Are bone scans something every breast cancer paitent will have at the beginning of hormone therapy/ chemo or is it something only certain paitents will need?
I only ask as I’ve never had one.
I started Zodalex and Tamoxifen before chemo last June And Ive been experiencing pain in my hip area on and off when my chemo switched from the red devil to Docetaxel. (I finished 6 rounds of chemo in October 2022 this pain is like a flare up comes and goes.)
When I visited my GP a couple months ago due to not coping well mentally with treatment finishing I did ask this question and just got told because Im a curvy girl its not something they would be worried about.
I did bring the pain up again in my last appointment with my breast nurse on the 23rd June which was like my end of treatment appointment but again she mentioned if it was anything like bone metastasis it would be a continuous pain. And overall it was just my bone health I was worried about.
Being on anastrozole as a now 26 year old with anxiety feeling so stiff and sore is a bit worriesom for me sometimes.
I know all medication comes with side effects and I’m just so reluctant to ask for help as i dont want to be a bother.
Any advice and information is greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
P.s sorry if ive posted this in the incorrect place i didnt really know where to ask this. Thanks again.
A dexa scan is something we all need before the beginning of hormone therapy. Considering you’re so young though it may legitimately be something that your doctors aren’t worried about right now. Anyway a dexa scan is simply X-rays of certain bones in your body. It’s specifically to monitor for bone loss or growth. It has nothing to do with checking for cancer. Now a bone scan is different and can be used as a diagnostic tool in regards to checking for cancer metastasis. Most of us don’t get one if doctors are confident they caught our cancer at an early age. The reasoning behind it of course is to conserve costs. Secondly though is that every diagnostic scan comes with radiation exposure and radiation exposure is in itself a carcinogen. Doctors must always weigh risks versus rewards when offering these types of scan. But thirdly what you are describing indeed reads like side effects from having no estrogen. I don’t have secondaries but people describe them usually as a constant, gnawing like pain. My pain occurs when I get up from a sitting position or laying down position after I’ve been in it for a while. I’ll get aches and pains after working out, too, now. Pretty much always something is bothering me a little. But it’s just a little. I don’t need pain medication, sleep fine because nothing hurts when I find a comfortable position, and the pain is never in the same area for long. One moment my hip flairs up, then my thumb, next hour I’m like “Oooh, there’s a shoulder!”, etc. I would think if your pain is like that then it’s normal for estrogen depletion.
Waiting over a year for Dexa scan due to machine breaking down and staff shortages and told could be another year. Getting quite concerned as been on Letrozole for one year and not had the scan. I phoned the department again and left a message regarding my appointment. They got back to me straight away and I stated I was going to stop my Letrozole until I get my scan as I am concerned about my bone density, they offered me an appointment for a Dexa scan on Tuesday afternoon. If I hadn’t called I just wonder when I would have been appointed. Feeling a lot better now as I was anxious about it all. Take care everyone x