Anyone with breast cancer and diverticulitis?
My lung mets were discovered when I had a routine chest x ray for a preop. I was going to have my sigmoid colon (pretty damaged) removed. Surgery is off for now. I'm very nervous about a flare-up of the diverticulitis during or caused by chemo. I get very sick with the flare-ups. Something else to worry about.
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Daydream
My husband has diverticulitis and stage 4 colon cancer. I know it is a different type of chemo but a lot of the side effects are the same. He had no issues with his diverticulitis during his chemo. He just completed 12 rounds and is currently NED. I hope the same for you
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Thanks for the reply. I wish you and your husband the best. I get my first dose of Abraxane tomorrow. I0 -
I’m suffering from diverticulitis right now. I got my first AC treatment last Friday. I’ve been in excruciating pain ever since. I see my oncologist on Thursday. Anyone have any answers? Daydream, how did it work out for you
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Nicole, here is my story. I found out I had right-sided diverticulosis when I had my first routine colonoscopy at age 51. I was told to eat a high-fiber diet and not to get constipated. I followed that advice and my diverticulosis never bothered me. But then I received the BC dx and things changed...
3 days after my 2nd round of chemo, I experienced (pretty severe) abdominal pain. I also alternated between bad diarrhea and constipation. The pain would last for about 8 days then would completely disappear. Same thing happened for rounds 3 - 5. I would have pain for 8 days then it would go away. But after the 6th and final round, the pain went away but I still had discomfort. So my MO sent me for a US, and then an abdominal CT. The CT showed an abscess near my colon so I had to go to the ER and get admitted. In the hospital they inserted a CT-guided drain and gave my IV antibiotics. They kept me for 4 days. The internist at the hospital said that she's pretty sure it was caused by chemo cause she sees this fairly often.
I recovered and thought everything was OK. Then 10 months later I sort of passed out at DunkinDonuts and went to the ER via ambulance. Another CT scan showed that I had another abscess. So they inserted another CT-guided drain and gave me IV antibiotics gain and kept me for 5 days. After I was released I had to stay on IV antibiotics for another 10 days then switched to oral antibiotics for another 2 weeks.
It's unlikely (but possible) that the 2nd abscess was really the 1st abscess that never went away and that's why they put me on a longer antibiotics protocol. I had another colonoscopy that only revealed diverticulosis/diverticulitis -- no polyps or anything else. I really don't know what caused the 2nd abscess -- I didn't even have pain.
The surgeon assigned to me in the hospital insisted that I have surgery to remove the damaged part of the colon. I got a 2nd opinion (who said the same thing). Because I never had the typical signs of diverticulitis and I really don't want another attack (and CT scans have alot of radiation and the heavy-duty antibiotics can have serious SEs) I decided to have surgery.
Last month I had a laparoscopic colectomy. The surgeon removed about 9 inches of colon. I recovered fairly quickly (4 weeks). He thinks I won't have another attack.
I'm pretty sure that chemo caused my diverticulitis. Maybe not the drugs themselves, but their SE of constipation.
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