Shin sensitivity

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AlaskaAngel
AlaskaAngel Member Posts: 1,836
edited June 2014 in Stage I Breast Cancer

I'm a long way out from doing chemotherapy. But ever since completing it, my shins have been extremely sensitive to touch. It is painful to just rest one leg on top of the other shin. I had chemo that is less common now (CAFx6). Does anyone else have the same experience? My labs all come out just fine, and I've been NED since doing chemo in 2002.

A.A.

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  • bluepearl
    bluepearl Member Posts: 961
    edited June 2014

    Have you been checked for bone density?

  • AlaskaAngel
    AlaskaAngel Member Posts: 1,836
    edited June 2014


    Hi bluepearl, My bone density came back as off-the-chart excellent despite never taking any AI. The shins aren't painful except when something touches them, so it isn't a major problem for me. I am just curious to know if anyone else came out of treatment with the same result. My chemo isn't one that is very common anymore (CAF), either. Thanks though for the possible suggestion.

    A.A.

  • Leah_S
    Leah_S Member Posts: 8,458
    edited June 2014

    AlaskaAngel, is the pain a "burning" type of pain? That happens with neuropathy, which is a SE of a lot of chemo drugs (don't know if it's happens with CAF).

    Leah

  • AlaskaAngel
    AlaskaAngel Member Posts: 1,836
    edited June 2014


    No leahs, it is more like suddenly being kicked in the shin, just pain, not burning. Neuropathy happens with the taxanes but my treatment didn't include a taxane. Thanks for the suggestion, though! I'm just so puzzled by it. In the first year after tx I had asked my onc about it and he offered no explanation for it of any kind, but said that the distal extremities usually aren't where recurrences are often found initially.

  • bluepearl
    bluepearl Member Posts: 961
    edited June 2014

    Have you been X-rayed for this? Sometimes shin splints can feel like this, esp. if you walk and/or jog alot. There's lots of ligaments in that area as well....It is odd. Not likely anything serious or you would have known about it by now. I have a peculiar TMJ even my doctor's never heard of and I've had it for over 8 years..no chemo treatments either. Body is a funny thing. Hope it doesn't bother you too much!

  • LRM216
    LRM216 Member Posts: 2,115
    edited June 2014

    Whoa!  It was so weird to read your post, as I too have the very same thing.  I had ACT back in 2009, and, although I don't have anything in particular to pin on the chemo being the cause, I know I did not have this prior to my breast cancer.  My shins do not hurt me to walk, or do anything else - they are only terribly sensitive to touch.  Same  thing here, if I cross my legs at the ankles and my shins touch - it is very uncomfortable.  If I lay in bed at night propped up with pillows watching tv and one of my cats steps on my shin(s) to walk over me - it hurts so very much I actually jump in pain (and a cat is not terribly heavy!).  I have asked numerous doctors what it could be, and no answer whatsoever.  I will say though, that after every Neulasta shot I had (total of 8), the bone pain I would feel in my legs and shins was exquisitely horrible, almost as though I could "feel" my bone marrow churning and trying to rebuild itself.  Almost how it now feels when I touch my shins.  Have no idea what it is, but sure am glad to read of someone else that knows what I am feeling, 'cause I think everyone else I have mentioned it thinks I'm nuts!

  • heartnsoul76
    heartnsoul76 Member Posts: 1,648
    edited June 2014

    Oh my gosh!  Me, too!  I'm so glad to read at least three of us have this weird condition.  They don't hurt when I walk, they're just hypersensitive to touch.  Hurts to cross one leg over the other, and yes LRM!  When my cat decides to walk over me when I'm laying on the bed it's like slow torture!  And if he stops for a minute to think about where he's going I urgently have to egg him on. It kills me!  The first thing my MO did when I complained about it - and it didn't start until after chemo - was order a scan or an X-ray (can't remember which) just for below my knees.  I guess she was checking for mets.  But she said everything was alright.  That was 3 1/2 years ago.  I suppose I should mention it again… but I don't want to get scanned again!  At least I know y'all have it.  I just wish I could rudely put my feet on the desk and cross them at the ankles while I'm talking on the phone like I used to, haha!

