Now the head hurts in the lower right side and the pain is more distinct. I have emailed my Oncologist. I see him on the 16th, and I figured we will discuss then.

I had a MRI in August and it was clear. When I had my mastectomy in 09/06, my nodes were clear. I had heavy duty chemo, and I should be done for years to come...

My older sister said it is probably stress because I have a demanding job and I am raising my grandson (with help from Granddaddy).

Don't know what to think other than to wait it out until next Friday and see what my Oncologist recommends. He is, by the way, a jewel of a doc.

Never had headaches with Herceptin prior to this, and I am almost done.

Has anybody experienced anything similar? Do I need to be thinking about a brain MRI???

Louise (aka Patty Paranoia)

[Sherryg683]

Girlfriend, I live with headaches, so I know how you feel. Herceptin has always caused headaches with me along with the stress. At first I use to worry immediately about brain mets when I would have a run of these headaches but not so much anymore. I've had many MRI's and they would be clear. I still get scanned every 6 months. If you had an MRI in August, it is highly unlikely that you could have developed brain mets that would be causing symptoms. It's always good to have it checked out like you are doing for peace of mind...sherryg

[Barbara2]

I can relate. My first off and on headaches go back several years. MRIs were clear, so I could relax...for a while. One time I had an MRI about 3 months after having just had one. Over time I began to see that when these aches would come (sometimes in the front, on one side, or maybe the back on one side, or sometimes when I turned my head it would cause an ache in one spot; still does; ...or sometimes even a general all over the head headache...)that I need to accept the fact that this is my normal.

More recently, I've had about 3 months of these same aches as described above, only they have been every day, off and on all day long, so much for frequently. I finally asked for an MRI. It had been about 9 months since my last one. Thankfully, it was negative.

After the good report, I thought I should be able to relax and the here and there aches about my head would go away. But they did not. In fact they seemed to get worse.

Today I saw a cardiologist because of high blood pressure. I thought maybe the blood pressure was the cause of the headaches.

After describing the symptoms to her, she said it sounded more like a muscular/skeletal issue. And I do believe she is right. When I put the "Icy Hot" type of sticky pads on my shoulders and up into the neck area, the headaches seem to be far fewer and the muscles feel much better.

Do your muscles ache in you shoulder/neck area? My family doc said that these kind of aches can be treated, and we are going to look into deep muscle treatments for starters.

Hope this helps you to relax. If your MRI in August was negative, wouldn't it be pretty unlikely that a met would manifest itself this fast to the point of causing those kind of aches? As time goes on, these aches may be part of your "normal," too.

[weezie1053]

I probably should have clarified. The MRI I had in August was on my left breast.

Guess I'm suffering from both chemobrain and mentalpause.

Louise

[Bev]

Long shot, maybe it's dental. I blew out 8 fillings during my chemo year. Grinding away. I did have shooting pain from my overworked jaws that sometimes went to the lower back of my skull and sometimes to my temples. It went away immediately after using a nite guard. BB

[Patb]

If you have not had an MRI of your brain and the headaches continue.
I would ask for one. I am finishing herceptin on Nov 21 and my neck and
back of my head were hurting. I had a bone scan which was inconclusive
and then an MRI of my neck and back of the brain. It was negative and the scan showed arthritis.
patb

[Sherryg683]

You know Bev, I am going to try that night guard. I sometimes wake up with my jaws locked, they pop when I open my mouth and that causes more pain in my neck head area. I bet there are times when I am clenching or grinding my teeth at night. Gonna go get one of those mouth pieces and see if it helps..sherryg.

[Sherryg683]

I have a ruptured disc in my neck and arthritis also, my pain specialist said that this is what is causing my headaches. Sometimes they are worse than others. You could have this going on also..sherryg

[Mary Anne in TX]

Hi Louise!
I began having the same types of headaches about 2 months ago! I am 17 months in to taking herceptin. On the day I saw my onc. he scheduled a brain MRI (I just wanted to be sure) and prescribed blood pressure meds. (My blood pressure had gotten too high over the last 6 months) The MRI of my brain came up clear...as he and many others said..."nothing up there"! But I began to get immediate relief when I took the first blood pressure med. It very well might have been stress, but it has helped...no more headaches. And my blood pressure is down. I had spent so much time worrying about having to go off herceptin that I think I made the blood pressure thing much worse. I took the advice of so many on this board and did something about it!
I'll bet it's stress, but as they tell us, nothing to play with either!
Best wishes for a great resolution! ma

[weezie1053]

Thanks, Mary Anne. I emailed my Onc and he said he thought it sounded like a tension headache. I have very low blood pressure--always have. I have, however, had a lot of stress. I work retail, and it is a Ho! Ho! season. It's a tight pain that has lingered for over a week. I'll see the Onc on Friday. He'll then cut me loose until April. Oh happy day!!!

Louise