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08-21-2005, 01:52 AM

hi, folks...wake up and smell the coffee,

IN MANY CASES, the herceptin alone can be making us gain weight. I puzzled over this for years...I am still pre-meno, so I couldn't blame it on the "change"... I never took pre-meds after the first couple of doses years ago, couldn't be that...I don't take chemo, I don't take any Rx meds on any regular basis...I walk regularly, eat a fab diet with next to no sugar, so WHAT could iT BEEEE???? How could I go from my svelt 160 lbs ( I'm nearly 5' 10) to my now tetter-totter 188 to 200??!@#%!!!!! which is more than 20 lbs than I was at my heaviest when formerly I was nine months PREGNANT!!!! Plus, since then, they even removed 12 pounds of breast and muscle tissue...so what gives...??? As usual, I sometimes bring to this board a "different" if not universal "opinion" smile...on some of this.

Here is just my take on what I seem to notice going on in my body. Maybe some of you have noticed it too. About 6 hours after the Herceptin infusion, I will start to eat amazing amounts of foods...good foods mind you, but large amounts...even my sister who visited during one of my Herceptin weekends...noticed it and remarked Gee, she never recalled I ATE SO MUCH...embarrassed, I told her that I didn't know why but after Herceptin, I craved certain things --almost as if I were pregnant and felt like I had to eat them. This would go on for the next couple of days and then, poof, I would be eating back to normal. I think over time, your body learns to prepare for the herceptin drill, which internally could be perceived as a giant attack on the body that the body's immune system has to gear uP to take out the "invaders" --the monoclonal antibodies that attach on to the her-2 cells and mark them for destruction. The body somehow "knows" or learns that it has to start pumping out more immune cells to take on the challenge. Suddenly the body goes into this EMERGENCY MODE and starts sending hormonal messages for dietary reinforcements...smile..quaint ...though I know this may appear at first, if you really sit down following your next infusion and write a food diary of what you crave, what you actually eat and HOW much...you might be shocked to see what you are putting away those 3 days just after you might shock yourself. Over time, I have learned to compensate, as I simply refuse to go over 200. Each weekend, I do a mild detox and the WEEK before herceptin I pay attention to portion size and try to walk more. Overall, I have maintained the 188 to 200. as bad as that is for a couple of years now. I did notice in the early years when I was only taking herceptin all at once for 5 or 6 doses that as soon as I stopped, the weight fell off on its own. That was one reason, sad though this is to say, that I did not want to take Herceptin regularly, plus I did not want to be "tied" to it...this later proved to be a bad strategy as most of you now know...as it ended me up with pelvic and bone mets that would have most certainly been avoided if I had stayed on protocol....but still, I squeezed a lot of living into those early years, predominently spent raising my then small son, into big boyhood. He is now nearly 14 and makes me so proud...I call him my "genius boy" as for so many cancer - torn years, his grades were not that great as a single, working mom with breast cancer like her-2, I could not really help him with homework or give him the things other kids had...but somehow, this year (as I have had a great run these last couple of years --especially on the herceptin only every 6 weeks), he pulled 100 percents and high 90's on his major SOL's I was so shocked...as from his ABC grades, you would not have anticipated this...smile...so that is when the nickname was born...his real name is Jordan and no joke, he is a GREAT kid. I am so blessed..., to have died and missed all of this would have been such a loss. Those of us who are still here KNOW, that despite the struggle, it is worth it...and do not despair, even those the sickest among us...have ye but the faith of a grain of a mustard seed and I have a feeling VERY soon something GROUNDBREAKING is going to happen for us all...Best, GP

08-21-2005, 01:52 AM	#12
Gina Guest Posts: n/a	hi, folks...wake up and smell the coffee, IN MANY CASES, the herceptin alone can be making us gain weight. I puzzled over this for years...I am still pre-meno, so I couldn't blame it on the "change"... I never took pre-meds after the first couple of doses years ago, couldn't be that...I don't take chemo, I don't take any Rx meds on any regular basis...I walk regularly, eat a fab diet with next to no sugar, so WHAT could iT BEEEE???? How could I go from my svelt 160 lbs ( I'm nearly 5' 10) to my now tetter-totter 188 to 200??!@#%!!!!! which is more than 20 lbs than I was at my heaviest when formerly I was nine months PREGNANT!!!! Plus, since then, they even removed 12 pounds of breast and muscle tissue...so what gives...??? As usual, I sometimes bring to this board a "different" if not universal "opinion" smile...on some of this. Here is just my take on what I seem to notice going on in my body. Maybe some of you have noticed it too. About 6 hours after the Herceptin infusion, I will start to eat amazing amounts of foods...good foods mind you, but large amounts...even my sister who visited during one of my Herceptin weekends...noticed it and remarked Gee, she never recalled I ATE SO MUCH...embarrassed, I told her that I didn't know why but after Herceptin, I craved certain things --almost as if I were pregnant and felt like I had to eat them. This would go on for the next couple of days and then, poof, I would be eating back to normal. I think over time, your body learns to prepare for the herceptin drill, which internally could be perceived as a giant attack on the body that the body's immune system has to gear uP to take out the "invaders" --the monoclonal antibodies that attach on to the her-2 cells and mark them for destruction. The body somehow "knows" or learns that it has to start pumping out more immune cells to take on the challenge. Suddenly the body goes into this EMERGENCY MODE and starts sending hormonal messages for dietary reinforcements...smile..quaint ...though I know this may appear at first, if you really sit down following your next infusion and write a food diary of what you crave, what you actually eat and HOW much...you might be shocked to see what you are putting away those 3 days just after you might shock yourself. Over time, I have learned to compensate, as I simply refuse to go over 200. Each weekend, I do a mild detox and the WEEK before herceptin I pay attention to portion size and try to walk more. Overall, I have maintained the 188 to 200. as bad as that is for a couple of years now. I did notice in the early years when I was only taking herceptin all at once for 5 or 6 doses that as soon as I stopped, the weight fell off on its own. That was one reason, sad though this is to say, that I did not want to take Herceptin regularly, plus I did not want to be "tied" to it...this later proved to be a bad strategy as most of you now know...as it ended me up with pelvic and bone mets that would have most certainly been avoided if I had stayed on protocol....but still, I squeezed a lot of living into those early years, predominently spent raising my then small son, into big boyhood. He is now nearly 14 and makes me so proud...I call him my "genius boy" as for so many cancer - torn years, his grades were not that great as a single, working mom with breast cancer like her-2, I could not really help him with homework or give him the things other kids had...but somehow, this year (as I have had a great run these last couple of years --especially on the herceptin only every 6 weeks), he pulled 100 percents and high 90's on his major SOL's I was so shocked...as from his ABC grades, you would not have anticipated this...smile...so that is when the nickname was born...his real name is Jordan and no joke, he is a GREAT kid. I am so blessed..., to have died and missed all of this would have been such a loss. Those of us who are still here KNOW, that despite the struggle, it is worth it...and do not despair, even those the sickest among us...have ye but the faith of a grain of a mustard seed and I have a feeling VERY soon something GROUNDBREAKING is going to happen for us all...Best, GP