When i was still undergoing treatment I once asked my onc about bone mets and pain (after rads I suffered pain in my 2 bottom ribs for a while). She told me you can sometimes feel a knocking or tapping sensation in the bone and if it is anyhting that keeps you awake during the night it should be reported to them.
Thanks everyone for posting, and good luck for those of you waiting for scan results.
I finally managed to get a GP appointment last Friday (having failed to negotiate my way past the receptionist on Wednesday). She examined me (squishing my hip and manipulating my leg) and agreed there is something not right and to refer me for Xray given my history. Hopefully I can go for xray this week. If the xray is clear she will refer me to the bone and joint specialists, it might be arthritis or a muscle thing, or even stress/depression related (my head is in a bad place at the mo and I am already on various meds). I felt like I was making a fuss over nothing but I have had the pain for over 2 months now so its not as if I am panicking about symptoms I just woke up with that morning.
Anyway I am so busy at work I donāt have time for bone mets so if they are there they can just get lost, how dare they turn up in my bones without my consent!
Squeakymouse xx
I was diagnosed in April 2011 with BC, chemo, rads followed and now on Arimadex and biophosphnate for osteoperosis, possibly caused by chemo /Arimadex. Iāve been having pain on and off in hip and lower back (worse at night, to the point of waking and needing pain relief) This pain moves across pelvis as well so I mentioned to onc and have just had xray. I wont get the results until 12th Feb. Iāve followed this thread for a week or so and when I came across your post Squeakymouse I decided to come on here for support. Hopefully its just arthritis, I do have arthritis in knee so might be the cause. Does anyone else have similar pain?
Jo xx
Hi ladies
I was diagnosed with bone mets Sep 2010 - three months after finishing herceptin. This was during a routine check when i mentioned to onc that my left hip was very sore to touch and I had started to limp whilst walking. When she pressed on the hip bone I jumped in pain so she immediately ordered a bone scan. Whilst waiting for the results of this I was then sent an appt for ct scan so I assumed then that something had been picked up. I had both hips, pelvis, spine and one rib affected but was only experiencing pain in the left hip. I was then sent for an x-ray and was amazed when I saw the abnormal bone growth on my hip but was given one strong blast of radiotherapy which was very successful and my hip has been great since. Strangely enough, I now experience more discomfort from my lower ribs on the right hand side but nothing ever shows up on the scans so this pain could be muscular related instead.
Now I take a mental note of any new pain and if it lasts longer than two weeks then it is mentioned to my onc. Better safe than sorry!
Liz x
Thatās my policy too Liz. Letās face it if I donāt mention it to the onc I might forget LOL. Squeakymouse I have had bone mets since 2002 now. What sent alarm bells ringing was one day I got sudden sciatica - I had been up and down on a stool sorting out my bookshelves and suddenly I couldnt put my foot to the ground, the pain was excrutiating. I wonāt go into detail 'cos it would take too long! I saw the onc - had x-ray, bone scan & ct and dx was that I had extensive bone mets - all over skull, ribs, collarbones, all of spine, hip & top of femur, pelvis. I started on bisphosphonates but sneaky bu**er continued to spread to other hip. It finally halted and has behaved reasonable these past 10 yrs with no fractures. Unfortunately the pain has become relentless this past couple of years. But to address your question squeaky, before the sciatica incident I had no warning whatsover that the bone mets had taken over so much of my skeleton - no twinges or pain at all. BUT I do experience the pain that you have described and I believe that bone mets pain is supposed to be worse at night although I am not sure I agree with that. I do hope your scans all point to something else causing the problem so good luck.
Dawn
xx
Squeaky, sorry you are going through the worry of more scans and X-rays. Fingers crossed its nothing more than age/chemo related wear and tear, thinking of you Em Xxxx
Thanks everyone, Em I didnt want to post this on the May chemo thread in case it scared everyone! I am waiting for results of xray, last time I had an xray (pre big C for a normal shoulder injury) it was about a month before the results came back.
Squeakymouse xx
Squeakymouse sorry you are having this worry.I had excruciating pain in my right leg this week ( I have exstensive Bone mets) and my bc nurse sent me to A&E as I would get reults of the x-ray straight away.They thought it might be a fracture but turned out to be arthritis relatedā¦I do have real problems with arthritis in my right hip.
Really hope you do not have to wait too long for the results of your x-ray and also keeping my fingers crossed for you.
Lxxx
I am currently waiting for a bone scan after telling onc about a pain (sharp sometimes, sometimes more like an ache) under my lower shoulder blade and spreading down back and side. have had bc twice, last recurrence 4 years ago, so not very happy to be back in waiting room. This pain has been on and off and quite erratic for several months, worse in afternoon when I have been active all day but hardly feel it at night, and its absent entirely in the morning. Onc thinks not bone mets but still wants bone scan, so Iām just waiting now. just found this thread as have not been on here for ages, didnāt like the new website, but it seems better to find things now. Hope all your scans etc go well ladies.
