Rapid Heart Rate

[dvetti68]

I've had five cycles of chemo and have started to have a rapid heart rate- has anyone experienced this during chemo? I am getting carbo, taxel and etoposide.

[whitejaq]

High heart rate and low blood pressure followed a pretty bad case of anemia after my sixth (of six) treatments with taxol and carbo. I started noticing after my third treatment that I had some issues with heart rate and anemia, but my oncologist didn't treat this. Two months after my sixth treatment (in April) I finally convinced my primary care doctor that this was really impeding my recovery. My heart started to race and I would feel dizzy if I did almost anything for more than a couple minutes. I think it helped that I got an inexpensive heart rate monitor at Target and started to track what was happening with my heart rate. It helped me convince my doctor that I wasn't just whining about general fatigue. She treated the heart rate with atenol and the bp with midodrine and it has seemed to help. I think it is very hard for people -- even doctors --- to understand how debilitating this situation is. Good luck to you and hang in there, my friend.

[Jane39]

Make sure you discuss any side effects with your doctor, but are you getting steroids with your treatments?  I would assume yes as this is common with most chemo, and boy did my chest bound like crazy and my heart raced.   Best wishes to you.