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My herceptin cough was caused by herceptin-induced cardiomyopathy. Don't ignore the cough, especially if its disruptive (trying to sit through business meetings) or it keeps you or your significant other awake at night.
As soon as I mentioned it to my doctor, they sent me to a cardiologist. The cardiologist and my pcp were debating whether it was caused by my blood pressure medicine. I had a whole series of cardiac tests and other than the cardiomyopathy, there were no other heart problems. So, we stopped herceptin for 5 weeks. There was relief from the cough within a week.
After the herceptin rest, I started up again, only with weekly treatments instead of every 3 weeks. The onc has had success with this, and I was no exception. No more coughing and at the end of treatment, last May, I had another echocardiogram and all was well.
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Diagnosed 11/06; IDC
Stage 1, Grade 2
MRM 12/06; 19 nodes removed, all negative
ER/PR-, HER2+++ - 4 rounds AC - every 3 weeks
- 3 rounds Taxol + Herceptin - every 3 weeks (developed allergy to Taxol so stopped treatment)
- Weekly Herceptin after Herceptin-induced cardiomyopathy from treatments every 3 weeks
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