I am going for a bone scan in the morning tomorrow. I am freaking out a bit but trying to keep it real for now. I was diagnosed with er+ pr+her+ bc in Sept 2010. I had a left mastectomy followed by chemo, rads and Herceptin. I am also on tamoxifen. I started having pain in my right shoulder in September and soon after my shoulder became frozen. I have been going to physio for 5 months with no progress . Although my initial xray showed nothing back in Sept, My doc re-xrayed me last week and found a sclerotic lesion on my humerus. She has told me not to worry that I likely injured the bone with my initial injury BUTā¦as well know, my mind is going to the suspicion that I have bone mets. My pain is definitely worse at night. I have read many articles online that talk about people with bone mets who were misdiagnosed with frozen shoulder.
Soā¦ The upside is they got me in quickly for the scan. But the waiting is brutal.
Mom2threegirlz
Hi mom2threegirlz, I hope your bone scan went ok and that you hear the results quickly. I am still waiting to actually get the blinking appointment for the scan. it always seems to do this in Birmingham as I waited about 6 weeks for a date 8 years ago. At the moment I am just trying to ignore that I am waiting! it is out of my hands now as the whole NHS juggernaught rolls on 
Hi all,
I finally got my xray results this week - no bone mets, just minor deterioration probably normal ageing.
Thanks for all your support, it looks like this discussion prompted some of you to get checked as well so hope everyone elseās results were OK and that those of you who do have bone mets are not in too much pain and your mets are being controlled.
I will try not to start any more secondaries scaresā¦!
Squeakymouse xx
Squeakymouse, I am so pleased for you- what a relief. Sending my Buddy a big cyber hug, (((()))), Xxxx
Posted on behalf of new user patricia - Jo, Facilitator
hello 1 year on, and 1st check up this wednesday for breast cancer. could anyone tell me what happens on this appointment. i have had a chest infection and now find i am trippinng up and feeling swimmey when sitting down. my periods have not stopped too got heavier whilst taking tamoxefen x
Thatās a great result. What treatment have you had please ?
Hi all
its been a long time since Iāve posted on here. DX in dec07, and just had the 5 yr clear. I last had a bone scan latest march all clear. Anyhow over the past 3 weeks Iāve been woken up at night with a pain in my left thigh. Itās on and off and has been going on for 3 weeks or so. Went to the docs today and se thinks Iāve pulled a musle. The is pain isnt always there and its a dull heavy ache And it doesnāt generally hurt when I touch it. Suggested an X-ray but Iām looking for some hope as Iām getting myself into a bit of a state worrying.
please respond
thx
Sukes I think this is just the sort of pain that I would want checked out thoroughly. What does your hospital do at the 5yr mark. In mine when I reached it my onc said he would see me in a yearās time but I didnāt make it to the year before I was back :(. I was first diagnosed back in 1990 and after treatment for a very large tumour it totally shrunk and I didnāt have any surgery so maybe that was as long as the chemo/rads could manage to hold it back. I had a lot of recurrences/new tumours etc over the years, and dx with bone mets in 2002. I have been on herceptin and bisphosphonates since then. When my bone mets was dx i got so very little warning considering it had spread so extensively and it was just a very bad bout of sciatica after climbing around moving things onto a high shelf that scared me. So what I think I am saying is just in case this is sinister do get it thoroughly checked out to be sure.
Dawn
xx
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Thx for that. Itās in the middle of femur, and a bit of occasional pain around knee. Iāsuit ill on tamoxifen but have read tamoxifen can cause leg painā¦?
Last nite I had no pain but I canāt stop worrying
Sukes
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Sukes - I agree with Dawn. My bone mets spread very extensively over the last 12 years, painlessly which is the scary thing. Last autumn I self diagnosed back pain as pulled muscle and went to a Physio. After a couple of months a food friend with a medical background had his unspoken suspicions and suggested I get an X-ray via by GP. Events happened after that ending with emergency admission to A&E and swift treatment.
Donāt be fobed off! It may be nothing but at least you will have peace of mind. And if there is a problem, the sooner it is addressed, the better and happier you will feel.
Susan xx
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[color=#000000]Curiouser and curiouser! Like Alice, in Wonderland, I get more confused about bone mets the more I read!
[color=#000000]I will be seeing my onc on Monday before I start rads and go on with herceptin. I was told in Oct. that (for 3 years) I have probably been mis-diagnosed with bone mets - benign bone condition instead. I had radiotherapy to top of left femur and sacrum twice , the first time because I was limping and had aching and a tingling sensation, second time because aching came from sacrum aswell as femur. This Dec/Jan I had MRI and X-rays and 4 radiographers think I didnāt have mets! They mentioned a condition called osteopoikilosis. Now, at the end of TCHx4, Iāve noticed the same old ache again top of leg ā which they said is probably bursitis - so I donāt know what to think anymore.
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