Hair loss with Herceptin & Navelbine??

[swimangel72]

Hi everyone - my oncologist is recommending that I start on a combo of Herceptin and Navelbine to reduce my recurrence rate 50% because of my Her2+ status. I've done tons of reading about Herceptin and it's side effects - my Muga score was 67% which I'm told is good, but I don't know much about Navelbine. I'll be getting both drugs together intravenously every other week. After 4 months, I'll continue with Herceptin for a year.
My onc says I won't lose my hair with Navelbine.......but I've read somewhere that some ladies did experienced thinning of their hair. I'm not sure when I'll be starting this treatment (because my abdomen still has an open incision) - but I'd like to be better prepared for side effects. So far, from what I read, Navelbine seems to cause quite a bit of stomach problems (my onc said to expect some constipation) - but I'm more worried that I'll wake up one day with all my hair on my pillow!

Has anyone had experience with these two drugs together? I appreciate your help!

[Julie2]

I had Navelbine and Herceptin but I didn't have any hair thinning.

Julie

[Mary Anne in TX]

Kathy, I had H and N and found it to be super easy to do. A bit of huffing and puffing when I walked, but my hair started growing back with that combo. Everyone responds so differently, but for me it was a "come down" from all the others! I'll bet you'll do terrific! ma

[swimangel72]

Thanks Julie and Mary Anne - I really appreciate your sharing - it helps me so much!

[doh2pa]

Hi Kathy,

I just finished a 3 month stint with Herceptin and Navilbene and found it one of the easiest combos to tolerate. I did not lose hair but hair did seem to grow slower. The day after my infusion I was tired (it was my couch day) and I did get a little peripheral neuropathy in my feet (but I had some from previous chemos so I was primed for it). I treated the neuropathy with 50 mg of B6 daily and added L-glutamine powder 3 times a day when it flared up.

You should do well on this - good luck to you!

[swimangel72]

Thanks Donna - I appreciate your advice!

[ElaineM]

Hi,
I didn't loose my hair on Herceptin and Navelbine. I think some people have hair thinning though. I have long hair, but I think it grows slowly and I don't have to worry about shaving my legs. My main side effect from Navelbine and Herceptin is being very tired the next day. My naturopath said the original source of Navelbine was the periwinkle plant and American Indians used periwinkle plants as a sedative. My cousin, a drug research scientist said they couldn't take out the chemical component that makes people sleepy when they developed the drug for cancer treatment.

[Pam P]

I similar experience to the others who posted. I was on H&N for 1 year. No hair loss (if there was thinning it was slight). I too was tired the day after treatment. Occasionally I would have a slight touch of nausea, but took a antinausea med & it was fine. I did have a drop in my white blood count while on it, but only once was it low enough to hold treatment of the navelbine. Overall very tolerable. You should do just fine on it.

[swimangel72]

Thanks Elaine and Pam - I appreciate your comments. I just had my fourth infusion yesterday and other than a bit of diarhea, felt fine. No hair loss at all! Unfortunately, they still couldn't use my chemo port because the incision is still red and not healed. But the nurse hung a bag of saline to flow while she gave me the Navelbine, so my arm doesn't hurt at all. Hopefully in two weeks they'll be able to use the port again.