Bone Pain

I have just this last few weeks developed right hip bone aching at the joints and radiating clear to the calves and sort of near the spine. It is getting worse of course, and over the counter pain pills dont work very well.

I told Onc of this last visit (Feb27) and got a scan which didnt reveal any mets directly responsible, although I have at least one met in that area. Next appt Mar 27.

I guess what I am asking of anyone who knows from experience, what does bone pain from cancer mets feel like when they begin to hurt? Is the pain different from, say, arthritis? or bursitis? I`ve had bursitis in shoulder before and this is much the same.

It developed from my walking exercise and has gotten so bad I limp heavily this last few days. The pain at its worst is 5 to 6 in my estimation with spikes of 8 or so?

Sounds like you are going through exactly what my husband is. He has been getting pain in his hips that run down the backs of his legs to the knees. He also gets pain in the middle of his lower back....basically at the bottom of his tail bone. Although he too has bone mets in the general area, the pain does not seem to be directly related. Our onc suggested that it could be SE of Lupron. Are you on Lupron shots?

Thank you everyone. I have gone off Bicalutimide as of Feb 27. Am now on Keto/hydrocortisone 200mg x3 and 10 mg x3 per day with the Eligard/lupron shots. I was feeling better once again going off of what I felt was a crushing regimen of 100 mg Bicalutimide.

Now general feeling is fatigue as before, muscle aches, slight nausea, sometimes irregular heartbeat esp after a meal, more hot flashes than before, and now this bone aching.

for what it's worth, if I sit too long in my chair my back hurts, if I play soccer or workout too hard my lower back hurts, if I run calves and shins hurt. Every year these pains get more acute. During my pre-op tests they told me I had degenerative spine disease and that we all have this. I think aging, being overweight, seated at a desk for too long or driving too many hours everyday all contribute to these pains.It's very easy for us, specially guys who know the cancer escaped the capsule, to think that the pains are all cancer related. My guess is that they're usually not.

Hell I have such bad arthritis I'm not sure if my pain is just that or mets or from the ADT. Was going to have a hip replaced before dx with this crap.

Thanks once again for all of your replies. I had the worst pain of my life the night I wrote this OP. If its med related, this is not too good to hear. The worst pain seems to move to the inner thigh joint area and then migrates directly on the other side of hip socket. Switching to Advil really helps with it. Now I got to add Advil to my small handful of pills daily.

Kind of depressing to see ones health go by the wayside. 2 years ago this month I was able to do weight lifting and resistance training. How times have changed.

Just an update:

VA Hospital visit as of yesterday had me with 6 appointments. Dental for possible Zometa, (I need new teeth)for the necrosis possibility, injection and scan on the nuclear machine (gamma). This for skeleton. The rest were the normal routine postate wise.

The bad news is that my PSA has a less than 2 week doubling time with last result on Feb 27 of 19.9 and yesterday at 58 plus. Thats actually tripling time in 30 days. I had been dreading those numbers and sure enough, I had predicted well on that part. First thing Onc advised was to drop Keto and the hydrocortisone since this isnt doing a thing. Got the quarterly Eligard though and am thinking I may not have such heavy SEs now, which is kinda good news.

For the first time with Onc I had little to say regarding new treatments thinking to myself how fast this is taking over my body. But all was not such bad news! He pulled up my earlier bone scan from July 12 and we went over the 10 or so mets in it. Then the new scan and he said out loud "This dont look like the same body" so my wife and I focused on the new scan. I had been dreading looking at that also. I was surprised to note only half as many mets showing and only 1 was at the same intensity as last year. Except for the hip met which was substantially larger starting out about a quarter size and now showing as big as a large potato right at the right hip joint.

So Littlenm was correct in her assumption that the bone paint might be from the cancer itself. No bursitis here. It looks like radiation is in my near future and thats alright with me. The wife and I walked all over the hosp yesterday and the pain kicked in on the 2 plus hour drive home to become unbearable by dusk.

So now I can relate to others that Metastisis bone pain is at its worst during quiet time with constant medium sharp pain in the form of a deep ache on the level of 3 to 6 depending on whether its in full song or not. With possible spikes of pain radiating far along the affected area at the 7 to 8 level making for a very restless time with lots of grimacing, and in my case, groaning. I ended up taking 5 advil over the nite last nite in order to get any sleep.

The ray of hope I saw in the bone scan was reinforced with the Onc stating that this hot spot is probably why my psa is at the number it is. It just may be that after radiation I will see it drop dramatically. I certainly hope so.

regardless of what happens, I am looking at all of this as an unfortunate adventure, yet now I can see what cancer is like and the empathy for others with these kinds of maladies has really sharpened me. I pray that all of you here suffering with this take heart and may you see more rays of hope for yourselves.

So radiation will be welcome indeed

Not exactly what you wanted to hear I am sure and for that I am sorry. On the good side though, almost all of mets had disappeared or shrunk. The one very worrying met can be radiated. From my understanding, the radiation is very effective at pain management.

Hope it goes well for you

I am schedule this 3/30 to get my second PSA test in San Diego the first one was on last December the result was 0.01 at the same time I went to Mexicali, Mexico to get another one the result was 0.00 last Sat 3/23 I went to the same lab in Mexicali, Mexico to get my second one the result was 0.09 but there is a factor that really scare me after my RP there were some cancer cells found outside of the prostate capsule and since last January I started feeling some discomfort on my lower back discomfort that started to turn on a little pain on my lower back then I started to feel it on the spinal cord and now on my shoulders I have never ever felt this kind of pains on my hips radiating to my legs, spinal cord, and shoulders believe me I don't want to think this is bone met but it is something I cannot take away of my mind at this point and taking in care the symptoms I am feeling I am guessing I should go on HT and/or RT.
I think there should be more aggressive ad campaigns to let more man know about this disease to make them aware to get PSA and DRA test after the 35's because more man are diagnosed at earlier ages and also include the consequences after get it at a latter diagnosis and the side effects of the RP, HT, and RT such as incontinence, ED, and side effects of the meds because after getting this disease nobody knows what will be our future.

Leo

greetingz,

When my mother had bone mets I learned that bone pain just doesn't respond well to most analgesics. I am so sorry to hear what you're going through.

Alpharadin, which irradiates the bone mets from the inside, has been very effective at relieving the pain, and looking at your stats, you may be eligible to get in on their expanded access trial that is going on right now at 30 locations all around the US. You can read the eligibility requirements on the link below to see if you qualify, and you can ask your doctor to call them.

Radium-223 Dichloride (BAY88-8223) in Castration-Resistant (Hormone-Refractory) Prostate Cancer Patients With Bone Metastases

Greetinz,
Darn--I hate to hear of anyone in pain especially a vet--Question, after the radiation what do you and the VA doctors intend to do? Is provenge a possibility through the VA?? I would really like you to get well so you could tour with Todd--LOL
Bill

My husband has had cancer pain (L-4, L-5) and the way he described it was pain like he's never felt before. He was not able to walk but a few steps and it was not relieved by analgesics.
Oxycodone lessened the pain but never made the pain dissappear.

Last week I asked the Oncologist how do you tell the difference between general aches and pains and true cancer pain? His response was "cancer pain doesn't go away- it doesn't come and go." Hope this helps.

May your pain disappear and never return.

Zimac

Hang in there, Greetingz! How is the radiation going?