My husband is almost 6 years post treatment. One of the after-effects seems to be lightheadedness - quite severe at times. We are wondering if it has to do with the neck dissection (including removal of part of the jugular vein).

Anyone else have this after treatment?

Thanks,
Anita

Obviously he has had his blood pressure checked at doctors appointments and stuff, but has he had it checked after standing for a few minutes? I developed orthostatic hypotension after my treatments ended - my blood pressure dropped when I stood up causing me to be light headed and all that. My pulse also races when my blood pressure drops. I had a tilt table test to confirm all of this. My blood pressure was going from 120/80 to 70ish/52 and my heart rate was getting up to around 135 when I stood up. My endocrinologist says it could be related to my neck dissection but my ENT says in the 20 years she's been doing the procedure she's never had it happen, not to say it is impossible or anything. It also could be related to chemo but no one has seen it happen from the chemo I was on. So basically they aren't really sure what caused it. But anyway, it might be worth looking into. But in any case, talk to your doctors about it.

My husband started using a blood pressure medicine to increase the pressure and the dizziness and fainting stopped.

Good Luck,
cray

Bill suffered from it right after treatment everytime he would bend over and then stand up. He would have to grab something to keep from keeling over. It has gotten better and doesn't happen much now but on occasion, he will experience it.

His blood pressure seems to vacillate from slightly low to normal so I wonder if it only happens when its low...we are never in a place to check it when it happens.

Deb

Thanks for the reply.
I find it interesting that both of you had Carboplatin as your chemo...going to see if I can find out anything about syncope/orthostatic hypotension as a long-term side effect of carboplatin.


Anita

Good luck. Let me know what you find. I've picked my doctors brains over and over again and no one knows of anything other than what theoretically could happen and everything I find online is carboplatin combined with another drug.

I am having a terrible problem with light headedness. It has put me on my behind more than once. It usually occurs a few seconds after I get up and start waking. Sometime so bad it almost hurts. (I know it sounds crazy) My chemo was cisplatin though.
Amy

Hi all,
Martin still feels very lightheaded after all of this time and fainted 2 weeks ago while I was at work. Poor martin cracked 2 ribs and chipped a bone in his hip from the fall.
Our doctor says he has high blood pressure due to lack of sleep (he is now on Nitrazepam) and lost of a lot of weight in a short amount of time. he doesn't want to prescribe anything.
Now Martin sleeps too much, but he is still dizzy.
we were worried but no one else seems too concerned.
cecilia

When is the last time he had blood work?

Who is his doctor? I mean the doc says he has high blood pressure but he doesn't want to prescribe anything? What does he want to do? IMHO I would think if he had high enough BP to faint I would want immediate action taken.

I am not sure what it is like in the US, but here in London the Doctors have 5 minutes with you and that's it. It's a bit like a factory, in and out. You barely have tine to sit down and take your coat off.
The doctor said the BP would right itself once he ate more and slept.
Thursday, Martin is going to see the surgery team and the consultant for a post op assessment. He is so annoyed with them and their trial that i think he will ask say what he thinks and wants. Hopefully they will listen.