Hello Ladies
I was dx with boney mets in August 2007 - hip/lumbar region with spot on rib.
Then had progression in January 2008 - other hip/pelvic region with spot at top of spine.
I have BishBosh (Zometa) 4 weekly and have had my ovaries out in April, so transferred from Tamoxifen to Arimidex.
I am ER+, PR+ and HER2-
For the past couple of weeks, I have had fluctuating pain/angry ache in collar bone or shoulder. It is very tender to touch as well.
Usually, a couple of paracetamol or ibubrofen will do the trick - but not this time.
I had BishBosh last Tuesday and mentioned it to Onc Reg - he is sorting out MRI.
I dont want to up the painkillers to a permanent thing iykwim, so what I am asking is, does anyone have a one-hit painkiller?
Onc Reg suggested that I changed to Co-Codamol - but I thought that you had to get this in to your system for a while for it to be effective ???
Have appointment with GP but just wondered what others do??
Cheers
Anne xx
Hi Anne, just wondered if the pain gets better after Zometa? If it does maybe a daily bisphos dose would help…Ibandronat tablets…I have these and have found them trouble free.
I don’t take pain killers apart from the odd Ibuprofen for hip pain…one thing I found out last week was the lesion I did have, the one that sometimes causes a little pain has actually healed, is healing. The little holes have filled with new bone. Perhaps Arimidex is healing lesions you have?? Expect the MRI will explain more…might be trapped nerve pain?..healing bones are painful though.
Hope you are enjoying some sunshine where you live…rain here! 
Belinda…x
Hiya Belinda
Firstly, please accept my apologies for not having emailed in a while - it is on my To-Do list 
Secondly, thank you for replying to my post.
Had Zometa last Tuesday, and yes I suppose it was better for a few days - but hit the high at the weekend. Yesterday was just soooo painful - having problems lifting baby (ok not so baby - 1 in a couple of weeks - but weighs 2 stone!!)
Was also having problems lifting my arm up - was starting to scare me tbh.
My Onc Reg worked his last day last week - so will be seeing someone new next time round, which may be interesting. ‘Old’ Onc Reg’s attitude seemed to be that Zometa was the best, so nothing else was worth trying. It also appeared to be his attitude when swapping to Arimidex - ‘its as good as anything else’.
He’s a really nice bloke but didnt instill my confidence iykwim.
Oooooohh that’s such good news about your new bone!!! Wow!!! Gives such hope!!!
Overcast here and quite windy - but no rain …yet!!! Think its on its way though.
Take care and I’ll be in touch soon
Love and best wishes
Anne xx
Hi Sixpen,
Sorry to hear you are having pain. I have bone mets (hips/shoulder/back) and take co-codamol. Its pretty fast acting for me, I take a couple when needed. Medical advice is to take in advance of pain, on a regular basis, but I figure only on doing that when I am having a period of chronic pain which sometimes happens. Downside is regular co-codamol can cause constipation but I find Movicol takes care of that, also I take that only when needed!
I have been taking daily Ibandronat for about 18 months but recently switched to monthly pamidronate. I found the morning regime with ibandronat a bit of a drag - not having anything for previous 6 hours, sitting/standing up and not eating/drinking for an hour. I finally switched when I recently went through a nauseous few weeks and couldn’t keep the ibandronat down.
I have also had radiotherapy to hip and neck which helped me.
Hope things improve,
Lottie
Hi Sixpen
so sorry to hear you are struggling with this. It may not be relevant as I don’t have bone mets, but I had really bad shoulder pains when I started Arimidex, couldn’t get a decent night’s sleep and began to worry about my ibuprofen consumption - then they just disappeared. I have the odd twinge now and again but no longer the constant exhausting pain. This probably doesn’t heklp your plan of action much but if the pain is from arimidex rather than bone mets it may well stabilise to acceptable levels
x
Barbara
Hi Anne…no worries about emailing as I know you must be so busy with your little 'un! Barbara’s post brought back how achy I was on first starting Arimidex…it did get better over time too.
Belinda…x