Long term chemo side effects

@Blossom1961 heartburn was an issue for me on and off during chemo. I would 1) stopped drinking English breakfast tea completely at the start of chemo (stopped coffee afew years ago due to anxiety); 2) have a tiny bit (half-teaspoon) of apple cider vinegar in warm water before I ate anything once a day in the morning, 3) no regular alcohol since diagnosis 22/6 last year, a glass of chambers/ small amount of wine with a special dinner out; 4) half-way through chemo my cousin, who is a midwife, said slippery elm worked for nausea and heartburn. I started to take one before breakfast and one before dinner, and I continued that till the end of 9 weeks taxol. It really helped keep those problems at bay for me; 5) as others have said exercise - I walked outside every day, 6) I’ve been taking ultra muscleze twice daily for muscle pain. I’ve found it has the added benefit of keeping depression at bay!!
hope this helps. 7) chocolate - my daily choc diet is no more since diagnosis: I eat chocolate on and off, but never in bulk, like I used to. 8) I eat more fresh fruit and more greens than before.

Letrozole has caused many side effects (lack of oestrogen has a huge impact on the body) but I do think many things started with the chemo.  If there had been a significant gap between treatments, I might be able to comment more but chemo seemed to upset my gastro-intestinal tract and it has never really recovered.  Poor memory and concentration again started with chemo but I think have been exacerbated by AI.  Extreme fatigue, likewise.  My white cell count is consistently low which is what concerned me during the initial Covid outbreaks last year.  How much can I attribute to chemo and how much to AI is unknowable, I think (unless I go off the Letrozole which I don't want to do).

Hi there. I read all of your comments with interest as I also have the brain fog, fatigue and aches and pains - but I did not have chemo. I had surgery, radiation therapy and endocrine therapy (ongoing) for Stage 2 Grade 2 BC. The physiotherapist said radiotherapy has a long term (permanent) effect in that your immune system is constantly trying to repair the "damage", but it can't. That is a cause of fatigue in itself.

The Tamoxifen side effects were dramatic - due to such a drastic and sudden drop in estrogen and progesterone, then the Zoladex injections (ongoing) and Letrozole combo had me feeling like I was at least 80 years old (I'm 55). However - I currently feel much less fatigued and have far fewer aches and pains after switching to Aromasin. I'm also on an antidepressant, Escitalopram, which helps too. 

The oncologist said fighting the aches and pains all day is what made me so fatigued. The switch has improved my symptoms. Long may that last!!! Maybe a switching to a different endocrine therapy drug will help you guys too. I hope so.  All the best. Lxxx

Hi, I haven’t been on here for years, this May will be six years for me cancer free. Side effects have been massive, Yes heartburn, I take lemon juice and emoprazine, I’ve had to have my gall bladder removed, have developed hypothyroidism, and now suffer aches and pains and tiredness. I struggle to keep up with my full time job, which I have to do to pay my mortgage. Some days I just wish I could rest. I’ve been to my GP re fatigue and have done blood tests. The only thing showing is low White blood cell count. The doctor wants to repeat the test in a month. I’m left wondering. I also suffer vertigo and it’s relentless, making it difficult to exercise. I love yoga, but it has set off the vertigo. I posted on here to see if anyone else has similar experiences and what they have done to help.

I just read up on Melatonin to assist with sleeping. Apparently it is okay to use with tamoxifen, etc.

Dear @Sabran65
When I was having chemo I also got indigestion/heartburn which I never had before, my oncologist prescribed Salpraz which helped me at the time?

@TonyaM - Im so glad that you mentioned the continued brain fog - I finished chemo 1 year ago and continue on with targeted treatments and the brain fog has improved but I still get VERY forgetful - I was about to post about this to see if anyone has this problem, it drives me crazy. So I am glad to hear that it can take two years for this to improve. I also had surgery in mid November and thought that it might be a carry over from the anaesthetic (just took me about a minute to remember the word for putting you to sleep  :/ )
Thank you for the input  <3  :)

I think I’ll make a note to find out the blood test results when I goon Thursday to oncologist. Never bothered to ask before figured I’d get told if anything was amiss. 

My oncologist checked my iron and vitamin D levels before I started chemo. Like a surprising number of women, my Vitamin D level was much too low. May be an unintentional side effect of slip, slop, slap - I burn easily and stay out of the sun. I had to get my level up before starting chemo (iron was fine). I still take a supplement, especially in winter which may assist with bone thinning (Letrozole side effect). It’s worth getting these things checked occasionally as it’s easy to blame treatment for everything and it may be something that’s easily fixed.

Since my treatments I am sooooo tired, cannot travel far or do too much in a day. I recently had bloods taken by GP and I had Low iron, zinc, D and anemia, so I had a iron infusion and I had reactions that before on my previous infusions I didn't get any ??? so on tablets of zinc and D to see if I can get the levels up and start to feel better. that bloody chemo sure knocks you around  😖

You are right @Blossom1961, it is extremely difficult continuing with natural therapies after BC.