Headaches
 

Hello,

My wife is stage IV, er/pr+, her2+. She is a survivor of 5 years now. She went back on Carbo/Herc/Taxol in January and everything went away again. Now she is on Herceptin every 3 weeks. I have a question about headaches. Lately, my wife has been having headaches. Started about a monthe ago - mild. The Wierd thing is that they only come in the eveninig after she gets home from work. Do you think we should be concerned. I told her to call the doctor today. Do you think a scan should be ordered. I come to this site every day. You guys(gals) are so much more informed than most doctors in some cases. Keep strong and thanks for the help.

John
It sounds to me like an MRI is in order to rule out any progression to the brain....headaches can be caused by many things, stress, allergies, pollen, sinus...but by all means deman an MRI, brain mets if caught early are quite treatable as many have proven on this board...Herceptin does not protect mets from going to the brain unfortunately....there are some on this board whose first mets were to the brain....you will both rest easier getting an answer on this.

John;

I too have been getting headaches for the last couple of months. I actually havent' mentioned this to my onc as I am having 3 month brain scans (first a CT and now MRI's) anyway. I am temporarily off herceptin so I suspect this is why in my case but I do think regular (although the timing may vary depending on the case) scans are a good idea as now we have access to lapitinib which cross the blood/brain barrier.

Cathya

Get thee to an MRI. There can be so many causes of headaches. But about 1/3 of breast cancer mets patients end up with brain mets, too. And that number is growing since we are living longer. Several women on this site have gone for MRI with NO symptoms and discovered they had mets. So if your wife HAS possible symptoms, tell you onc and request an MRI. By the way, a brain MRI shows more detail than a brain CT scan.

And don't panic. Brain mets is treatable. In fact, this web site was started by a woman who had brain mets initially something like 5 or 6 (maybe more) years ago. Mine were 3 years ago and so far, clear.

Love and light,

Lisa