Constant Pain

[Advice1]

Hi to the forum members

I am a female in my mid 70's in 2005 was treated for Breast Cancer with Radiotherapy only

and had the left side lymph nodes removed.

I have for a couple of months now had constant pain and it's has been hard to get an appointment with GP had constant pain in my upper back and under the front of my left breast.I had been seen in check-up each year for 5 yrs up until 2010 and found to be clear each time.I have been given Gabapentin Double E Pharma 100mg 2 tablets 3 times a day which are not working only slightly ease pain couple of hour in afternoon.It felt like pluerisy but GP ruled out this.I am waiting for CT for Neck ,thorax,Abdo,pelvis,with contrast.I should mention i had 2 Stokes a year ago which did not cause problems to left or right side of body from which was caused by left Carotid blocked under 50% on both sides.

i was wondering also if this pain could be related to the past strokes ? As some people experience pain after stroke Although my Carotids were checked recently and a year on are still the same under 50%.

I would appreciate any others experience and any advice .

Thank you.

[Dmhaynes]

Goodness me you have a lot going on! I take it that the pain must be quite bad to be on Gabapentin?

I would push to get a GP appointment but also phone your oncologists secretary and get an appointment with them as well.

It may be due to the previous radiotherapy and as you mentioned compounded by the stroke but you need to have it looked into further.

I hope you get it sorted xx

[Advice1 in reply to Dmhaynes]

Hello Dmhaynes

thanks for your kind reply .

I have pushed for a GP appointment up to the point where i went in to the surgery and had a row with the receptionist who kept telling me have to wait a month for a normal GP appointment which i said was wrong as i needed to be seen urgently .Finally got an appointment mid June where it was explained not pluerisy.And referred for the upper body CT Scan and have found an appointment is first week of july now.So i have been waiting since end of April when the pain started.Thank you very much for the generous and much needed support.

Best wishes.

[Dmhaynes in reply to Advice1]

You're welcome and I hope the CT goes well x

[Chrissie2]

I hope that your CT scan comes through quickly. How long have you been waiting? If it does not come through soon, you need to ring the CT department to find out when it might be. If it is still not soon, I suggest that you keep ringing them - they will soon get fed up of your calls and, hopefully, make you an appointment. With your past history I would have thought this was quite urgent. Hope you get sorted soon x

[Advice1 in reply to Chrissie2]

Hi Chrissie2 thank you for your caring support which is very generous of you in your reply .Most of my info is in the reply above to Dmhaynes save having to duplicate it...thanks for taking time to reply with your kind advice.

Best Wishes

[Chrissie2 in reply to Advice1]

Glad you have your appointment now. If you have not had a response from your GP in 2 weeks after your scan, I would keep ringing to find out the results. Unfortunately sometimes, this is the only way to do things. The waiting is the worst x

[blue_sky1]

Hi there. Please don't assume that this pain is cancer related. If you were treated with radiotherapy only the chances are your diagnosis wasn't too bad. It could be anything!

I have terrible upper back pain if I don't do my exercises. Had lots of scans and worried consultants before I eventually realised that it was completely postural. Try to relax and go with the flow. Best of luck xxxxx

[Advice1 in reply to blue_sky1]

Hi Blue_sky1

thank you for your kind reply and your support i will try and follow your advice .

I hope you are feeling better now.

Best of luck to you too ,thank you for taking the time to help.

[Advice1]

I pushed and pushed for CT Scan result through the consultant secretary and eventually through help of PALS and got a phone call today to go and discuss the result with the Consultant ( and will be given a copy at the Hospital )the appointment i have been given over the phone is very early next week.

Obviously very worried now as it has taken over a month to get even close to the result of the CT Scan.Do most people have to see the Consultant this way for a result from Oncologist ?I would appreciate any ideas please.