Hi everyone
Brief history
BC in feb 07, lumpectomy, lymph glands removed chemo then rads. Went on tam, had to come off as developed pulmonary embolisms just before easter this year. Went onto zoladex then had a dermoid cyst so whilst removing that i had both ovaries and tubes removed. Prior to this i developed a really painful thigh about the end of July. On returning from my hols in Aug i went to my gp who sent me for physio. It was said i had muscle pain which i would agree with at the time. I have been doing exercises and it has eased. The problem now is my leg still niggles and my back aches. Some days lots other days just there if you know what i mean. The feeling is not so much muscular now.
After all that my question is should i ring the physio back or should i go back to my GP.
I am avoiding both at the mo as i feel like a hypochondriac as the 3 things have kept me at the docs or hosp on a regular basis.
Some advice would be good. Does anyone think i could have bone mets in femur and or back
Thanks
Jackie
To be honest jackie - I think it would be better if you got back to your hospital team on this. I would have thought it made more sense to eliminate any risk of it being bone mets before physios start messing around too much. If you havent the contact with the hospital they go back to your GP and say you would like to rule out any chance of bone mets as you have had bc, before recommending any other treatment.
Dawn
Hi Jackie
Go to your GP! Insist on scans. It’s the only way to know for sure. I developed intermittent leg pain (top of left leg) in Jan this year which came and went for a few months and then mid April came and stayed. It got so bad that some days I was crawling around on the floor and going up and down stairs on my bum. I had been back and forward to GP and had had physio for muscle but didn’t work. Was also suffering from recurrent chest infections at the time and like you felt like I was pestering the GP. So perhaps I wasn’t as proactive about sorting it out as I might have been. Anyway, I went back to (different) GP in June, with my husband (not me! I still felt very diffident) demanding action and she sent me straight for hip and back x-rays. Turned out I had mets in hip and spine.
That’s not to say that this is what you’ve got, but you have to be sure. Once you’ve had bc I know it’s easy to think you’re being hypochondriac but you’re the one who knows your body best and I’m sure many oncs rely on their patients to inform them of suspicious symptoms rather than ‘discovering’ recurrences/spread through other means. My experience of routine clinic sessions is that they only last a few minutes and you’re never seen by the same person twice (and rarely by the chief onc, although that changes when you’ve secondaries!). And they won’t routinely scan you just in case.
I do sincerely hope that your leg and back pain turns out to be caused by something far far less sinister, but do please get it checked out.
Best wishes.
Alison
Hi Jackie
BC Jan 06
I had a slight pain in my knee from Oct 07 and I mentioned it to my consultant in Jan 08, he wanted an xray of my hip immediately- xray shown nothing.The consultant said from the way I described the pain it seemed like a soft tissue problem and I agreed with him. The pain got worse and I went to my GP in March to get some physio. When she saw BC on my records she wanted a bone scan before doing anything else- so don’t worry your not a hypochondriac-see your GP again and get a scan.
Best wishes
Sue
Hi Jackie,
if it was me I would ask for a bone scan via onc or bc nurse. I had funny little pains and just ignored then put it down to not dancing as much. Sadly I got secs to liver and bones just as I was at the 5 year all clear stage. With luck it will be soft tissue problems and you can then celebrate it is nothing more sinister.
Love Debsxxx
And even if it is bone mets, they are treatable (I have them in hip, femur, spine, ribs and some are beginning to respond to treatment…) so I would agree that it’s time to ask for a bone tracer scan (not a bone density scan - they are different procedures).
Hoping you get reassurance very soon.
Lindsey.
May not be all doom and gloom.I had pain in my thigh and as I’m pretty active I put it down to muscle strain.But it persisted and was even bad at night.I went to my GP who agreed with me but told me to mention it at my next checkup.By now my mind was working overtime.By the time I had my checkup I’d had it all summer and was begining to think the worst but on mentioning it to the onchologist he laughed and said it was old age starting to catch up with me I hardly noticed the pain that day and after a short time it had gone completely!.. Fingers crossed you’ve got nothing to worry about.
Josie x
Thanks to everyone who replied.
Deep down it feels muscular with aches, i will go back to my gp and ring physio next week, see what they say.
Advice was very welcoming , my husband is on my back at the mo telling me to do something about it,
jackie
x
Hope you manage to get things sorted jackdp.
Can understand how you feel…I have had wrist pain for about 6 wks…GP dx Tendonitis and signed me off work for 2 wks…was still no right so went back and he signed me off for another 2wks…but I returned after 1 wk…wrist is still not right…on top of which I have had kind of siatica pain in back on same side which went round to front of leg to knee…GP said it was effecting the femoral nerve…this has got better but can still feel it sometimes.
I’m worried as my aunt who was dx with BC was dx with bone secondaries and a lady who I went through chemo with recently had a bad back and bone and liver secondaries were found.
