Rash from Herceptin?

04-06-2006, 11:28 AM

I had my first Herceptin treatment last Tuesday and thought that I had no reactions. But by Thursday I had an itchy rash on the trunk of my body. I had noticed redness after I got out of the shower on both Wednesday and Thursday but thought I had the water too hot in the shower. The onc. was not sure, said he never saw this reaction before and it could be anything. I have been using mederma for the scars from my tram flap reconstruction, and the rash was really bad by that nice scar I have across by lower abdomen. So he told me to stop that and see what happens. Then when I have my next herceptin infusion he will only give me a small dose and then wait to see if there is any reaciton. If there is none he will give me the rest of the dose in the next day or two.

Any one have any rash reaction from the herceptin?

Thanks!

Yorkiegirl · 04-06-2006, 11:33 AM

I never had a rash, BUT several women at my Cancer Center did, and they have to take benedryl before the Infusion.

Also, rash is listed as one of the side effects.

Vicki

RhondaH · 04-06-2006, 02:52 PM

here is a post of the attachment I responded to in December along w/ others that replied.

http://her2support.org/vbulletin/sho...ht=rhonda+rash

Rhonda

MCS · 04-06-2006, 08:46 PM

I had frequent rashes aroung my expander. I had a pump in this week and I started to scratch around it and turned red. I was told to talke benadryl.

I'm worried because I get scared that it could be an infection in the expander that is cousing this, or maybe I have bone mets- i get itches around my sternum.

So you can see the itch is bothering me also. I will be bringing up to onc in a week when I see him because I need to know but yet I am so very frightened that it will be more than just an allergic to herceptin ;(
MCS ( Maria)

XO

cherylynnie · 04-07-2006, 07:13 AM

That first post was from me, I didn't realized I wasn't logged in.

Thank you all for responding! And thanks Rhonda for the link!

I think I will print these out and show the onc nurses who actually deal with us on a day to day basis.

They did give me benedryl in the iv before the herceptin. But I don't want to take the benedryl all day and be passed out and only want to sleep the day away.

Does the reaction eventually go away or stop or does it occur with each infusion?

cherylynnie · 04-07-2006, 07:28 AM

Maria,

I had the rash on my lower back too. This is all scary. And it seems the more I read the scarier it gets. But it is better to be informed than not.

It seems my reaction was from the herceptin as others have had the same reaction. I guess it is not a common reaction though. It was gone by this Tuesday for the most part. So it lasted a week.

Let your doctor know everything, before I started chemo and had an orientation meeting with one of the onc nurses, she was sure to tell me to call them about anything, even a hang nail. I don't call on everything unless I think someone needs to know, but during chemo I was in there more than once a week so I told them when I was in the office.

Hope your doctor can calm your fears or send you for test to find out what is going on.

RhondaH · 04-07-2006, 11:29 AM

it does go away and your onc nurse should NOT continue to give you benadryl w/ every dose, just the first couple to see how you will react. My surgeon said something SO true today when I saw him. He asked if the pain that I was having in my upper right stomach had gone away and I told him yes. I then went on and said, "You said that they SAY that there are no side affects to the Herceptin, but that is wrong (He told me of one patient who had a "strange" feeling in her foot and when he stopped the Herceptin, it went away...I wonder if some isn't psychosomatic)". He then said today "You and the other women are 'writing' the NEW chapter on Herceptin".

Rhonda