arthritis on recent bone scan... really?

LittleFlower

So I've had this hip pain for about 6 months.  It is constant (meaning daily, but not every minute of the day).  I finally agreed to a bone scan because i was starting to get scared.  So the bone scan showed some uptake in both hips, which the radiologist thinks 'favors arthritis'.  No mets..  great news.  I can't help but wonder.. should i just accept this good news?? i'd love to take it for what it is, but i'm only 33.  Really, can this be arthritis at my age?  I'm so sick of worrying about cancer.  Surely, it it were mets, a bone scan would look really distinct right??

Guess i want some honest opinions.  Have any of you ladies had such findings on bone scans?

LitteFlower

diana50

they found inlfamation....wear and tear on my right hip.  i think that often; bone mets show up in more then one place...like a few spots...here and there.  if i was you; i would see how it goes...if pain subsides...and then in 6 months have them re evaluate.  also, an x-ray is another way to look at bones that hurt.  i think that the chemo...and treatment we got as stage IIIers had a tendency to make our bones and joints painful. hope you feel better.

karen1956

littleflower...unfotunately arthritis knows no age limits....so it could be arthritis....I'm on Aromasin, so I have knee pain...I haven't had any scans (other than bone density) since Dx...well, I take that back...I've had xrays of hands/wrists due to CTS and tendonitis and I think there is some arthritis, but I'm 53, so that is to be expected.  It stinks either way, but I would think arthritis is better than mets....can you take anything to help with the pain?  hugs to you. 

weesa

Yeah, I have this problem, too. I take Aleve and sometimes a prescription. Mobic, and they help alot so I figure it is arthritis not bone mets. Also I have had a few bone scans and they always compare them, as arthritis spreads differently than bone mets. I only too well know your scepticism! Does your hip pain respond to anti-inflammatories?

janie44

Shortly after I had chemo, I had bone pain and had scans.  They found arthritis in six places.  THe good news is, that pain has subsided now that I am farther away from treatment.  Back when I was on Taxol, I could not walk across a room without holding on to something and could not shop somewhere as big as Wal-mart. It took a while to get the kinks out, but I am sure chemo causes many of the pains we experience. Hopefully, yours will get better too.

Janie

lexi4

I have had a sore left hip since I was on chemo. I mentioned it to my rads onc and he felt if it was a bone met, that the pain would be constant. Kind of like a tooth-ache.

I still have that pain off and on and it has been over 4 years. I'd follow up on it, but I bet it's just stinky arthritis. I hope that it gets better for you soon.

Lexi

evieo

I got a pain in my right side (bc side) half way through rads.  That pain has been with me for 2 years now.  I've had 2 PET scans (last in March '09) after the pain arrived and they were showing NED.  I just had xrays of the ribs and they show that I had previously had a broken rib on that side. I had NEVER been told that before so I guess it happen after chemo.  My bone scan and MRIs (last in March 09) show arthritis and degenerative disease in my spine and neck.  I will be 60 on Feb 13 so I guess the arthritis is to be expected.  I have not pushed for any other testing because I want my body to rest from so much radiation. The pain is daily, sometimes wose then others, but never stops me from doing what I want to do.

NancyD

I had my first twinge of arthritis in my late 30s in my right foot. And when I broke some bones in my left foot a few years later, the orthopedic surgeon told me to expect it in that foot sooner rather than later. Then my shoulder acted up. My hips and knees were giving me trouble just before my bc was diagnosed.

SInce then, I've been on Arimidex. All known arthritic joints have shown up on scans and have been re-identified as such through them...and through physical flare-ups.

LittleFlower

Thanks ladies for your encouraging words.  I remember a member posting a few months back (can't remember who!) that she had been reassured she had arthritis, and later was really diagnosed with bone mets.  I don't have to explain it to you guys, this is just scary stuff.  I'll take the good news!  Actually, i was really worried that they'd find other mets, numerous, that weren't affecting me at all.. so i was pretty happy to learn that 3 years post dx, and 2 years post tx, my bones are ok. (how surreal, as i type those years in I realize it hasn't been that long.. but it truly feels like an eternity.  I am SO READY to leave this all behind me!)

Prayers for everyone on these boards that good news will follow you all as well!

LittleFlower