Hi all hav been trying to exercise t get my weight down for a holiday. But my knees ate killing me even th stairs hurt it been goin on a while but bad now I’m excercising even getting in th bath hurts. Can this b a symptom or just ware n tear x rozita
In principle, mets can start anywhere, but i thought unless they are detected by x-ray or scan, the next stage would be a pathological fracture, not an ache? Someone please correct me if that’s wrong. Much more likely to be soft tissue damage, either cartilage (fair wear and tear, as the knees have huge stresses on them, even if you don’t need to lose weight) or the overstretching that’s almost inevitable when you start exercise.
A good indicator with pain is, what level of medication is needed to bring it to a tolerable level? Of course that does depend on your pain threshold and sheer braveness, not just the cause, but it’s a useful giude. eg two paracetamol kills all pain and lets you go dancing, or, max dose of cocodamol doesn’t make any difference? It’s also a useful guide for making doctors get off their chairs and DO something - especially if you are in A&E demanding more pain relief.
I’d be much more worried if one knee hurt much more than the other, as it’s unlikely that random secondaries would be symmetrical in both knees, whereas cartilage damage due to age, or overstretching of ligaments etc, that’s likely to be similar on both sides. Unless you already have an old sports/trauma injury one side that’s been exacerbated, or already had a joint replacement one side. And if you do already have an orthopaedic or physio team working on you, that would be another good place to ask your question, as they can fast-track you if they think any further investigations are needed. And they will have your old x-rays to compare with.
You could give the helpline a call, or maybe email the ask-the-nurse experts here, to double check, but do hang in with the exercise if you possibly can, it really is the best way to lose weight, and good luck for the holiday. Maybe try swimming as well, Aquarobics etc because the water supports you and takes the weight off the knees?
Hi thnx for the response. It is more in one knee but just think iv overdone it. I guess I keep panicking about every ache n pain I’m 2 years since diagnosis and hormone negative I’m due an appointment for my yearly checkup this month but my surgeons left so getting someone new assigned. X rozita
Know what you mean about every little ache and pain, I am almost cherishing a sore foot that I know near as 100% is caused by overuse, having overdone running training last year, I am closing my mind to the idea of bone mets! In fact as soon as it stopped hurting, I started running again; how stupid must I be?! And then that cough that went on and on and on, well all my friends had it too, and we passed it back and forth between us, so of course it didn’t get better; I was fighting the temptation to think of lung mets, Yes my resistance was low, well I had family issues that would drag anyone down, and after Christmas as predicted the stress got less and the cough got better. The battle against secondaries may start with oncologists and chemo, tamoxifen etc, but a lot of it is fought in the mind, chasing nightmares and what-if’s away!
Do mention it at the check up, they can easily send you for x-ray to put your mind at rest, or refer you to the orthodaedic team for possible treatment, if that would help. Good luck.
Rozita
I too have pain in one knee and it is oh so easy to think that it is the cancer, but I had the pains before diagnosis and have had ct and bone scans and nothing showed up.
It’s all to easy to worry about things like this and very hard to control the feelings of panic. You are not on your own with these type of thoughts.
Hi, I’d had slight knee problems before I was diagnosed with BC, a throwback to when I worked in retail when I was a mature student in the 90s. I was on Taxotere back in 2007 which gave me really bad joint pains, now my knees bother me a lot of the time. I’m also trying to get my weight down a bit, difficult as I’m post menopausal and it doesn’t want to shift (last year I gave up on WW after 12 weeks as it wasn’t working). What I find is if I don’t exercise it gets worse - my gym membership lapsed at the end of the year and I didn’t have time to go and renew. I did it last week as my knees have been killing me. Treadmilling, a few resistance exercises and a yoga class seem to sort me out. Think I can probably also say there is an element of being middle aged in all this.
I have bone mets and wouldn’t know because at the moment I have no pain. I really am very lucky
X Sarah
Weight issues, mental fog, sore knees, cancer risk: is there any thing that gets better in middle age or is it all downhill?
hi
I had knee problems pre bc from years of working in catering.Things got worse with tax and taking letrezole.I do have bone mets but current scans show everything stable.I take seven seas joint care daily and find that helps.My oncologist recommended taking glucoscamine.I also use aloe vera muscle gel if knees become painful-usually caused by overdoing things.I do also find gentle walking helps with my mobility in my knees and my hips.Swimming is apparently good exercise too as it is low impact.
I know i NEED to lose weight and promise I will start next week.
Every ache and pain seems to send us into panic.I was convinced the pain in my leg was progression or something sinister but has turned out to be sciatica,still painfull but not bc so I can live with that.
Lucinda xx
I think with age we gain wisdom and normally some confidence.
However, ill health can squash the confidence flat!