Metastatic cancer

[Sexy048]

Hello everyone im hear to reach out to people with the same issue im having..i was diagnosed with breast cancer which ttavel into my pancreas..Im okay but having alot of hip pain tht travels to my thighs and knees and lower leg cant sleep at night pain is extremely horrible

[Kats2]

Hi,

What type of BC do you have? Ductal, Lobular? What treatment plan are you on? Do you have bone mets too? Please give us a little more info on your case. When were you first diagnosed with mets, and your first BC diagnosis?

I never heard of BC traveling to the pancreas. What does your Oncologist have to say about all of this?

Kats2

[Joan37]

I do not have mets to the pancreas and not certain whether that would be the cause of the pain in your hip, thighs, knees and lower leg. Perhaps you can first try to rule out that the cancer has to spread to your hip or other bones.

Sometimes targeted radiation is used to alleviate pain in the bones. I'm not sure whether it's used in the pancreas to either control the cancer and/or the pain, but I know that it's used in the lungs and liver.

There's also interventional radiology which uses minimally invasive techniques such as radiofrequency ablation (RFA) to burn the tumor with radio waves (I had that for a lung met), microwave ablation, cryoablation (freezing the tumor to kill it), and electro-nanoportation to eliminate the tumor with electrical current.

Sometimes, these procedures can also help reduce or eliminate pain.

However, perhaps someone else on the board has mets to the pancreas and can give you more specific information about that.

Best wishes.

[PJBinMI]

Be sure to let your onc know how severe the pain is! That is something I would phone my onc about on the weekend! Or even go to the ER. Not being able to sleep is a serious problem and it is totally reasonable for you to want this addressed today! The rule I have for myself since dealing with cancer is that if I even think of calling my onc or going to the ER, I do it! Better to do it a little too often than not quite often enough! Do you by chance have lobular bc? It frequently goes to "odd places", meaning other than the usual bones, liver, lungs, brain sites of metastases. The good news if it is lobular is that lobular is usually hormone receptor positive and often responds really well to hormonal treatment. You don't mention which type of bc you have nor your treatment. The bone drugs and some hormonals can cause bone pain as a side effect. Pain can be referred from one part of hte body to another. But I would definitely phone my onc about this today. You don't need to wait to report severe pain, and pain that keeps you awake at night if deinitely severe (7 or higher on the 1-10 rating of pain!) Do keep us posted! About how you are feeling and what you learn about this cancer.

[Hidden in reply to PJBinMI]

Can I ask you something that has nothing to do with this post? How do you deal with the pain? My mom's mets are very painful and she also has trouble sleeping. I don't feel it's ok to keep her on tramadol all the time. But anything less doesn't do anything to the pain.

[PJBinMI in reply to Hidden]

I wouldn't worry about the tramadol! If she has distressing side effects from it, talk with her onc about that or ask that she see a pain management specialist. If your mother lives where she can use "medical marijuana" that might help her pain. I spoke with an RN at a mm dispensary a few years ago and she recommended edible mm for those of us with cancer pain. I've also heard good things about radiation for bone mets pain. Especially targeted rads, like sterotactic rads, gamma knife, cyberknife.

[BeckyHobson in reply to Hidden]

Hi, sorry to hear about your mom but you are so kind to be on here doing what you can to help. I also take Lorazepam to help me sleep. Dilaudid for pain and the lorazepam for the anxiety. Your mind does horrible things to you in the quiet night or day or just always and it can make it impossible to sleep because the brain won’t turn off-grrrr 😊. Ask her oncologist about something for anxiety.

[Meadesmith]

Cannibis gummies are great for getting a good night's sleep. Unfortunately you have to work out the dosing for yourself. But you wake feeling good and clear, unlike almost everything else. Definitely go to pain management. They know the sage combination of different meds. As someone told me, they know the secrets.