bone pain relief?

[pinkbody2]

I have extensive bone Mets and am in constant pain. Just started Orserdu and doc says it takes time to work. Anyone have any suggestions for pain management other than ibuprofen?

[Half-Full]

Sorry you’re in such pain. My wife has bone mets and pain also. She uses a low dose fentanyl patch (gets changed every 3 days) and dilaudid for breakthrough pain. The fentanyl patch works much better than extended release morphine, and the dilaudid works better than immediate release (IR) morphine.

If you don’t already have one you should ask your oncologist for a referral to a palliative care pain doc.

If you live in a legal state THC can also provide significant relief. If it’s not recreationally legal in your state hopefully you can at least apply for a medical THC card. It’s generally an easy process, fill out a form, give it to your onco or palliative care doc, get a call from Dept of heath within a week to pick up your cards. Hemp derived products with THC are legal in all states and can be ordered online. They can provide relief as well but marijuana derived full spectrum THC products are generally considered to have more synergistic benefits.

I hope you find quick relief!

[Samsontheodore in reply to Half-Full]

I also benefit from the fentanyl patch. On Enhertu chemo (20 infusions so far with few side effects). Been MBC since December/2019 with it in bones and peritoneal area. Have medical card but so far not found one specific THC product that works for me. I feel I probably have a high tolerance to pain as well. I do see a palliative care nurse that is so helpful! This is NOT hospice. Wish more patients understood the Pallative care route for pain management! Good luck and many blessings! Not an easy road, but we’re doing it day by day!

[Dflur]

Make sure you are taking good supplements!!

Magnesium,vitamin D,vitamin B12 shot,Turmeric, I also take DoTERRA multivitamins, Copaiba essential oil. I was diagnosed in September 2019, breast cancer that is in my bones. These supplements have really helped me, even with sleeping too!

And unlike meditation from our doctors,… no side effects!!

[Figletf in reply to Dflur]

I agree,I take these supplements also! Haven't needed my Rx for opioids 😊

[Kerryd22]

If you don’t want to use opioids the best idea which came from my GP is to alternate two different over the counter meds. So take the ibuprofen then two hours later take paracetamol. And then two hours later ibuprofen etc. It doesn’t have to be those drugs but the active ingredients have to be different. That was what I used when I was initially diagnosed and it worked well. I still do use those two drugs when I have the need. Opioids scripts are much harder to get now although the oncologist will write them but even they have had restrictions placed on them by both the federal and state governments .

[Timtam56]

I am on Slow release Paracetamol, (Panadol Osteo in Australia) Targin, (slow release Oxycodone), Lyrica, (pregabalin) and use Ibubrofen as a breakthrough pain killer when I have too much pain or a headache or some other pain. It’s a lot. I’ve tried so many things, But recently changed to having Lyrica on top of all the others and it’s the best thing I’ve had for my pain.

[Bettybuckets]

hi miss pink body… the ladies above are referencing paracetamol which in USA we call acetaminophen/ tylenol… which has a different mechanism of action from the Non steroidals sometimes called NSAIDS which as the ibuprofen/Motrin that was mentioned.

I agree with the above and alternate with tylenol with and NSAID as I also try to avoid opioids as they will tend to constipate and bring on a a whole different agony…. The NSAID that works best for me (for years) is celebrex which is once daily dosing and is thought to be less ulcer causing than the older NSAIDS.

…

[morty87]

A daily Claritin will do wonders for bone pain. It is an antihistamine that decreases inflammation and swelling in the bone marrow. Good luck.

[pinkbody2 in reply to morty87]

I just started generic Claritin. Sounds promising and easier on my organs.

[Kcap430 in reply to morty87]

Claritin has been a game changer for me!

[Kerryd22 in reply to morty87]

It’s thought to do more than that -

‘We have previously found that use of the H1-antihistamines desloratadine and loratadine is associated with substantially improved survival in both breast cancer [30] and cutaneous malignant melanoma [31], and in this meta-analysis of our data, we investigate whether a similar association can be seen across multiple tumour types, with and without a known response to treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as anti-CTLA-4 or anti-PD-1, to shed further light on the possible anti-tumor effect of these antihistamines, and whether it may be immunological in nature.’

Loratadine costs a few cents a day. There’s more information supporting its use for multiple cancers including breast cancer at the link. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[Dragonfly2 in reply to Kerryd22]

Thank you for this…I’ve been using loratadine for years now since diagnosis and hope that it is making a positive effect on my health.

