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Hi all;
Some people really do have allergic reactions and need the Benedryl. The fact that you are having a lot of "chills" suggests that maybe you should take it. I have a bit of a different twist to Gina’s hypotheses on Benedryl. Herceptin is a human-mouse conjugated antibody. Your body may mount an allergic reaction to the mouse portion and your immune system will try to get rid of it. That is probably not a good thing. By taking the Benedryl you suppress the immune system long enough so you can get the full dose into your system. The Herceptin can then go latch on to any her2+ receptors floating around in your body. Once the Benedryl wears off then you want your immune system strong (unsuppressed) so it can go clean up any cells killed off by the Herceptin.
That said, I have stopped taking Benedryl with my Herceptin but I don’t get any chills/fevers to indicate that my body is recognizing a mouse invader.
I would just like to add that I think it is a bad idea to "hide" things from your doctor eg. pretend to take something they have prescribed. It's your body so if you don't want to take something that's fine you can refuse to take it, but the doctor and nurses should know about it. The nurses only give you what is on the doctor’s orders so if you don't want the Benedryl you really should discuss it with you Onc.
kk1
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