Bone or Muscle pain???

[PhillyProstate]

How do I know if I am having muscle pain or bone pain in my hip? The pain varies from day to day, and doesn't seem "deep" enough to be from my hip bone, But, I don't really know. I imagine that bone pain is more troubling, since it might mean a metastasis. Whats the difference between bone and muscle pain?

[noirhole]

I also have bone metastasis (lesion in the hip area) and I am asked by my doctors "any pain" what I mostly describe is as you say is muscle pain or arthritis joint pain, and as you say the pain or extent of aches vary day to day. It is my understanding that pain from bone metastasis can feel as if you have a broken bone (I hope that it is a long time before I experience debilitating pain). As drugs change with treatments and the disease progress or changes any pain or physical abnormalities always brings cause for alarm these days.

[PhillyProstate in reply to noirhole]

Hopeful

[CERICWIN]

I know what you're going through. It's always a guessing game as to which causes what pain, and what the pain actually is. I have bone mets in spine, sacrum and left femur trochanter. I also have mets in almost all pelvic lymph glands and a new lesion in the bladder.---And the prostate tumor---which recently began to grow again and cause such excruciating pain that I had to have twenty radiation treatments to shrink the damned thing down again.

Next, the medications can cause muscle, joint or bone pain. I'm currently on Xtandi, Xgeva and Avodart.

Then I have arthritis running all of the way down my spine with "degenerative changes" which can also cause lots of pain, and arthritis in the left hip as well.

Finally, we can get simple muscle pain from sleeping wrong on it, or lifting something.

Bone metastases are usually more continuous pain, though. And pain can radiate from one area to another, so we can never be entirely sure, without scan results, as to whether pain is caused by bone metastases, or some other source.

In addition, some guys can have more extensive bone mets without much pain, or just a few bone mets which give a lot of pain, depending entirely on the location and which nerve endings are affected.

In my case, they put me on extended release morphine for pain, and Dilaudid (hydromorphone) for breakthrough pain, as I have a lot of intense pain.

I tried to get by with minimal painkillers as long as I could until finally they put me on palliative care (which is mainly pain control) because I couldn't hide my pain any longer---I don't like addictive drugs.

Pains are always worrisome with prostate cancer; we always are very concerned about the possibilities of new metastases, but it's just something we must live with and work with our doctors for appropriate pain relief meds.

I hope that this was of some help,

CERICWIN

[PhillyProstate in reply to CERICWIN]

Helpful sharing...thank you.

[YostConner]

I generally know where most of my bone mets are, and I still have trouble with this question. In fact, for the last three days under my right arm I've had that question. At the site of my worst lesion, I can have sharp, momentary pain, but it's more often an ache deep down. Sometimes with pressure I can tell whether a pain is in bone or muscle.

[CERICWIN]

My uro doesn't want to do anything at all about the bladder lesion. It's still very small, and the CT scan or MRI stated that it was small, and advised for a cystoscopy and tissue sample. The urologist also said that I was too weak for surgery when I asked him about the bladder tumor or prostate tumor growing again.

So I have no idea whether or not it's a different cancer or a metastasis, but I would assume that it's more likely related to the prostate.

And it isn't even definitely malignant, since no seperate biopsy has been done.

Eric

[Bryan_Metcalf_UK]

I had extra radiotherapy last Christmas that calmed down my hip problems

[PhillyProstate in reply to Bryan_Metcalf_UK]

Thank you. I will consider that as a suggestion and discuss it with my urologist.