Odd pain going on 4 weeks...

chicago-37
chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
edited June 2014 in Not Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastases but Concerned
Odd pain going on 4 weeks...
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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited September 2010

    I know I know...I've already schedule my onc appointment, but this is strange and I was hoping for some feedback. 

    (Note: I do not exercise that much, mainly just walking 3~6 miles to/from work.) 

    8/14 - I decided to do some intense "Crunch" work-out program from Netflix...felt fine.  First time to do something like this since my surgery 1.5 years ago.

    8/15 - Biked 3 miles to movies, noticed pain in my left upper arm that was sharp ... would come and go.

    8/15 ~ 8/21 - pain came and went, but started to progressing to a dull pain.  Only like a 3 on a 0 - 10 pain scale.

    8/22 - biked 10 miles, left arm starting hurting worse (4 on a 0 - 10 pain scale)....mainly upper arm some shoulder.

    8/28 - worried about arm mets..went to primary care physican....x-ray of arm...clear... he wants a bone scan...since nothing on arm, I a not concerned.  Decide not to take on the extra radiation of the bone scan.

    8/31 - went to chiropractor, had adjustment and acupuncture.

    9/1 - left shoulder blade is starting to cause pain....arm seems to be resolving.  seems like muscle, but can't tell.

    9/4 - went kayaking....left shoulder blade hurting pretty bad....in morning not bad, but night more often...

    9/6 - go to chiropractor... massage/adjustment/accupuncture ... shoulder blade starts to resolve

    9/7 - neck pain...only with movement, but around 7 on a 0-10 pain scale.  Have my husband massage/use some cream for soreness.

    9/8 - neck pain and headache....Have my husband massage/use some cream for soreness.

    9/9 - neck pain with movement and headache.

    I have my onco appointment 9/14, but am afraid all they want to do is a bone scan..... I was hoping this was just muscle/sleeping weird.... has anybody had anything like this with mets?  I am most concerned that I have mets in my spine or neck....... left arm was fine, saw some of the shoulder/lung on it and those were reported as clear in the x-ray on 8/28.  I refused to do a spine x-ray at that time because my arm hurt and I try to avoid excessive radiation.

    Thoughts?  Should I be worried...I am .. but does this sound like mets?

    I'm just 1.5 years out of my bilateral mastectomy.  Stage 1 in right breast, grade 2 0/9 nodes IDC.  Bone Scan/CT from that time were clear, no chemo/rads because of bilateral mastectomy and oncotype dx score.

    I haven't experienced pain/discomfort like this. 

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  • fightinhrd123
    fightinhrd123 Member Posts: 633
    edited September 2010

    I have something very similar, not the arm pain, but the neck and headache.  My onc thinks its a tension headache, and gave me muscle relaxers and told me to lay at night with a heating pad and muscle relaxers, its getting much better.  Im having an MRI on my thoradic (SP) spine on Tuesday just to be sure its not a disc or something.  Maybe the arm pain was stressing you out and you started getting tension headaches?  Mine are in my neck and my head, thought for sure i had brain mets!

    Laura

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  • perky
    perky Member Posts: 241
    edited September 2010

    Sounds like it could be  a rotator cuff injury.

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  • LRM216
    LRM216 Member Posts: 2,115
    edited September 2010

    I second the rotator cuff vote.

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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited September 2010

    Just got back from another adjustment, feels like there is pressure off my neck, but still pain/headache.  I have full range of motion in my arm, and it doesn't feel like I'm much weaker there.  I'm relatively young ... under 40.  I'm taking a muscle relaxant and taking a nap to see if it helps....

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  • LRM216
    LRM216 Member Posts: 2,115
    edited September 2010

    Geez, Chicago - I'd be freaking dead by now if I did all that you did!  I don't have any real advice to add, but I do want to wish you the best of luck and hope all will resolve itself and be absolutely nothing.

    Linda

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  • SpunkyGirl
    SpunkyGirl Member Posts: 1,568
    edited September 2010

    Could you possibly have LE in your arm and shoulder?  You can have pain from LE before you have any swelling.  Maybe a referral to a Physical Therapist might help?

    Good luck finding answers.

    Bobbie

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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited September 2010

    I don't think it's LE as I did not have nodes removed from my left side.  There is no swelling or heavy feeling.    The pain seems to be better with muscle relaxers and NSAIDs, just can't seem to shake it.  Worried, have an onco appointment on Tuesday I don't want to have a bone scan...but I think that is what they are going to go for.

