Hi, i’m looking for help/advice. Has anyone with spinal mets experienced spinal chord compression? I have mets in spine in several places, had radiotherapy to lumber spine which sorted out the pain a few months ago. last night I started to experience tingling and numbness in my leg, especially when sitting or lying down and this morning across the middle of my back is numb and feels like a dull heavy weight is on it. I have phoned my team for advice and i’m waiting for them to call me back.
Has anyone else experienced this and if so what was done about it?
worried I have chord compression and would really appreciate some advice/reassurance.
Hi pumpkin,
I hope that your team get back to you quickly so that you are not left scared and wondering for too long.
I haven’t got personal experience of chord compression though I did have rads almost emediately on bone met dx as tumour was encroaching into spinal column.
If it does turn out that this is the problem for you then I think your team will act pretty quickly. You will probably need scans to se exactly whats going on and the treatment can be planned. usually they will either give you rads or sometimes they may operate, it would all depend upon where exactly and how exactly you are having the problem.
Try not to panic too much,you have done the right thing and acted quickly, hopefully your team will act quickly and get you sorted over the next day or two.
Good luck! Let us know what happens, gentle,reassuring hugs coming your way, Julie x
Hi pumpkin, I had L2 compression nd numb patches on legs. They said any bladder or other toilet problems or any movement problems it was an emergency. So monitor yourself, nd chase the team if your call slips their mind. I ended up having surgery. Now, its much much better. Good luck to you. Take care.
Hope your team got back to you and are sorting you out or at least settling your nerves. I have mets in spine too and earlier this year had to have a one-off rads blast to t9 (the affected one) and t8 and 10 for good measure. The spine was collapsing a bit there and putting pressure on nerves and muscles that gave me pain in my side and middle. The rads worked.
I was told that any sign of bladder problems or tingling/pain down the legs need immediate attention just to be on the safe side if nothing else, so you did the right thing.
Hi there, my situation is I have a tumor low down on spine (Can’t think which “L” it is at the mo)- I do get back ache but was getting unbearable pain down my left leg - was told the sciatic nerve was being “pinched”. Now on pain relief which is working well - for the sciatic pain I take a “pregablin” medication called Lyrica. Awaiting recent MRI results as the docs are considering hitting it with rads - I have also been told if I lose control of my bladder or even my back passage to seek urgent attention - hope this helps. regards, Debbie x
Thanks for all the replies ladies, i’ve been in hospital for last two days having this investigated, had mri which showed nothing new since original diagnosis so they couldn’t really explain my symptoms. they did say part of my spine was quite badly deteriorated when first dignosed but had actually showed some signs of healing with the treatment i’ve had. They did also ask for the opinion of a specialist who agreed that it did not look like it was in any danger of collpase at present. So glad it was checked out and has put my mind at rest.
Hi Pumpkin,
Glad you managed to get everything checked out quickly & all seems well at the moment.
Will you still be starting your Paclitaxel tomorrow?
Take care,
Dugsy x
Hi pumpkin,
So glad that you’ve had it investigated and had your mind put at rest,have they suggested any way of aleviating the discomfort?
Hope all goes well.
Julie xx
Hi JulieD, they think no further action needed at the mo, keeping me on steroids for a wee bit to keep any inflamation/irritation down, i’m not really in any pain so that’s good. They said possibly a wee bit of irritation from restarting herceptin last week although that would be very unusual. Anyway at least they saying they will keep a close eye on it and anything will be dealt with quickly.
Dugsy i got my first treatment yesterday. I put a wee post on the other thread to see how you were doing? I’ve also posted a new topic in the secondries section about my recent experiences with being told i had progression and then being told actually i hadn’t. Bit of a rant but informative for others to read i think.