The Colon Club

Over the last week or two I have been battling pain that radiates down my left leg. I have never had sciatica, but I think that is what I have now. I have been taking ibuprofen which helps a little bit. I am currently on Folfox and Avastin. Does anyone know if Folfox can cause sciatic pain? I found a post by Bev G which says that her onc didn't want to put her on Folfox for that very reason. (She had disc issues with her back). I have a herniated disc, but up until the last two weeks it had never caused me any pain. It had caused numbness down the S-1 nerve root which led to my left calf muscle shrinking.
The sciatic pain is worse than any other pain I have had from colon cancer.

Hi John: I do have a herniated L4-L5 with chronic sciatica (interestingly, and thankfully the sciatica has sort of been hibernating for the last several months, probably because I've rarely been out of bed in that time) but when it's "turned on" the pain is just as you describe and is nearly unbearable. I wanted to clarify that the main reason my onc wouldn't give me Folfox is because I have minimal diabetic neuropathy in my feet, which feels a lot like how people on the board describe their Oxi neuropathy. She was very sure that the Oxi would make the neuropathy I already have much worse, and definitely permanent.

I hope you feel better soon,

Bev

My last spine X-Ray revealed progressive degeneration of my L-4 and 5 vertebrae with disc thinning. This causes back pain from time to time...and sometimes my sciatic nerve and piriformis muscle take the brunt of the pain. OH and the pain is quite something...as you have come to know. The BEST thing for me is physiotherapy. Anti-inflammatories all wreak havoc with my stomach and GI tract...so I have to go easy on them. I highly recommend you get yourself to a good physiotherapist.

The funny/weird thing was...while on chemo I had NO backpain at all. I'm thinking because the pain I have is auto-immune in nature...and since chemo kills your immune system.....

I've suffered from sciatica for over 25 years due to compressed lower disk and wonky hip (sorry for all the technical terminology). In my experience there is nothing specific that sets it off - once it happened from sneezing! - but I've found that doing yoga and especially the very simple exercises in this book help both during a bout of back pain and as a means of prevention:
http://www.amazon.com/Treat-Your-Back-Robin-McKenzie/dp/0959774661

I personally haven't noticed any connection between cancer treatments and frequency of back issues. And I haven't had any serious back pain since I started doing the exercises in that book.

When in spasm, the best back treatment I have discovered over the years is alternating hot & cold on the area (I use a hot water bottle and frozen bag of peas), no more than 15 minutes each at a time. And walking. Sitting and especially "bed rest" only prolong the pain and the length of "outtage" time. Gentle walking really does help a lot.

Hope this helps. I know how painful it is - really it's quite indescribable.

My husband started having a problem after his 8th or 9th Folfox where when he tilts his head forward he can feel a shooting pain down his back to his feet. It hasn't gone away. His on thinks it's a neuropathy related issue. He didn't have the oxi for his last two treatments, so it's been over a month away from it. The tingling in his fingers and numbness and pain in the bottom of his feet hasn't improved yet.

John, I wonder if your sciatica is something like this?

you might ask your onc for Lyrica if you don't take that or Neurontin already!!
Luv and hugs,
Karin

Hey everyone! I am new here. I'm a daughter of a lively and beautiful 53 year old cancer patient who had been diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer since Sept' 09. She has already completely Avastin but everyday, passing motion is like going to hell and back. She has this urge to defecate but everytime there is very little stool or none at all. She goes around 6-8 times a day (sounds like rectal tenesmus, right?). Twice this month, she had a lot of blood in her stool and she refuses to see the doctor as the next doctor appointment + scan result will be next tuesday. And and there is also this pain radiating from her left buttock down to her foot. I am suspecting it might be sacral nerve root compression as the pain gets SOOO bad she can't get sleep. Does anyone experience the same thing? I'm really worried about the scan results! My mom is so tired of this battle she wishes to die. =(

Karin,

My onc prescribed Neurontin last week. I already have some feeling back in my hands. I have been living with neuropathy since 2007. It is so weird to get some feeling back that I thought I had lost permanently.

Mondayblues,

Some of your post doesn't sound like me, but the pain down the left leg and not being able to sleep through the night is exactly what I have been going through for the last couple of months. I have a recurrence in my pelvic lymph nodes (left common iliac) and I'm not sure if this could compress one of my nerve roots or if I am having pain from chemo or if my herniated disc is finally causing pain rather than the numbness it has caused for years. My next scan is also on Tuesday. Hopefully your mother and I will both get some answers from the pictures.