    The pain is mainly in the left shoulder blade area between the shoulder blade and the spine.  Sometimes my neck is a bit tight and the muscles seem to cause a slight headache.

    I am really concerned about mets... is there anybody out there that had a clean bone scan/ct/stage 1 and then had mets in only 1.5 years?

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  • apple
    apple Member Posts: 7,799
    edited September 2010

    how old are you..?

    i started having arthritis 'issues' fairly early on, and it certainly isn't uncommon for injuries to pop up in one's forties.. not to mention fifties.

    edit.. i see you are forty-ish.. I injured my back severely as a mid-teen.. hairline fractures and a bad sprain.  As it healed the inflammation apparently travelled up my back and nestled in the base of my skull.  (at least that's what the doc said).  it was an awful headache.

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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited September 2010

    Apple,

      I am not quite 40.  I was dx at 37 1.5 years ago.  I'm 38 now. 

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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited September 2010

    Just frustrated waiting for my onco appointment tomorrow.  Last night when I woke up, neck was painful, maybe positional... This pain is just odd, it seems to be in my shoulder blade at times and neck at others.....I thought it would get better by now...since it isn't, I can't help but think of worst case scenarios.

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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited September 2010

    I took an Advil, and it seems to ease the pain.... just very...very..very frustrated...and scared.

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  • Lowrider54
    Lowrider54 Member Posts: 2,721
    edited September 2010

    As my very wise nurse/neighbor says to me on numerous ocassions..."Not everything that is going on is related to your cancer....some of it could be just plain aging"  and hands me an ice pack. 

    The symtoms you are describing sound very much like you may be developing some brusitis in the shoulder.  And since you indicated you don't normally excersise that much, it could very well be just that - you have gotten it inflammed and the fact that Advil has helped (an inflamation reducer) is a pretty good sign that it very well may be something from the 'normal' world and not the "C" world...wish you the best.  BTW...my mets is in my bones - spine mostly, a rib and one hip - if I overdo, I experience the same type of arm pain - mine is brusitis - I was a softball pitcher in high school and a bar league for many years.  I just turned 56.  Edited to add...there is no mets in my arm, shoulder blade, collar bone or anything significant in the cervical spine.  And, I was 10 years NED. 

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  • mmm5
    mmm5 Member Posts: 1,470
    edited September 2010

    I thought it might help to tell another story showing how all new odd pains are not mets.

    Last XMAS I started experiencing shoulder pain more in my shoulder blade, it was painful and achey. It ruined xmas it seemed to always be there. A couple of times it woke me in my sleep and then I just knew it had to be mets, if it wakes you in sleep it has to be mets. I let it drag me so far down that I laid around depressed the whole holiday season. So after the Holidays I had an MRI of the spine, my Doc called me within 2 hours of MRI so I thought for sure mets as he was calling quickly. No Mets, well the pain did not go away with Advil, massage, nothing. I started to convince myself that they missed something and they could not see the scapula on the MRi or the shoulder and thought I have mets of some place they could not see.  The pain went on into FEB and I got myself so worked up they ordered a bone scan. I could not bring myself to call for results as it scared me so much I was shaking throughout each day. Finally I drove myself into to Dr's office and just asked for copy and after 2 1/2 months of stress there was NOTHING there.

    It took about a month and it finally went away with some physical therapy and time but let me tell you I hate to admit this but I believe this pain originated because I grasped on to a pain that I would have ignored 3 years ago and made it worse by clenching each day. I also believe it was exacerbated by getting on my computer and reading BCO every 3 hours craning my neck looking for signs of mets all over the board. The first year post treatment was sooooo difficult for me and everything I had seemed like mets, including a cough (it was a cold), high liver enzymes was (supplements) pain (normal) and spots on my torso (bug bites)

    I understand where you are at and most of us do, but I doubt it is mets and you will feel better once you know it is not as well. I am sorry you have to go through this it is really awful, and I pray you find peace very soon.

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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited September 2010

    Lowrider54/mmm5,

      Thank you for your words of support.  I will see what happens tomorrow, but really don't want more radiation.  I will see what happens...

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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited September 2010

    Well...onco appointment went as expected...she doesn't think it's anything, but considered the options...I want MRI she wants a bone scan... I told her if it clears up in 1-2 weeks maybe I'm not going to do the bone scan...she wants me to call her if it clears up in a week....I could probably have the test tomorrow..but don't want the extra radiation.

