Hi ladies (and gents). I hope you don’t mind my coming to this board for some advice.
I finished treatment for primary breast cancer in May (chemo, lumpectomy and rads) and have been on Tamoxifen since February. For the past few months I have been getting pain in my joints and sciatica in my left side. The sciatica has been really painful for a couple of days now and is causing my left hip to give way when I walk.
I just Googled sciatica and cancer treatment and came up with a case of a woman whose sciatica turned out to be bone mets. I know that doesn’t mean that is the case with me but I was wondering if anyone has any experience or knowledge of this.
I finished treatment for local recurrence in the lymph nodes in Feb and too have a lot of pain in my left leg especially ankle and hip, i have had numerous test including bone scans and an mri scan and thankfully no signs of bone mets anywhere so it has been put down to sciatica, hope this is of some help to you
They dont really know why it is causing so much pain so they just put it down to sciatica and basically its just one of them things they have no answer to, so just painkillers for me but i can handle that as long as its nothing more sinister. Good luck and i hope yours turns out to be the same
Hi Lola I really sympathise with you at the moment as a couple of weeks ago I was making the bed and bent over and had a pain in my lower back (top of buttocks area) It has been really painful, burning and sore down into my leg for the last 2 weeks and imagination now running wild. I have had this before and would never have given a thought to it in the past. Giving it another couple of weeks and then I am back to hospital for 2 yearly check up so will mention it then (hoping it has eased by then) Really hope yours eases up and clears of its own accord Sandra x
I dont want to start panic bells ringing but the sooner you see your onc team with this prob the better. If you have bone mets and you delay seeking advice the risk is high of your bones fracturing. The first indication I had was sciatica. Of course yours can be down to a number of other things. Tamoxifen plays havoc with the joints, but only your oncologist can decide. None of us wants to be told we have mets but take heart - I have had mine for 5 years now and it is pretty extensive and yet I lead a fairly normal life with regular bisphosphonate treatment to strengthen the bones.
Thanks Humble and Dawn. I’ve been trying to talk myself out of having a scan as I’ve just returned to work and am finding that stressful enough but I realise I really need to face this and find out what is going on. I never thought of the bone fracturing thing, Dawn - I guess I was just thinking if it’s mets it’s mets and there is nothing I can do about it, so thank you for pointing this out to me.
How are things with you at the moment? Are you in pain or does the bisphosphate treatment alleviate that?
Hi lola and thank you for asking :). Things are good with me at the mo - I am due at the Marsden in the morning for my regularly 3-weekly top up of pamidronate (bisphosphonate) and herceptin. Originally i was in a lot of pain - I had other things going on with my shoulder and neck re lymph node involvement and a lot of the pain was from that. My bone pain - after few shots of rads to the worst areas and first 3 months of bone treatment I found I didnt need any more painkillers. Most of the time I am fine - I have to be careful not to overdo it but otherwise no complaints. Hope yours resolves itself and isnt what you fear most. Do keep in touch.
Hi Lola,
I was on Tamoxifen for a couple of weeks before they started nuking me with chemo and one of the side effects I had whilst on it was joint pain, sciatica etc. But saying that I would always check with Onc rather than worrying yourself sick about it. A bone scan doesn’t take long and for me was the most pleasant of the investigations, got to lie very still for 20 mins listening to calming music! The docs are there for to put your mind at rest.
Allie
I have had exactly the same problem, put it down to sciatica, which I have had in the past. When I found myself going around like hop-along-cassidy after 4 weeks I finally went to my GP.
Had X-Ray and she put me on pain killers which certainly have helped but x-ray shows an area low in the spine which has some curvature so she is insisting on my next 6 monthly checkup [due this month] that I get bone scan sorted.
I am now 2 and half years after diag following WLE and 6 weeks of Rads, no chemo but on Arimidex, oh well here we go again with the waiting :).
Get it checked Lola, just for your own peace of mind, and wishing you the best news.
Just registered for this site, although used it back in June 2000 when at age of 34 was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had lumpectomy and lymph node removal. Followed by 6 months of cmf chemo, 4 weeks of radiotherapy, 2 years of zoladex implants and 5 years of tamoxifen.
Husband and I had always wanted a child and conceived in December 2006.
Lost my mum to secondary bladder cancer at beginning of the year - diagnosed 14 feb and passed away 24 feb - in her bones.
