spine pain

[cblack]

My husband is 27yrs old diagnosed with Type IIIA colon cancer. He had surgery to remove the tumor and has recently started chemotherapy (5FU +oxilplatin). His first treatment went smoothly with no side effects. Now he just received his second and experienced a sharp back pain going up and down his spine. We were concerned that the dose of oxilplatin is too much for him or that his port may have a leak. This happened the first night of infusion. I was wondering if anyone else had this and if so what was done for the pain? He didn't sleep a wink that first night but is now feeling much better. He does get the jaw pain when taking his first bite of something and has numbing in his hands. Two down and only 10 more treatments to go!

[missjv]

hi,
i had some bone pain early on i just took some tylenol pm to sleep and after a few more rounds of chemo the pain eased up. i don;t know how bad your husbands pain is mine was not severe enough to require a pain killer tylenol did just fine. i guess chemo effects the bone marrow and that is why the spinal pain.

missjv

[Abby]

My husband will be 30 in january and is stage IV colon cancer and had surgery last august and finished his first six months of chemo in April. He has severe back pain that only allows him to be functional for a couple of hours a day. He is maxed out on pain killers and the doctors say that there is no sign of anything in the CT scans or MRIs that they have ran. I got the reports and he has some spinal issues that were present prior to diagnosis. They say they can't find anything wrong and we went to a neurologist and he said that the chemo should not have caused nerve damage in the back. My husband does have peripheral neuropathy and is on medication for that.
Prior to diagnosis he did have back pain, but nothing chronic. It did not affect his ability to live life.
It seemed to get progressively worse until around his last chemo treatment it became horrible and chronic. We are going to see an acupuncturist on Tuesday.
I don't know if this is the path you husband's will take or not, but so far we have not gotten any answers except that it is not the cancer causing the pain. I will continue as I am sure you will to dig for answers to help with the pain.
I know how hard it can be to see ones we love in pain and not have the power to take it away.
Feel free to e-mail me and I will post or e-mail you as I find things out about battling the pain.

[Hannah]

I will start by saying that NOBODY should be in pain! Study after study shows that patients are undermedicated for pain in this country. This is often due to concerns about getting addicted - which is not particularly common, especially for drugs given to combat side effects of chemo.

One common side effect of oxaliplatin is that it effects the bone marrow, which can cause bone pain as well as other issues (for instance, increased risk of infections). So this is not all that uncommon, but absolutely SHOULD be treated with the appropriate pain medication. If a regular painkiller (tylenol or whatever) isn't working, there are some drugs that work specifically for bone pain. Ask your husband's doc and get him on one.

I would also ask for a PET scan if he hasn't had one - yes, the CT and MRI might not have shown anything, but a PET scan might. You might have to fight for this, as it is usually a follow-up to a suspicious CT scan. You also might be able to ask for the combination PET/CT, which is much more effective (I think about 11-12% if I remember correctly) in picking up metastases early.

Abby (and anyone else hearing this from a doc), if any doctor is telling you or your husband that he is "maxed out" on pain killers, GET A NEW DOCTOR or at the very least, ask for a referral to a pain specialist. Although it may take a little time to find the right combination of drugs that works for your husband, here is ALWAYS something that can be used, and you really can't max out on much of anything.

Hannah

[Bryan S]

As a pharmacist I must agree with Hannah there arre pain medications that may help. Dilaudid, morphine, Duragesic patches, you name it it is available. Many people with chronic pain can take amounts of pain killers that most people would think was an overdose. The problem lies with both the Drs and the Pharmacists not wanting to write or fill such prescriptions, but there are those who understand. Oncologists will usually write for major pain meds. If the dr writes it, expalin to the pharmacist why your husband needs it if he is hesitant to fill your prescription. If your current Pharmacist does not fill your rx find a new one.

[Abby]

My husbnad is on 40 mg oxycodone 2x per day and is on some oxycodone/apap for break through pain. Orally the doctor says that he is maxed out and my husband is already addicted and has withdraws if he sleeps through a scheduled pill.
We were referred to a pain clinic and my husband was looked at as an overweight fat slob who needed to lose weight. We were both disheartened. I had never seen such obvious discrimination.
Our oncologist has tried to refer us to a pain management clinic, but the ones he has talked to won't take my husband because there is nothing on the CT or MRI that they can work with.
This pain is sucking my husband's energy and will to fight.
His primary is sending us back to the pain management clinic and we are seeing a different doctor from the first time in hopes he will tell us something useful.
Hannah,
I was curious about the bone marrow affects of chemo. Is there a Web site you might refer me to so I can start reading on this. My husband has described the other pain in his body as bone pain at times, but our oncologist feels certain that it has nothing to do with his chemo.

Thanks to all for the support and help on this Web site. I am so glad someone told me about it.

-Abby

[Bryan S]

If his red blood cell count is low the Dr should probably put him on ProCrit or Epogen to increase RBC production. As far as the pain medication it could be increased if he is still having pain. Has he tried Fentanyl patches? These are patches that release meds over a 3 day period and are meant to be used in opiod tolerant patients. Addiction ? Who knows ? Yes whne he hurts he needs the meds when he gets better he can start cutting back. You need a more progressive pain managment specialist. So your husband is overweight so am I and my surgeon didn't like that and he lectured me about it but he was this skinny guy and he just does not understand. Good luck