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herceptin length
hi- ive been reading this site and just decided to join and post. i'm a biostats person in science, and i've done a lot of reading on my breast cancer including going over all the herceptin trials.
there is NO data to support continuing herceptin long-term. the drug companies would of course like everyone to think they need to stay on it, but there are downsides. one is the heart toxicity issue. the second is selection of herceptin-resistance. you don't want to "select" cells that are resistant to herceptin and have them grow. think about antibiotics and resistance- if you give antibiotics without good reason, then you get antibiotic resistant bacteria that are even more deadly.
i had a year of herceptin for stage IIIB with 22+ nodes, so i am as high risk as many of you. i'm definitely not continuing on herceptin, as i want to reserve it for later if i do have a recurrence. i don't want it to stop working because right now it's all i have!
just my two cents... sara
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