Had baby by c-section on Tuesday 21 August 2007 - diagnosed with secondary breast cancer on Thursday 23 August 2007. Had been suffering with rib pain and sciatica for 3-4 months - this was just put down to the bones changes that happen during pregnancy.
Following MRI,CT and bone scan - told that I had a patch on my rib and that it was in hip/pelvis region.
Starting a week’s intensive radiotherapy next week and then some hormone treatment for the rest of my life.
Any advice/help much appreciated, pls
Hello Sixpen. I’m so sorry to read your news. I was diagnosed with secondary bone mets in 2003.
Just posting to say now in 2007 I’m doing well and have continued to feel well with hormonal treatment. Are you going to be offered any bisphosphonates? They strengthen the bones and may help if you have any bone pain. I take one little tablet a day and have had no side effects.
You’ll find a lot of support here. Much Love, Belinda.x
Am so sorry you have had to join us on here. Congratulations on your baby though, will give you something to focus on during the harder times. I cannot help with the secondary bone cancer, as I have secondary liver cancer, but just want to offer you my support and let you know you will get so much help and advice on here and you will get through it. I am 39 with a daughter who will be 4 in December and a 9 month old little boy. It is tough, but they keep me going and give me so much to fight for. I was dx on July 16 with bc and then told 10 days later had gone to my liver. Was absolutely distraught I can say, but now have had 2 lots of chemo so far, and much more positive. My mum died 3 years ago to a sudden brain tumour, we only found out 10 days before she died, and unfortunately she died in France so never got to say goodbye.
Anyway, sorry for dribbling on. Come on here and let us know how you are going, or if you just want to chat, cry, scream, rant whatever. We will all be here to help you through this and you will get through this.
Belinda - sorry I didnt answer your question about bisphosphonates - the answer is, that I dont know yet.
First course of treatment is week of rads, they were talking about hormone treatments but need to make my ovaries inactive. The problem being that I have just had c-section and had they known prior to that, they would’ve whipped them out then. Rads takes time and Zoladex is only temp.
Am going for rads planning on Tuesday and then I assume that they’ll be in touch about further treatment.
After 4 months or so of being unable to walk properly and basically being housebound for the past 2-3, I am now able to walk normally, without pain - no painkillers at mo (touch wood!!!).
Social Services have been brilliant and are installing a stair lift to ensure that I can get about with baby etc.
The six-million dollar question is - has anyone here been estimated at how long? Gosh, that really is a horrible question but I am trying to be positive. How long is that piece of string?
Another question is, do they only give you rads on the specific area once, or can it be repeated?
Another one is, how active is your lifestyle now? Are you able to get about normally? Can you bend down? Lift things up? etc
Hi Sixpen, sorry I haven’t got back to you…I’m stepping back a little from the forums but just saw your post.
That’s great news you’re walking better. I feel much better now than I did in 2003. I can now do all the normal stuff, bend, lift. It took a little while to get used to my hip replacement but it’s fine now, I can walk miles. (on the intro thread started by jennywren I’ve put my details but my hip fractured in 2003 and I was diagnosed with breast cancer and bone mets.)
Bisphosphonates have helped keep my bones strong and I don’t have any pain, think this is also in some part thanks to the bisphosphonates.
I had 5 lots of rads when I had my hip replaced to kill off any stray cells. I’ve not had any other radiotherapy but have read somewhere it might be possible to have radiotherapy in the same area after a lengthy period of time. But someone else here will probably know more about this.
I’ve been on Prostap (like Zoladex) since early 2004 and it’s been okay. I’m in my 40’s and was pre-meno when diagnosed.
I’ve never asked ‘‘how long’’ but have been told I could go on for several years. Not sure what ‘several’ is though…I might have had bone mets for a few years before my hip fractured. A lady who I got to know and who lived very close by lived with her bone mets for 10 years…and this was with not much success with any treatment.
And there have been new treatments introduced since my diagnosis.
Hope this helps answer some of your questions Sixpen…With Very Best Wishes…Belinda…x
There are a lot ‘ifs, buts and maybes’ - I suppose that I really am ignorant about the matter but the forums give you some hope.
When the Breast Consultant first told us that it had spread and also due to my Mum’s death, I was so negative about the whole thing.