Bone pain: Can anyone explain what cancer in the bones feels like?

Posted by Rom828 @jgallagher04921, Aug 19, 2024

Can anyone explain what cancer in the bones feels like? I was diagnosed w breast cancer last year so I'm on high alert w pains I feel. I have had pain in my left hip for weeks. Doesn't hurt when I touch or move but very uncomfortable when I lay down, even if I'm not laying on it. Thoughts?

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Profile picture for northoftheborder @northoftheborder

I don't have answers for you, but I understand your fears. Because the prostate-cancer metastasis to my spine caused severe nerve damage, I have either limited sensation or semi-random phantom sensations in much of my body below the ribs.

I can walk again now and have enough sensation to get by, but when the doctors ask me if there's pain, I have to say "honestly, I have no idea." It's like trying to understand a call over a badly-broken telephone line.

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@northoftheborder
This is gotta be one of the most frustrating part of this. Symptoms are so vast and vague, we don’t know if normal things are signs of something worse,… or just normal.
EVERY little ache or pain is a symptom for me now.

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Profile picture for asgmiami1 @asgmiami1

@northoftheborder
This is gotta be one of the most frustrating part of this. Symptoms are so vast and vague, we don’t know if normal things are signs of something worse,… or just normal.
EVERY little ache or pain is a symptom for me now.

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@asgmiami1 If it's a comfort, I went through the same thing, but made it to the other side after a couple of years: for the most part, aches and pains are just aches and pains again.

It makes sense that we're hypersensitive for a while after a big shock like a prostate-cancer diagnosis.

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Profile picture for asgmiami1 @asgmiami1

@northoftheborder
This is gotta be one of the most frustrating part of this. Symptoms are so vast and vague, we don’t know if normal things are signs of something worse,… or just normal.
EVERY little ache or pain is a symptom for me now.

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@asgmiami1 That reaction to a new pain or sensation sticks with you for a long time. For me, after 14 years, it is still present but subdued from years ago. One of my Mayo ENT surgeons responded to my question about this saying that cancer pain will not go away. It will just continue and worsen. That was certainly the case with my original SCC growing into the bone at the base of my skull. It was an unrelenting pain, day or night, a burning type of pain that did not change with position or movement. I was using a topical pain patch to sleep at night and round the clock Tylenol and Ibuprofen. Perhaps Dr. Moore's advice will help you also.

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Profile picture for Sue, Volunteer Mentor @sepdvm

@asgmiami1 That reaction to a new pain or sensation sticks with you for a long time. For me, after 14 years, it is still present but subdued from years ago. One of my Mayo ENT surgeons responded to my question about this saying that cancer pain will not go away. It will just continue and worsen. That was certainly the case with my original SCC growing into the bone at the base of my skull. It was an unrelenting pain, day or night, a burning type of pain that did not change with position or movement. I was using a topical pain patch to sleep at night and round the clock Tylenol and Ibuprofen. Perhaps Dr. Moore's advice will help you also.

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@sepdvm
I’m sorry you went through that.

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