left side upper body pain, ET

[ts75]

Hi all,

I’m gonna try here to see if anyone has experienced pain in the upper body (one-sided) for a long time as a result of their mpn or medication? Feel like I had all the exams, incuding a colonoscopy - yikes, and my doctor is now saying it’s a “skeletal problem”. I’m 47, was working out 2-3 times a week and reasonable healthy except for the ET so just don’t understand why I would develop skeletal problems that have been on/off for a year now!

Anxious to hear of any similar experienced!

Thanks!

[hunter5582]

Upper left abdominal pain is a classic symptom of MPN related splenomegaly. This is so well known with MPNs it is hard to imagine that it was not the first thing checked. Did you receive an ultrasound or other imaging of the abdomen? If this has been ruled out then all the other possibilities need to be considered.

[JustKeepSw1mming]

Hi TS75, I agree with Hunter. I also had sharp pains in my upper left side. Ultrasound showed that I have an enlarged spleen.

Hope your doctors find the cause and take care.

[ts75 in reply to JustKeepSw1mming]

Thank you for reminding me both of you! I did mention it to my ET doctor and she said that the symptoms were more about feeling full after eating and thus did not address further. I had a CT in October for kidney stones and it did not show any spleen enlargement although that was not their main focus. I am having an ultrasound and x-ray on Thursday so will get my answer there. I am worried though, if it is the spleen, as I have been on Anagrelide for 2.5 years and just transitioning to Pegasys. I would have thought that the spleen shouldn't grow with all that medication

[JustKeepSw1mming in reply to ts75]

Good luck with your appointment and I hope they will find the cause to help you!

I had more severe pains while I was on Pegasys. They came suddenly and didn't last too long, but it was pretty scary as they were pretty sharp and debelitating. When I saw my hematologist, he examined me and said that my spleen could have been "irritated" due to the reaction I was having to Pegasys. I couldn't sleep on my left side.

The severe pains did go away, once I stopped it though. I have twinges from time to time, but nothing major.

Take care.

Mary

[ts75 in reply to JustKeepSw1mming]

Interesting since my pain really took off around three weeks into Pegasys! Will try to persevere though since I'm hoping for good long-term results of Pegasys... Did you have other adverse symptoms to Pegasys? Hope you are well now!