Migrain-like headaches on Zometa and/or Avastin?

[loramu]

Hi there,

Has anyone had any issues with migrane-like headaches and Zometa and/or Avastin? I have had 3 debilitating headaches in a month's time where the only relief was sleeping it off.....they even caused me to vomit. I have no history of migraines and feared brain mets, but thankfully a stat head CT came back clean. My oncologist has chalked it up to migraines and has prescribed me beta blockers to prevent any further instances. The onsite pharmacist at the practice said that both drugs can cause headaches, but they're in conjunction with flu-like symptoms. I was inclined to blame the Zometa, since that is new to me this fall, where I was previously on Avastin for 6 months with no side effects. Just curious about everyone else's experience!

Thanks!

Lori

[Patti B]

Lori-

I was on Avastin alone for about 7 months and developed horrendous headaches. Doc did MRI and CAT scan of my head which were both negative. Come to find out, Avastin can cause high blood pressure - he sent me to my local med center to get a BP check and sure enough, my BP was very high. They have since put me on BP meds and all is well.

Hope this helps!!

Patti B

[Wendy]

Hi Lori,

I was on Avastin, Zometa and Tarceva for a year. After about six months I started developing vision problems and the feeling that I was moving in slow motion (including on the freeway - yikes). After several mri brain scans over a few months, they found that I was having migraine aura's (strobe light vision) that people get before they get a full blown migraine. Eventually I started getting full blown migraines with the vision problems and headaches. At about month 9 my onc reduced the dosage of avastin and the problem got a little better.

I still struggle with occasional migraines now, but there are much less severe than they were when I was on Avastin.

I hope they figure out what is causing your migrain problems.

Wendy

[Suzie Q]

My mom was hospitalized with 9 days of unrelenting headache when on Taxol, Carboplatin, and Avastin. Her normally low BP shot up, too, requiring BP meds. They couldn't decide which came first: the pain or the high BP, as one can cause the other to occur. Either way, the onc blamed Avastin and took her off it. She did not have further problems with headaches of that intensity, but it did take a while for the blood pressure to come down enough to stop the meds.

~Karen