[KellyA]

Hi there,

First let me say that it is ALWAYS a good idea to check out any symptom that has been going on for a few weeks or more. It is better to be safe than sorry and if nothing else, the peace of mind is worth everything.

Now let me try to make you feel a little better. After my last Herceptin (within a day or two), I began having headaches. They were located behind my eyes, and in the back of my head. My vision would get worse with the headaches, and on 2 or 3 occasions, my face even went numb in the area around my eyes. Very scary. I had them for 5 or 6 weeks- they would start shortly after I got up in the am and I would go to bed with them. Anyways, I had not had any issues with headaches before and to be honest, this scared me half to death. I was so frightened, that I even went into denial mode and did not tell my doc about it (very strange for me to do since I always seem to have new issues also). I played dumb and asked for an antibiotic (trying to rationalize a sinus infection, even though I had never had one before) and I also went for an eye exam to check my vision. I started taking an old muscle relaxer in the hopes that it was muscular.

Here's what I found out. After several special eye tests and pics, everything was normal, except that my vision prescription had DOUBLED since chemo. My doc explained that the tearing mechanisms can really get messed up and cause all kinds of vision difficulties with chemo. The muscle relaxers did help with the pain in the back of my head, so those were probably muscular. The "frontal pain" behind my eyes stayed constant and eased up after several weeks. I eventually told my onc about it all and he explained taht the Herceptin can cause all kinds of sinus issues, and he scolded me for not telling him. So, long story short, I had many different contributors with the headaches. Everything is so complicated with chemo and Herceptin, and we have to remember that these are big time drugs with big time side effects. I explained that I feel silly sometimes having all these problems ( especially since I was very healthy before all of this mess) and that I am afraid that I will look like a hypochondriac. My onc, who is wonderful, made me feel much better. My body is not the same anymore, at least for now, and all kinds of weird things may happen, so it is very important to let him know EVERYTHING and let him decifer whats what. Never feel funny about being cautious. We need to be cautious, and have every right to be. I mean its not like you just broke a toe or something. There is real reason to be very vigilent and careful. And I for one can't tell whats what anymore. This is a whole new body that I'm not familiar with.

So try not to worry, there are so many things it could be, but please do share with your docs and look out for yourself. Never feel funny about "fessing up". :-)

Love, Kelly