Questions regarding possible bone mets

NotBrokenJustBent

Hello all.

I have said it before but once again I thank you for all the help you offer to our community. Once again I come here for your thoughts and advice.

5 weeks ago I began experiencing pain in my upper arm. I did not pay much attention to it as I did not know that the upper arm is one of the first places bone mets first appear. I have back issues and not suppose to lift more than 10 lbs so it can't be muscular, plus I have no muscle tone given my limitations so when I try to identify the location it is easy to feel the bone and that seems to be where the pain originates. It is deep and aching and at its worse it extends deep into shoulder. I have a high tolerance for pain but I would define it as a 4 out of 10 and enough to wake me up from sound sleep and it is constant and unrelenting.

I have not called my MO as she will want tests and I have been exposed to so much radiation in my life already. I hate to get dosed again only to find it is nothing and it goes away on its own. I would love an MRI but because of the expense I know the drill. First x-ray and then CT.

Any thoughts are appreciated but my questions for the group are as follows:

Would a dexa show mets? I know like an X-ray it would not be the best test but I wonder if mets are advanced if they might show. I just had a dexa 3 months ago.

Would pain from bone mets just start one day and progress in just 5 weeks? It was such a sudden onset. Is that typical of arthritis?

Is there a risk waiting a few more weeks before I go to doctor? Knowing her she will definitely want tests as I have been here before with false alarms. I really want to limit radiation exposure if possible.

Thank you my friends.

Piggy99

NotBrokenJustBent, a dexa scan would not show mets, because it only looks at a handful of places in your body and the upper arm is not one of them.

I think it would be worth setting up an appointment with your MO. While there could be lots of non-cancer reasons for the pain, including degenerative disease (especially if you are/were on anti-hormonal treatment), seems like your symptoms are sufficiently serious to warrant a checkup - you've had this pain for 5-6 weeks, it's bad enough to wake you from sleep and it's painful to the touch. An X-ray would be easy to get, involves a pretty low level of radiation and would be pretty sensitive for a bone lesion, especially in the arm, where there aren't a lot of overlapping structures that make X-rays more difficult to read.

I'm hoping it's nothing serious. Best of luck, and let us know how it goes.

NotBrokenJustBent

Thank Piggy. I guess it is time to make an appointment. It has started to stress me out as the pain is constant which makes it hard to forget about. I will call Monday and likely it will take a bit of time to be seen. I will definitely follow up here. I used to post a lot, tried to help others and took an interest in their well being only for them to disappear and I never knew the outcome.

Take good care and thanks for the gentle kick in butt.

KBeee

Make an appointment and get it checked. AN xray does sound like a logical first step. Hoping it's arthritis or something of that sort.

NotBrokenJustBent

Thanks KBeee. Yeah, this pain is different than what I have experienced with injuries. It is time. Thank you for your input. Take care. Damn BC.

MinusTwo

Not Broken - Holding you in my thoughts old friend.

NotBrokenJustBent

Minus, you are always in my thoughts too..

NotBrokenJustBent

Just a quick update because you guys were kind enough to read my post. At the moment I am more hopeful than I have been.

Mid December I was experiencing horrific heart burn at night so I was propping myself up with several pillows to help. Coincidentally that is when the pain in the arm started. Last night I fell asleep on the couch and oddly my arm felt somewhat improved today. 🤔 I never made the association before now but I do have a significant neck injury although asymptomatic. I read that a pinched nerve can cause shoulder and arm pain. That actually makes sense.

No more pillows tonight and I will take my prescription meds for heartburn. I will see where this takes me. Perhaps visit to chiropractor vs MO? That is my hope.

As a hobby I invest in early biotechs that are still is various phases of studies and FDA approval. It is a lengthy process but there are so many promising cancer drugs on the horizon. I am hopeful we see some major break throughs very soon. 👍

MinusTwo

NBJB - oh I do hope this trial will be the solution. It would be fantastic to relieve the pain with a solution that requires no additional docs or meds. Fingers crossed.

KBeee

Hoping this eases your pain! Thanks for the update.