I think I am going to make an appointment to go back to my GP…like you though I think sometimes feel like a hypochondriac.
Hope things go ok for you.
Karen
Hi all
Have been to my doc in a bit of an emotional state and he is sending me for an xray on my back and pelvis. He says the pain is muscular and he isnt expecting to see anything but said he wouldnt send me for a bone scan.
He was very good in guessing i wasnt coping very well and said to ring him anytime but to go back after the xray.
Does anyone else have persistant thigh pain and odd back twinge that feels muscular mostly.
If so what was their outcome and or treatmant.
Thanks
jackie
xx
Hi Jackie
I posted above but I forget to say sadly mine was bone mets, I was very shocked and upset when I found out in May. I had radiotherapy (10 sessions) to hip and spine (I had no pain in the spine and didnt know about it until the scan). My oncologist gave me the choice of having chemo or not and I decided to have it and herception. I’ve now finished the chemo and I’m on Herceptin every 3 weeks and Bisphosphonate every 6 weeks.
The pain in my leg did get worse and was quite bad before the treatment i.e I couldnt pick my leg up to change gear in the car.
Hope you get good news soon
Love
Sue x
thanks Suecheshire for your comments i dont know what to do for the best.
Feeling crap at the mo , pain comes and goes in intensity but is always there.
Will go for xray then see what next.
Jackie
xx
Hi Jackie
Have you got a bc nurse that you can speak to? I was in a really upset after seeing the GP as I only went to see her to get refered to a physio and I’d had the hip xray in Jan (which showed nothing).
My friend told me to ring my bc nurse and she got me a appointment with my consultant, I felt a lot happier once I was back in the hands of bc team.
Sue x
i am seeing my consultant on jan 2nd , my doc asked this.
Will wait for outcome of xray
Thanks
jackie
x
hi again all
Had my appointment for an xray next weds and sods law the pain is easing after 3/4 months. Im wondering now if i should go as i feel stupid. My back is niggling and my leg only hurts really when getting up from sitting down and a bit when i walk. I think the doc is prob right and it is muscular.
Do you think i should still have the xray even though the doc said nothing will show.
Thanks
advice most welcome
jackie
xx
Yes. i think you should, its booked, this has been going on for a while and its not completely resolved.
Why should you feel stupid?
cathy
IHi Katherinem
I feel stupid because the pain isnt as bad this week as last week and the week before etc. The muscle pain has lessened greatly but if i do the exercises ive been given there is still pain.
I guess im a rubbish patient and hate being ill as everyone fusses and i cant deal with that.
I suppose if i dont go i will have no comeback and will feel i cant go to my gp again for the same reason.
Sorry waffling on again.
Thanks
jackie
x
I was interested to read this as I am about to go back to the hospital tomorrow (fri 28th) to attend an appointment which my BC nurse had brought forward for me. I have similar pain in my thigh, knee (I think pre-existing), calf and both feet. I also have sore areas on my ribs and back pain. Obviously I am worried it is bone mets and though some people have reassured me that not all bone mets cause pain and therefore it could be something else, some obviously do as mentioned above.
I am very concerned. I have vastly reduced mobility and a permenant dull ache accompanied by occasional sharpe pain. My reflexologist who is also a massure, thinks it could be arthritus and / or a trapped nerve. I hope she is right. However, I am concerned that I am not getting the tests I may need. I am 2 yrs post diag with primary BC, node involvement, mast, chemo, rads, arimidex, stopped now on tamoxifen.
I know no one can really help on here but just needed to off load a bit as feeling very dodgy tonight.
Irene
Irene you may want to ask for the tumour marker blood test…it’s the CA15-3 test…it’s been a very reliable marker for me, it measures if there is any cancer activity in the body. I have this marker taken every 3 weeks and have been living well with bone mets since 2003. When my markers rise and a continuing upward trend is shown on the graph my treatment is changed. I was diagnosed stage 4 from the beginning but had over 2 and a half years technically in ‘remission’ with Arimidex (markers showed no activity) then my markers slowly started to rise again. At the moment I’m on chemo and my markers are back to lower levels again. The tumour marker number for someone with no active cancer is anything up to 35.
Belinda, you’ve posted some very helpful (to me) info re tumour markers (apologies Jackie/Irene for hijacking 
) I too was diagnosed with bc / bone mets, in 2006, and in March this year my CA15-3 level was below 20. At the moment I’m only tested every 3 months but I had been wondering what might happen if (I don’t say “when”!) the Femara stops working, q’s about monitoring etc. So glad your chemo is helping, long may the improvement continue.
And Jackie, I would agree - go for that X-ray - and try and enjoy Christmas while waiting for results, easier said than done maybe!.. but please don’t think you are fussing etc., you are NOT! we owe it to ourselves to get these things checked out.
Irene, thinking of you, hope you get reassurance today… and help with mobility whatever is causing the problems.