    But, I slept mainly on my side today (in a position that doesn't hurt) and am working from bed (since I took off for the appointment) and it seems to feel better.  Let's see if rest tonight will do anything good for me. 

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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited September 2010

    My neck felt a little better yesterday, but I was taking advil every 4 hours.  I do not want to have to continually take pain medication to feel better.  I noticed my left side of my neck is very tight, I keep stretching and massaging it.  I guess I need to schedule the bone scan next week and just rule out any possibility.  Very frustrated as it's not resolving, and it is only painful with movement.

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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited September 2010

    Scheduled the bone scan for Wed.  Should have results by Friday (hopefully).  Husband thinks I might have a protruding or herniated disc, but I am just worried.

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  • LRM216
    LRM216 Member Posts: 2,115
    edited September 2010

    All good thoughts and positive vibes being sent your way.  May it all be for naught.

    Linda

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  • LRM216
    LRM216 Member Posts: 2,115
    edited September 2010

    Chicago:

    Just checking in on you to see how you are doing? 

    Linda

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  • CoolBreeze
    CoolBreeze Member Posts: 4,668
    edited September 2010

    Hey, I hope you are okay.  

    But, I wanted to say one thing - chiropractors aren't supposed to do manipulations on cancer patients.  I read in the literature - quite recently - about a woman with mets who had bone pain, went to a chiro, he did his adjustment, and broke her spine and killed her.  She was riddled with mets and her bones were fragile.  

    No reputable chiropractor, knowing your medical history, should be doing adjustments on a cancer patient with back pain.  He should have told you to get it cleared before he did it. 

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  • hopeful34
    hopeful34 Member Posts: 1,569
    edited September 2010

    I have worked as a medical assistant for an orthopedic surgeon for five years and I can tell you that most likely the Advil would not help if it were something other than a muscle strain or arthritis.  Advil is an anti-inflammatory and that's why it is useful for arthritic patients.  I too have arthritis in my spine and I am only 34 and it can get really painful sometimes.  Especially when there are weather changes or when I over do it. It radites into my head, neck, arms, etc.   Most likely you have just done too much and now it just needs time to heal.  Just try and relax (easier said than done I know)  However, stress causes you to tense up and I have noticed when I stress out over it, the pain seems to get worse.  Please let us know how the scan goes.  Sending good wishes your way.  Take Care.  Allison

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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited October 2010

    All,

      I pushed off my bonescan for some time now, and I've decided I just need to do the test.  Worrying about the pain is almost worse than the pain.  I'm going in next Wed.  Hopefully it comes out clear. 

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  • LRM216
    LRM216 Member Posts: 2,115
    edited October 2010

    Chicago:

    I'm glad to hear from you, was so worried about you.  Glad you are having it done.  I know the fear of having any type of scan only too well.  I should probably have one too, but my pains are always transient - a few hours - or a day at best - and then gone, but who really knows?  Please keep me posted, I care, I truly do.  I will keep all positive thoughts for you, and remember, please - it all could be something that has nothing at all to do with cancer. 

    Wishing you all the best,

    Linda

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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited October 2010

    Had my injection a couple hours ago, I have been drinking water like mad in order to try to urinate and lessen my radiation exposure.  Need to go back in an hour to have the imaging done.

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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited October 2010

    very scared and upset.....just took one scan and i am peeing....(posting from phone) they want me to take another picture turned over for 25 more mins....last bone scan was one picture.

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  • LRM216
    LRM216 Member Posts: 2,115
    edited October 2010

    We are always waiting on something with this dang disease, aren't we????  The appointment for the test, the test, then the results - on and on ad nauseum.

    Sending all good, positive vibes and a hand to hold.

    Linda 

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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited October 2010

    The tech copied my newest bone scan (not very detailed pictures) and I asked him for my previous which he somehow didn't copy onto the dvd...and have looked them over...there are couple of things that have me slightly worried, but I'm no expert....waiting to see if the results post today.

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  • sueUK
    sueUK Member Posts: 124
    edited October 2010

    Wishing you all the best Chicago...clear tests and a speedy easing of your pain!

    Sue x

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  • chicago-37
    chicago-37 Member Posts: 101
    edited October 2010

    ...Still no report...I'm convinced that it is because something is wrong and they are having others review it.  My last bone scan was available the same day!

    Does anybody know if a ruptured disc will show up on a bone scan?  I read that trauma might, and I'm hoping that's the explanation for what I see....but again I'm not an expert, hopefully it is all normal.

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