Hi there, firstly do you take a prescription antacid tablet? The symtoms you explain are the same I had during my first chemo, I was prescribed Zantac and when I told my onc at the time she should automatically give it out with chemo, she said, "I can't remember everything". since then I graduated to a stronger one, so I have been taking something every day since 1998 to combat that. The tightness I experienced was from nerve damage caused by mastectomy, mine felt like someone wrapped barb wire around my chest, trouble is now that the drug I was prescribed way back then for nerve damage is an anticonvulsant and impaired my Taxanes, hence I still have disease, but now forewarned with that one. Shortness of breath for me at first was fibrosis of the lung caused by radiation, next time I had Pericarditus which is when the sack your heart sits in, contracts like cling wrap and squeezes the heart. My actual heart failure caused by thyroid treatment was my lungs filled up with 5kilos of water and caused my heart to pump backwards, I didn't have pain, I just couldn't lie down if I wanted to breathe, that nearly killed me but I had another agenda, none of this was caused by Herceptin, in fact my left ventricle is functioning at 57% at the moment and I am having triple dose every three week, with my echos every 3 months. When I had heart failure and a scan was done of my chest the report said I had "Lung Mets" it was a good thing I had just had a tumour mark done and I knew better, it seems that the silver slivers appearing in the scan were actually fluid, but I still have a document saying I have lung mets and I don't, mine has always been in the breast tissue, lymph glands and skin. Hope this helps, but if in doubt hound your onc until you get your answer, worrying causes us more harm than good.
Love & Hugs Lyn
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