I know this has been discussed before in this forum. I have never had a problem before. I had my injections last Wednesday morning and did a lot of running around and tension in the afternoon. Also on Thursday morning did a big shopping. By the time I came home the pain had started at the injection site and through my hip on one side. I have taken extra pain meds and rubbed Voltaren on plus my heating pad. The pain is still there. Anyone know how long this will last and if I can do anything else?
Cheers, June S.
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I've had the Faslodex injections now for over 3 yrs and just recently had a reaction similar to yours it took 3 to 4 days before it subsided. Was really apprehensive for my next one but spoke at length to my nurse beforehand and she took much more care with placement and I had no issues. I was told eventually I was going to need to have them in my hips to give the other area time to heal. Best wishes to you.
Thanks so much. I was wondering how long it would take. I am on day three and it is still pretty sore. Had the injections last Wednesday. I have been told to keep moving which I have been doing. Also massaging in Voltaren and intermittent heating pad applications. Plus extra pain meds.
I just used a heating pad and soaked in a hot bath.
Did they injected the same way as before? Are you nauseous or headache or anything? I know how very painful they can be. I had my first shots last Monday and not till Friday did I regain full strength again and zero pain. Maybe they hit the wrong area with you.
The warmth will help and I hope you can take a warm bath with Epsom salt.
Hang in there and I hope the pain will diminish soon🙏
Thanks for the reply. I felt the nurse injected it to quickly but also I ended up sitting in the car in the afternoon because my husband had an appointment. Usually I would have been moving around more. Probably didn't help. I never had any pain before.
That happen to me 2 months ago and it took about that long to clear up with applying heat and physical therapy massage I believe they hit something they shouldn’t have like a ligament but my dr refused to do scan to see🤷♀️
I had one episode of pain like that after my injections. It took about two months for it to completely fade away. It was much better by the time I got my shots a month later, but not completely gone until two months. I was really cautious about them after that, quizzing the nurse on her techniques.
Faslodex (fulvestrant) is used to treat /acts on hormone receptor positive metastatic breast cancer, often with ibrance (palbociclib) depending on what treatment you have had previously
I started asking the nurse to give me my shot on the side of my hips after I had a bad experience with pain in my sciatic nerve. It has made all the difference!
I'm sorry you are finding the injections problematic. As with the comments above I have found it is all about the person giving the injection. I had one nurse who was so gentle and she would take a big pinch of skin, go very slowly and gently and not let the skin go until she had removed the needle and they were the best. Have also had some "cowboy' nurses with little experience and it left me very sore especially if I moved quickly exercising. It settled but I still get issues at times. In my last 2 PET scans the injection site, particularly on my right butt which is the most problematic shows up, so they definitely create either a scar or inflamation at the site.
Thanks for the reply. Very helpful. Both nurses that I have had for the injections are very experienced although I agree some are way better at everything than others. One has a better track record than the other. In one year since starting on Faslodex this is the first problem. I do think the problem might have be partly or entirely created by taking my husband to an afternoon appointment and getting chilled. I am at 5 days out now and it does feel somewhat better. Not sure if it is the extra meds or healing. A registered massage therapist told me to massage the area carefully and thoroughly when applying Voltaren and I think that has helped.
This has happened to me on occasion. (Like a stinging?) I think injection too fast or hitting a bit of a nerve sensitive spot can be the reasons. Instead of voltarin try taking a Claritin . I know it's weird - a nurse suggested it once and I have to say to helps! Also, if you have a big, hard lump at the injection site use a foam roller (like at the gym) and literally roll it out. If you don't have a roller try finding something like a window ledge or rounded edge of a table, etc and using that to try to deep massage it. It helps disperse the stuff.
Hello June, I am glad too hear that it is subsiding. I am in for my Faslodex injection tomorrow. I have been doing this almost 2 years and have picked up a few tips along the way. I have also had every reaction from nothing to using a walker for 2 days after the injection and everything in between. Please do not take Claritin or Reactine - they use the same enzymes as Ibrance and the Bayshore pharmacist told me that it will mean that your Ibrance does not get absorbed properly!
As for less than clinical "helps" ...I have less side effects when I follow these steps...never start cold, stretch before your injection (once you get to your room), ask for a heated blanket, do not rub immediately after it can push the fluid out (so I've been told), you can do a few squats after. Lay down for the injection so there is no weight or tension in your buttocks, make sure the syringe was removed from the fridge 30 minutes or more prior and I hold the syringe to further heat it up. Have the nurse go slow and then ask for slower still... less tearing of the tissue. I walk immediately after my injection - I do laps in the hospital (about 20 minutes); I am trying to get permission to use a treadmill at physio across the hall from cancercare no luck right now. My husbands waits in the vehicle with the seat on and warm, I do no bathe for 24 to 36 hours post but then I am considered somewhat amphibious for the next 24 to 36 hours! I use Muscle Melt bathe salts from Sage for extra relaxation.
I almost forgot - if i can squeeze in a therapeutic massage either 2 days before or 5 days after I am usually quicker to recover!
Well thanks Tammie. Lots of great tips. I can see how those all would help. I like to use the heated seats going home in the car also and I usually get a good amount of walking in that day before and especially after because I run errands afterwards. Besides it is a good walk into the hospital and up to the Chemo suite and back to the car again. Anything to not experience the muscle pain.
Hi, June. Much good advice in 17 previous replies. If you have looked up Faslodex injections on this site, you will see that I have become something of a proselytizer about proper injection. (I have also learned some tips, like warming the syringe between your thighs or in your arm pit.) There are a gazillion articles, mostly in nursing journals, about why the ventrogluteal site is less dangerous (less likely to hurt sciatic nerve or miss the muscle and inject into fat) and less painful for the injection, why nurses continue to use the dorsogluteal site despite the fact that it was established in the 1970's that it is not best, and what can convince them to use the ventrogluteal site (hip instead of butt). After my first bad experience (3 months later, I still have a big lump in my left buttock), I brought these articles to my oncologist. Her nurse practitioner said she always used the ventrogluteal, much easier for her. The last time, I brought this info to the nurse who was doing the injection. Told her I wanted to warm the syringes and asked if she knew how to use the ventrogluteal site. I made her very nervous. She did a really funny thing to warm the syringes herself. Didn't work. She couldn't figure out how to do . the injection, and kind of went high on my buttocks. That night, for the first time, I had severe pain down the bones on each side and into my hip. It was gone the next day. Then I remembered the one negative letter from a supervising nurse about the ventrogluteal site:. She said her nurses don't know how to do it. Better to have them use the dorsogluteal site correctly than the ventrogluteal site incorrectly. So now I don't know what to do.
But if you do a search for IM (intramuscular injections), you will see the controversy and the problem.
The other big thing is that it MUST take 1-2 minutes for the injection. I now time them. If it is too quick, some of the fluid winds up in the wrong place, in the fat and under the skin, and that causes pain.
I see other people who wrote in have options I don't. There is no bed, just a reclining chair. They have me stand with one knee on the chair. There is just a tiny cubicle with a curtain that doesn't quite close.
I also see in other chains that most people have an emergency oncology number. I don't. Just my oncologist and she is impossible to reach.
So just three take-aways: make sure it takes 2 minutes. Try to get the nurse to inject toward the hip (there is a thing they are supposed to do, making a v with their fingers). Warm it up. The thing I have not done is to get the name of the nurse so I can get a good one again and avoid the bad ones. I go to a place that is like a factory assembly line. Never have the same nurse twice.
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