When Chemotherapy Side Effects Sent Her to the ICU

Shortly after beginning treatment for stage 3 inflammatory breast cancer, Lindsey Gunter started experiencing rare chemotherapy side effects so intense that she was unable to walk, leading to her being admitted into the intensive care unit of Atlanta’s Northside Hospital.

Gunter sat down for an interview with CURE to discuss her side effect experiences and how her care team determined the cause of her pain.

Transcript

What was your initial treatment experience like?

I did my first chemotherapy treatment on Aug. 15, just after my birthday. I kept thinking, “This kind of stinks, because I get to celebrate my birthday and then turn around and do chemo.” However, it was a great birthday.

I then went on to do my first treatment. Everything felt what I would consider fine, considering that I was getting chemotherapy, not knowing what was going to happen to my body. I thought all was well.

I went home, I slept, I drank water, I woke up the next morning and felt really tired, really nauseous, couldn't eat anything. I think a week went by, and I went in for my checkup. They said they did blood work and everything looked normal, everything was within normal parameters. I said I was winded all the time, and my muscles hurt really, really bad all the time. They said that was all normal, all of those symptoms happen when you have chemotherapy. My body seemed to be handling it exactly like everyone else's was, and to just continue to try to eat as much as I could and drink more water because I was dehydrated. So, I said, “OK.” I went home and did exactly what they said.

I think another five days after that, I woke up and I was in so much pain, I don't even really know how to describe it. When doctors ask you, “Can you rate your pain on a scale of 1 to 10?” Well, I was at a 12. We called the office, and I kept saying, “My muscles hurt. My muscles hurt.” And they kept saying, “Do you mean your bones? Your bones are supposed to hurt.” I said, “No, my muscles hurt.” They said, “OK, that's not normal. You need to go to the ER right now.”

I got into the car, get to the ER, and they can't figure out what's wrong with me. At this point I'm vomiting because I'm in so much pain. I'm dehydrated, and they get me hooked up to fluids and get me settled on some pain medicine. However, the pain medicine’s not working, and they can't figure out why. It turns out I am the 1% of the population that morphine doesn't work on.

They get me set up with some other pain medicines that finally start working. At this point, I'm blacking in and out due to pain and pain medicine. So, my mom's explained to me a little bit about what happened while I was in and out.

They did a lot of blood testing, which was very hard for them because they couldn't find a vein that would want to work, because at that point, my veins were so dehydrated that they couldn't really find anything that would give them any sort of blood.

I do remember, I think they tried at least 15 times between both of my arms to get an IV in. I do remember that pain, that was rough. Finally, I think I had screamed out, “Just use my port,” which had just been put into my chest. It still had stitches over it, and they were a little hesitant about it, but they finally said, “OK, we're going to use her port.” They were able to get blood and start running tests to figure out what's going on.

I blacked out again, but my mom said a nurse came running in and said, “I know what it is. I know what happened. I know what's wrong with her.” Everyone turned around and was like, “What? What is wrong with her?” Your muscles start excreting so much protein that it's incredibly painful. It only happens to people who work out excessively or run marathons excessively. Basically, you stress out your muscles so much, that's what happens.

They turned to my mom, and they were like, “Was she working out? What was she doing?” And my mom was like, “She was sleeping. She's been sleeping for four days.” So, they were like, “We don't know how this could happen to her, but we know how to help.” They started flooding my body with fluids, because that's the only way to help, and keeping up with pain medicine to help with the pain.

They admitted me to the hospital. My mom reached out to my oncology office to let him know what was going on. Obviously, I wasn't going to be at my next appointment, and the doctor responded with, “It's very, very rare, but the chemotherapy that she had can cause this. It happens in 1% of people. It's only happened maybe two other times.” So, they were like, “I guess it was the chemo.”

That's when I found out I was a part of the 1% population that side effects could happen to and now I kind of stick with it. Everything that I do, I'm like, “Is there side effects? Are there 1% side effects, because that's what's going to happen to me.”

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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