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My money is on the stupid Benadryl...I honestly, can NOT believe that oncs STILL don't know no NOT to give it with Herceptin after the first dosing (how is that for a double negative??...smile).
It is, I suppose, necessary the first time JUST in case one would be allergic to it...to date, I have yet to meet ANY person allergic to Herceptin, but it can happen. I remember early on, years ago, now, the same thing happened to me and after reading about how the immune system needs to be in top shape to clean up the tumor/lesion debris created by the herceptin locking into her-2 receptors and essentially marking those cells which carry them with the "MARK OF DEATH" for destruction to be "eaten away" by the immune cells..well, I simply refused it from then on..beleive you me..when taking Herceptin for the long haul THE LAST THING you want is a suppressed immune system and that, my friends, is the exact thing Benadryl is designed to do. Don't get me wrong, Benadryl has its place and can be life-saving in an emergency allergic reaction, but NOT in the HERCEPTIN infusion room...I personally do NOT believe in taking pre-meds of any kind with the Herceptin and my refusing to do so since '99 is in part what I largely attribute to me having a repeatalbly strong and consistent response to HERCEPTIN, year after year. I also get more "bang for my buck" as my immune system is not being repeatedly depressed by the Benadryl, or any drug for that matter. I take no prescription meds daily. Just diet, certain supplements and HERCEPTIN once every 6 weeks. That's it and against all odds...I am still here and have a good QOL...Hope this helps..., I realize I have strong opinions that differ from many on the board...it is as if I have evolved in some sort of isolation from what MAINSTREAM was doing...I am not sure how that happened except from the get- go, I had a REALLY great and brillant young oncologist who cared... but who now has moved on to bigger and better, but he got me through the worst and taught me quite a lot. Best of luck to you...skip the pre-meds...just take the Herceptin, you'll be fine. Gina
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