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Weight loss after Herceptin finishes
Wed, 01/02/2012 - 10:55
#1
Just wondering if there is anyone out there who found that they gained weight when taking Herceptin, but has managed to lose it once finished.
I am having the last of my 12 month Herceptin next week and was ok to start with but over the last 3-4 sessions have gained just under a stone in weight. I think most of it is water retention and even though I am trying tablets for it, it isn't shifting at the moment.
I am hoping that once I have finished within a couple of months the excess will start to go. Am I deluding myself or could this be the case?
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Hi Sam,
i'm the same , I finish Herceptin in March after 12 months of treatment and I have gained a stone since starting. I am hoping it will start to fall off once Herceptin has finished. My most annoyance is the extra inches on my waist , at least 10 inches which has made movement alot slower, ( what with the achy joints too I feel like an old woman, I'm 51 btw ) heres hoping someone who has gone through this can offer some advice.
Sharon
Hello ladies
I have the same problem with weight gain - finished hercepton 20th Jan 2012 and in the twelve months I have been on it have gained over a stone mostly around the middle.. I am hoping that once it starts to leave my system I can loose this spare tyre.. I am trying to eat healthily along with exercising (dodgy knees at the minute though!!)
Lets keep our fingers crossed xxxxx
I finished 18 herceptin 3 weeks ago and i gained a stone since diagnosis and thats all around my middle although its not just with herceptin as most of it went on with chemo. 4 weeks ago i broke my wrist so have been quite inactive but am hoping the weight will go. My onc says its just about what you put in your mouth. Im not so sure, i admit ive eaten more crap since the treatment but am getting back to normal now. Once i can get active again and some warm weather to help im sure it will go.
Glad its not just me then. Looks like it will be Spanx all the way for a few weeks at least.
What is it about Herceptin that makes all oncs say there are no side effects. Mine is the same. It is not about just what you put in your mouth. I have followed a Slimming World eating plan for the last 4 years to the letter since I lost a stone then and always stayed the same until about 2 months ago. And like you ladies all the weight is around my middle with a bit around the tops of thighs.
Apparently from what I have been reading it takes up to 6 months to wash out of your system because at each treatment you have half left from the previous one (if that makes sense) so at the end of 12 months you have 6 months left in your body.
I know we are still grateful to be here and on the road to recovery but roll on June I say!!!
Sam
Speaking simply, it IS about the difference between what you put in your mouth and what you use up, but with the treatments we have undergone our bodies use up the calorific input differently, and the treatments often mean we are too knackered to be as physically active as we would have been otherwise. So there's two reasons why it's NOT as simple as it sounds.
I'm going to a Masters swimming club this evening, in the vain attempt to get back to some degree of activity. I've been saying for ages (yes, a couple of years!) that I needed to get back to some regular exercise, so I'm hoping this will kick-start an increase in activity levels, as I've slowed down a great deal since March last year when I started chemo. Still have 8 Herceptin to go so there's additional hope that the stone I've been carrying will disappear.
Hi Ladies,
I've been on herceptin since dx back in march 2011 and because of secondaries will probably be on it for as long as it works. I have also put on weight again same as you around my middle, although my weight has yoyo'd a bit over the past year I did'nt think that hercpetin was the weight gain culprit I thought it was the tamoxifen, are you ladies also on tamoxifen?
love and light
sarahlousie xxx
Sarahlouise,
The docs tend to say that Herceptin causes no problems and no weight gain. I have had the same mantra from my consultant more than once. I know that my weight gain is due to Herceptin, as from my starting weight I lost a stone on chemo, then started back at the gym three times a week plus spin classes after my surgery whilst having rads and have continued the same since going back to work so am back to my fomer fitness, it's just that I now have excess round the middle.
I took Tamoxifen for a month but the side effects were that bad I stopped taking it and have not taken any since October. Not a popular decision but can't cope with that and Heceptin. May give it another go in a few months but am quite comfortable not.
Can we accurately blame Herceptin, or is it the effects of treatment-induced menopause? I suspect the other treatments we have that have messed with our hormones have the biggest effect. Whether or not you also have Tamoxifen, if you're pre-men before diagnosis the chances are you'll get hit with a treatment-induced menopause.
Just take a look at menopausal women who haven't had any cancer treatment and it's clear that after menopause any weight that goes on tends to go on around the middle.
While it would be nice to say "it's the fault of the Herceptin", I suspect it's more to do with the induced menopause. The problem for us is that we've been thrown headlong into this, so we haven't been able to gradually adapt our way of doing things to maintain our weight as we may have done if left to our own devices (without the influence of BC and its treatment). The Herceptin-induced tiredness doesn't help with increasing activity levels either, so it does have some effect.
It's going to be an uphill walk for most of us, I suspect. But I'm not going to give up and pile on any more weight without a fight. (Says she, who today had a very nice jam doughnut warmed in the oven to make it particularly delicious as an elevenses snack...)
(Just in case you think I'm being judgemental. Or holier-than-thou - at a BMI that puts me in overweight, I don't think so!)
Hugs to all.
lol you could be right about the menopause other than i went through it years ago lol good luck all.
I started Herceptin yesterday (for one year) after 3 FEC's (start Docetaxel today), I have put on good three kg since I started FEC two months ago. I'm not working since Dec (had a physical job, but worked only part time, dog grooming) and so exercise less. I just walk my dogs now for exercise. This is really frustrating as I don't eat a lot of bad food. I've never been overweight all my life, but if I put another kg on I just tipped the scales into being overweight, really don't want this. At the chemo unit they tell me it's probably the hormonal changes going on (although I still have a period after three FEC's albeit a bit weaker and by two days delayed, I'm 42) and the less exercsie that I put on weight, as I don't eat any different from before.
I cut down my portion sizes and increase more fruit and veg in my diet and hope this will help. As soon as I'm rid of this PICC line I might take up aqua aerobic at the local swimming pool.
Christine xx
Hi All,
Just to add, i am not on Tamoxifen and went throught the menopause years ago, so in my case it can only be a combination of chemo ( FEC T ) which I finished in Dec 2010 and Herceptin March 2010 to date.
Sharon
Hi All ,
I put on altogether 15 kgs from the time of my diagnosis , combination of chemo , herceptin , inactivity , menopause , stress , etc . Anyway , over the last 12 months I am doing daily walks , 3 times a week circuit and weight watchers ... and I am glad to see myself back to my very normal weight
Hi drsfelix
Thats the sort of message I like to see. I am hoping that because I am doing my Slimming World to the letter, 3 times gym and spin classes now, that over the next few months the weight will go in the right direction, once I have less drugs in my system to affect it.
Out of interest are you on Tamoxifen or one of the AIs now or nothing at all.
Sam
hi lsdies,
i have been readin that some ladies do go swimming while on chemo, i mention swimming to my chemo nurse about swimming, saunas and things like this and she said not to because if infection, but i am gutted because i love swimming.
lorraine x
re swimming and fitness. Prior to DX I swam a kilometre every morning before work. Onc wouldn't let me swim during chemo or radiotherapy. I returned to swimming 4 weeks after radio finished. First time managed 12 lengths (nearly killed me) but by third visit was back to a kilometre YIPPEE ! my problem is lack of motivation, spent months desperate to go back to my regular daily exercise, but now find I make excuses not to go!!