[Kerryd22 in reply to Dragonfly2]

Me too. My doctor advised me that an Ophthalmologist said my dry eye is an allergic reaction and to use eye drops and daily Claratin but that’s expensive and my local pharmacy sells loratadine cheap so I bought that. It’s not especially effective for dry eye so now I take fish oil capsules too but later I saw a reference to it on another site when the poster mentioned it as the only supplement she takes. When I sought the document out for myself to check what she’d said, I decided after reading it to restart the loratadine because it can’t do any harm and it seems to do a lot of good for certain cancers. I’m still stable and in fact I’ve had a very good scan recently and Mets have shrunk and disappeared from view. No one can say why that’s the case, almost literally on the eighth anniversary of my diagnosis, and it might not last for long but I never thought I’d ever get such a good scan result especially after the previous scan showed progression. Loratadine costs less than 15c per day and it might be the best 15c I have ever spent.

[awesome4ever in reply to Kerryd22]

Thanks for sharing this information and article. I have honestly debated about taking Claritin for years for my bone pain because I have read people's success here. Finally I took the bullet this morning (after talking to my oncology pharmacist) to bite the bullet and give it a try. I'm hopeful it will be helpful. Take care.

[TwithBC in reply to morty87]

Really!? I need to start this immediately--why has my oncologists not offered this info; I remember now reading someone stating that Claritin was good before zometa to reduce pain thag often follows -- anyway, excited to try Claritin--my bones have only starred to really hurt all over after 6.5 years of MBC, even tho I'm NED for lay 5 years? Uggh, my upcoming scan will probably reveal progression. I hurt low back hip groin ...

[cosmicsoul]

Try Claritin. This may help. I used it when taking Neulasta after my day of chemo. It was recommended by others who suffered terrible bone pain. I took Claritin for 3 days before the Neulasta patch. It helped me have zero bone pain. Maybe it will help. All the best and many blessings.

[Iwasborntodothis in reply to cosmicsoul]

agree with this 100% I have been taking Claritin daily for a long time and my bone pain is minimal - I take an aleve now and then. I do not want to minimize other's pain though..I just have a weird high threshold I guess and pain actually makes me vomit before I "feel" it.

[Half-Full]

Just wanted to add that I agree with all the above and I should have prefaced my initial comments with suggestions to try non-opioid options first. Non-opioid options have unfortunately not even come close to being sufficient to address my wife’s pain, but they absolutely should be tried first before resorting to opioids.

If non-opioid options do not provide enough relief, with careful use the side effects from relatively low dose opioids can be much easier to tolerate than pain that’s not well controlled with non-opioid options.

Everybody’s situation is different, and finding the right solution will likely take some trial and error, but I hope you find relief soon.

[pinkbody2 in reply to Half-Full]

Thank you for the responses. I have extensive liver Mets and elevated kidney numbers so it’s hard to decide what’s best. Do I live w pain or take meds that are hard on my organs. Doc said to alternate drugs like ibuprofen, then Vicodin.. I think pain control is needed so I can do life. I’m hoping Orserdu kicks in soon.

[SoulJourney]

There are lots of great suggestions above. If your current pain management plan is not working you should first and foremost let your oncologist know you need some additional support in this area of your treatment.

They will also let you know about interactions. For example, I was told to not take Claritin or Reactine while on Ibrance because they use the same digestive mechanism and it will lessen the effectiveness of Ibrance. Turmeric is also something I had started but my oncologist advised against because of interactions.

Vitamin B is absolutely great because it doesn’t typically interfere with anything and you apparently can’t ever take too much. You will just eliminate the excess. Vitamin C interferes with some IV chemotherapy.

My doctor has given me various pain killers to use depending on how much pain I am in at the time and also the cautions about which ones can and can not be mixed.

I was also referred to neurology because she felt some of my pain was nerves not bone.

There is also transfer to the muscles surrounding the tumours so look into a supportive knowledgeable massage therapist. I go every 4 weeks and it makes all the difference in the world! I also use a lot of voltaren and most recently a topical THC cooling cream I have a prescription for.

I hope you find what works for you!

Hugs

Tammie

[Samsontheodore]

just replied to Half-Full, but meant response to you as well!

[pinkbody2 in reply to Samsontheodore]

Thank you. My onc always says less more. But your right I should let him know about everything I’m taking in case of interactions.

[Eliactida1955]

Is this the med you are taking. I don’t take much meds and really nothing for pain. Ask the onc — I’m taking Xeloda for stage 4 breast cancer spread to the bone.