Symptoms of metastasis to spine?

spam above!   same post directing someone to mayo clinic ..

Hi, With bone mets you'll get pain a lot of pain, also tire easier.

i have mets in my spine, aches and pain were first put down to age, and weight and was given painkillers.

Pain got worse until I told the doctor on the scale of 1-10 it was 15 and rising. I was given stronger painkillers .

Pain got worse and my mobility was affected - I was loosing feeling in the soles of my feet and the right leg had developed a mind of its own. It jumped, kicked or just stopped  wrking.

Doc now thought trapped nerve and asked a neuron specialist to see me.

Two days later I'm in A&E as I can hardly stand and keep falling down.

To cut a long story short by day 3 -  I'm paralised from the chest down, bowels and blader no longer working.

That was the beginning of June- today my insides are working fine and I can walk with one stick, plus I get a little better all the time.

So Loo out for bone pain, tiredness and if its your back mobility problems. If you can ask your doctor for CT scan not all cancers show up on x  rays.

please remember there are lots of good treatments out there for bone mets -plus pain relieve meds.

Hope you turn out to have nothing major wrong with you both.

Best wishes harvey 

thankful, I had what sounds like a similar experience about 6 months ago.  I'd also gone for a massage because I was feeling especially achy, and the therapist could feel a lump exactly where I had lower back pain.  The pain was so bad when she pushed on that area, I literally yelled out. Anyway, she said she thought it was lactic acid buid up, and since I'd recently started working with a trainer that sort of made sense and I let her work on breaking it up.  Well after the massage, my pain was even worse than it had been, and I was convinced that it was a met and I felt certain that she'd disrupted it and spread it.  The serious pain lasted for a week and a half, and right around the time I was resigning myself to get it checked, it started to ebb and eventually went away completely and never came back.

I know how scary it is when you have a discernable lump and pain, but I'm wondering if you might have the same thing I had?  I hope yours turns out to be either that or something equally B9!   Please keep us posted!      Deanna

Sherry, I was just dx with bone nets. It started with back pain. I went to my chyropactor for an adjustment. It helped for a short time but then I noticed my right leg kept giving out. After falling three times I went to see an orthodox Dr. He said I had ostioarthritis in the knee and we did uflexia shots. It didn't help. So I saw a pain management Dr who did an MRI of the spine. All they saw was mild spinal stenosis. All the while my leg was getting weaker and weaker. Then on labor day, I thought I pulled my thigh muscle. It hurt so bad. I went from walking with a Cain to walking with crutches to not being able to walk at all, in a matter of weeks. All the while I was having pt twice a week. The one day, I took a step that landed my full weight on my right leg. I heard something pop. I broke my femur. Well long story short, the found a tumor eating away at the bone. The a pet scan showed spots on my coxes and two nodes in my chest. I still don't understand why the spine MRI Didn't show something......but it really doesn't matter now. I have never had any trouble with bowels or such. Just leg weakness.



I guess the lesson is, everyone is different. Trust you instincts and don't. Stop yelling till you get answers. Its your life.

Hugs from Alice

fYeah!!!! Congrats!! I too have back pain a lot. I think the tamoxofin targets weak areas, I was in a car accident like 20 years ago and hurt my back and shoulder. I think the tammy really makes that ache. 

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I'm a mess lately. I had a bone scan done and they found a spot on my spine. My back has been hurting in the same spot for over a month. Now I need an mri and a pet scan to make sure its not anywhere else. I'm 33, I have two kids. I'm so tired of this disease!!

He did order an xray first, he said normally insurance won't cover a bone scan until an xray is done.

Here's my story...

I had breast cancer 3 years ago.  I was down to onc appointments every 3 months.  Anyway about a year and a half ago I started having a lot of pain in my back that shot down my thigh like a burning stabbing pain.  It got so bad that I went to the ER and the doctor did a quick exam and told me it was siatica.  He told me the pain would come and go and gave me muscle relaxers and sent me home.  For a year the pain would come and go, but getting more frequent over time.  I just assumed it was the siactica.  When the pain started going down the other leg I became concerned.  When meeting with my ONC she also was concerned and ordered an xray of my spine.  It came back with a tumor on one of my lower vertebrae that was pressing on my spinal cord which was causing my symptoms.  She than order a full body scan. MRI and CT scans of chest and abdomen.  I saw a radiologist and after 10 rounds of radiation the pain was greatly relieved.  He said if the tumor grew any bigger I could have been paralyzed.  I was so angry at the ER doctor cause he should have ordered a simple Xray and the tumor would have been found a year earlier.  I learned that anybody who had breast cancer previously and have bone or back pain should be checked for tumors since bc, if it recurs, often does so in the bones.  My chart history clearly showed I had bc and was still taking tamoxifen.  So please don't ignore any ache or weakness, go to your doctor and demand at least an xray of the area.  Most doctors won't order more expensive tests until you have an xray to determine if there is an area needed further inspection.