Herceptin / Herclon

My husband has been diagnosed with salivary gland cancer and he is taking Herceptin/Herclon for about 2 years now. We have tried a lot just to keep my husband on this drug because it is said that this medication it’s formally approved to be taken by people with breast cancer, however, I really think that it was worth it because in my opinion, this drug saved my husband’s life. if he wouldn’t have taken this drug I don’t know what would have been now. He tested HER 2 positive 3, doctors said that it is usually located in the breast. It was our doctor’s intention to start the course of treatment with Herceptin as he recommended it for which I am very thankful now. That’s because recent my husband’s petscans have showed now to be clear so the doctor said that we can stop the treatment in about one month or so. I really really hope that after we’re going to stop taking this drug, no more problems would occur. Also, side effects were very mild with him, he had some (doctor said that he never saw somebody that didn’t had absolutely zero side effects) but each one of them were very mild not even worth to write about them. I wish you all good luck and I really wish you are going to be fine as I know how hard it can be to suffer from this.

My diagnose of stage 1V, ER, PR negative HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer was put about a little less than 2 years ago. A little less than a month after the diagnosed I have begun with the chemo and with the Herceptin infusions. I’ve been through chemo treatments every three weeks in total of 8 treatments. I was getting Herceptin infusion the second and the third week for half a year. Now, I’m having Herceptin infusions every 3 weeks. I was having scans after each 2 cycles. The good news were that I already showed shrinkage from the first scan made. My cancer was located in the liver, in the right breasts, in the lymph nodes and in the bone. In the breast and in the liver were the biggest ones: 2.9 and 3.0 cm. after that half a year of intensive chemos and intensive Herceptin infusions there was already no signs of cancer in any of them. However, I have had even more, another 2 cycles just in case to make sure. Anyway, after 3 months of “everything seems fine” I had lumpectomy on right breast and I have another year with infusions of Herceptin. This was few months ago. This time I was told that it is unknown for how much time I would need to have the infusions with Herceptin. Well, overall, I would say that this is a pretty good drug that’s doing its job since combined with chemo I have had very good results. However, it would have been too good not having any side effects. Mine were: very but very and very bad fatigue, especially right after the infusion, also severe joint and muscle pains that continues even nowadays. As it was expected I have very thin fingernails. Doubtless, I have lost my hair on all my body but it returned, it didn’t only in my nose. So far I haven’t no radiation. As I said, overall this is a pretty good medication… I’m currently continuing the treatment with infusions every 3 weeks for an unknown period.

i was taking this herceptin along with taxotere and carboplatin and i saw that i don’t really have the expected or at least some good or positive results. doctors suggested me to discontinue taking taxotere and carboplatin and continue my treatment only with herceptin. honestly, the effects are really bad. since i have ever been on herceptin just by itself i am suffering from constant joint pains, shoulders pains, elbows pains, finger pains, hips pains and feet pains. nothing helps me anymore. even though i’m 42 i consider myself pretty young but i feel now like an really old woman with arthritis. i really doubt that this is something normal. i am taking it for about 7 months and now i’m thinking about discontinuing it. i’ll talk to my doctor about this but i wanted to let you know about the side effects. is there anyone else who is feeling this way or i’m the only one? also, i really hope this drug doesn’t have anything like withdrawal effects or something like that because i’m already enough of pains and etc. i had one infusion every 3 weeks and the side effects are best felt after the infusion so i doubt that this is a coincidence. besides everything, i would not say that the benefits outweigh the side effects since they were really not that much. i cannot recommend this product!

This drug prolonged my mother’s life by 4 years so I think there’s nothing left that is needed to say. Anyway, I want to describe you something and to warn you about something. Well, my mother took this drug along with Adryamyacin for 7 months and this was a big mistake because her Oncologist immediately took her off these drugs because she developed Congestive Heart Failure. I don’t know for sure if Herceptin has really contributed with anything about that but the doctors told her that the mix of these two drugs together were responsible. She was doing very bad, she was having short of breath that she could barely walk in the house. She was also saying that she was feeling fatigued. Anyway, with time she recovered and now she’s very thankful to this drug! She calls it a life savior. Though there are some side effects for the Herceptin, the benefits are much greater! Well, the side effects are: mild nausea, rare headaches and frequent nose bleeds. As you can see, the side effects are nothing compared to 4 added years. I’m just here to say also thanks to whoever made this drug come true and to wish good luck to whoever intends to use this drug.

A little information about me: I am 64 years old women and I was diagnosed with positive breast cancer stage 2 about one and a half year ago. I don’t really like to talk about it and I never really complained about it to anybody. The reason why I am here is that I would like to let other people know a little more about this drug and not my situation. I just want to help those who really need some help. Well, before I ever took Herceptin I was on Cytoxin, Taxol and Adriamycin. Today I just took my third dose of Herceptin and sincerely I’m thankful to those who developed this drug, however, as it was expected, I have some side effects that anybody who will take this drug in future and will read my review should take care of. So, here is what bad effects I have: Mild but discomforting: pains in my right eye and watering from my left nostril. Severe: swelling, that I find it difficult to make a fist, very bad joints and leg pains. I also have fatigue but I guess this is common for chemo meds because I had it with each one of the previous I’ve took. BTW, I’m less fatigued with this one. Now I’m on a treatment of taking Herceptin every 3 weeks so I cannot yet say whether the good effects outweigh the side effects. If I’m going to be healed then no doubt that the good effects far outweigh the bad ones that can be combated with pain killers and other meds. Until now, I seem to have good results but I still cannot recommend it to anybody. I just want to make sure that you’ll be prepared for the side effects in case you want to use this medicine. Good luck and I wish that nobody would ever suffer from this disease!

I was 34 when I first took Herceptin. I was a year younger when doc told me that I have breast cancer. They told me I have to take Herceptin that it is made for early breast cancer patients to decrease chance of reoccurrence. With no doubt, I took the medication right after I got it. Until now, I have experienced absolutely no problems since I took the medication. I even conceived and now I have a healthy and beautiful little girl since then! Had no side effect (maybe some little unpleasant feelings). Took the medication for 3 months. When the doc took a PET scan, the cancer was gone. I am now feeling great so I can honestly say that Herceptin is a very good drug! I’m 36 years old now and living my life back again normally. I assume that women who are suffering from this monstrous disease should give a try to this drug because even if you are going to have some side effects, the benefits are going to outweigh them. The drug is worth your money and time to spend, trust me! Good luck to all of you!