  • AlaskaAngel
    AlaskaAngel Member Posts: 1,836
    edited June 2014


    I'm not delighted to hear that you two have it also, but at least we do have a comparison here to go by!

    The only commonality among all 3 of us that I see would be the Cytoxan. (Every successive treatment I had was delayed by one week because my counts were slow to recover, and I refused any blood booster such as Neulasta, so there is no commonality for that as being a cause for the shin pain.) Of the support drugs for chemo I had some steroids with treatment. The only antinausea medication I had was ondansetron (Zofran), and Compazine. I too had no such problem prior to treatment, and was 52 at time of treatment.

  • AlaskaAngel
    AlaskaAngel Member Posts: 1,836
    edited June 2014


    bluepearl, I just tolerate it and try to never do anything that would put pressure on the shins. A nagging underlying concern would be if it is some kind of indicator for later leukemias, since I did have Adriamycin. I am 12 years out from treatment, and so far I'm NED and healthy.

  • heartnsoul76
    heartnsoul76 Member Posts: 1,648
    edited June 2014

    I didn't mean to sound so thrilled that other people have this pain.  Ugh, I'm sorry.  It's just so different that I never even mention it to people.  

    I'm starting to think Cytoxan was the harder of the two chemos I did.  I need to research it a little bit.

    AA, my nagging concern is shin mets.  With you having had this for 12 years that sort of helps to alleviate that concern, but I also hate to hear that you've had it for so long because I was hoping it would go away.

    LRM, I've been on Tamoxifen for 3 1/2 years and for post-menopausal women it helps to strengthen their bones.  After so long on it, my bones do feel like they're being crammed with something and "growing".  I also did Neulasta and that was the same feeling I had on it.  It took 3 years for the Tamoxifen to start feeling that way.  AA, since you didn't do Neulasta did the Tamoxifen ever feel that way to you?

  • AlaskaAngel
    AlaskaAngel Member Posts: 1,836
    edited June 2014

    heartandsoul, it never did feel that way for me, but then I only took the tamoxifen for 1 year at full dose, and took it at half dose for the remaining 3/4 year that I continued it.

    What comes to mind about different aspects of density in regard to tamoxifen is the studies done at the Karolinska Institute, done to find out if more rapidly diminishing breast density is a reliable indicator for shorter-term use of tamoxifen, or not. Diminishing density of the breast would reduce the "support" tissues in the breast, making the breasts more fatty (and clear) and less firm.

    But that doesn't mean that is at all related to bone density or to the shins.

  • LRM216
    LRM216 Member Posts: 2,115
    edited June 2014

    Well, ladies - can't be the Tamoxifen, as I've never had it, being triple negative.  All my docs have told me not to worry about it, and I really don't until I think about the consequences of AC five years and longer after usage.  I too worry about the leukemia that it can sometimes cause - but must say I'm glad to hear Alaska Girl is 12 years out!  All my blood test results always come back totally normal, but I too had problems with blood counts after each infusion also.  In fact they delayed me a week for one treatment and cut the dosage as well.  If I find anything else out about this, or mine should change in any way, I will search each of you out to be sure I let you know!  Stay well, dear friends, and be cancer free forever!

  • AlaskaAngel
    AlaskaAngel Member Posts: 1,836
    edited June 2014

    Me too - Right now it is just one more of the SE's that "usually don't last after finishing chemo (ha ha ha)" If anything comes of mine, I'll share the info too.

    A.A.

  • clarrn
    clarrn Member Posts: 557
    edited June 2014

    Still l having chemo but my shin pain is bad on Taxol.  Had no pain on AC with Neulasta. Does

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