anyone's allergies improved since getting breast cancer, or worsened since herceptin?

[Bev]

I too thought that chemo had somehow cured me of my spring pollen allergies. Or perhaps that my 20 year old cats were no longer with me. It use to be that I knew that the first week of May, I was going to have to buy lots of Claritin.

With Herceptin I had a constant drip but no other symptoms year round. I still have sinus issues but not all the congestion, sneezing, and watering that were clearly allergic.

I will reread the article to try to understand it better. Interesting. Bev

[cafe1084]

The onc nurse told me that sinus complaints is the only commonality she has found among the 15 of us being treated with herceptin. Otherwise, the are little to no complaints with the drug

[Bev]

Lani, I've reread. Is this saying H is good for allergies but bad for autoimmune diseases? And is it saying BC is flying under the radar anyways? It's a little late, so maybe it will make more sense in the morning. BB

[Heidi Bibber]

Lani,
My allergies seem to have become worse since starting Herceptin. Also, I have many more systemic lupus flare ups as well as increased myasthenia gravis symptoms. Both illnesses are autoimmune; and the intensity of the lupus flare ups is much worse since stopping Taxol and being on Herceptin only. Both, my oncologist as well as my rheumatologist are quite baffled by this development and have not come up with a treatment mode, such as drastically increasing my Prednisone or continuing the immune suppressant Cellcept which I took prior to the breast cancer diagnosis but which I needed to stop when I started chemotherapy. If anyone reading this is being treated for an autoimmune disease, please contact me. I would love some advice.
Heidi

[R.B.]

Balancing omega threes and sixes / omega three supplementation has been reported in trials to assist in moderating a number of auto immune regulated disorders including lupus.

Fats influence the immune system by a number of mechanisms.

You may find the Greek Diet post of interest.

http://www.her2support.org/vbulletin...ght=greek+diet

RB

[Lani I am not sure of the implications but DHA suppresses CD25 expression on the surface of Jurkat T-cells by significant amounts depending on dosage http://www.jlr.org/cgi/content/full/46/9/1904#FIG1]