Arm Pain - on the ledge again…
I know every situation is different, but this site has been able to keep me calm through a couple other “scares" so just looking to see if anyone has experienced something similar.
A little over a week ago I started with a weird ache in my forearm, almost like a shin splint on my arm. Stretching helped ease the ache. Over the last week it has become an intermittent ache anywhere from below my elbow to my wrist. Stretching, ice and heat help it (as does a glass of wine). Not an intense pain.
I've read that metsaren't very common below the elbow (but anything is possible) so trying to stay positive that it is just a muscle or tendon strain. Giving it the 2-3 weeks before I contact MO.
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I dunno. Do you exercise, lift weights, or work on a computer? I would think an injury from that would be way more likely than a metastasis. I asked my oncologist how I could tell a normal injury from a metastasis and although there's nothing definitive there are signs when you're looking at something more sinister. Is it on your breast cancer side for instance? If it's the opposite side considering you're only three years out and taking endocrine therapy, it's not likely to be a metastasis. Is it a gnawing pain that gets worse at night or rest? Does it keep you awake or when you are still are you pain free. Does it feel like a surface pain or deeper? For instance I have some upper arm pain right now on the opposite side of where my breast cancer was. My arm clicks a little sometimes when I move which is the tell tale symptom of a rotary cuff injury. Like you though stretching and rotating heat and cold helps. It's also not particularly painful even though I've had it now for over a month. In fact, it's probably a little better. It's more surface though and massaging it helps and it completely disappears when I'm still. Sleeping is not a problem. So with that I don't care and have decided to let it be. It feels like an injury from weight lifting and it probably is. Sometimes muscle and tendon injuries take quite awhile to heal. Anyway I wish you the best of luck but injuries happen and certainly pain will happen as we get older. The vast majority of the time it's not sinister.
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Thanks @kaynotrealname. It is on the other side. Thinking maybe nerve or elbow related because it does go away depending on arm position and better at night with straight arm. Stinks getting older and then worrying that normal aches and pains are something worse.
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Remember that endocrine therapy causes weird muscle things, too. Anyway this may or may not be comforting but it's what I remind myself. There is no early stage 4. Whether I rush to the doctor for every little thing or just wait around and see if it gets worse statistically speaking won't make a bit of difference. The medication will either work or not so for me I choose not to rush. It takes away from my living in the present.
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Last year I had a pain in my arm between my shoulder and elbow. It hurt on and off when I moved my arm and sometimes it was a constant dull pain. My first thought of course is bone Mets. I contacted my MO after it persisted for a couple of weeks. She ordered a CT scan of my arm which came back clear for cancer and referred me to ortho. They took X-rays and it turned out to be bone spur just below my shoulder with a touch of osteoarthritis. For the record I am 67. I was a a perfectly healthy 64 year old when I got my cancer diagnosis. I blame everything on the chemo, radiation, and letrozole. Of course I guess maybe I am starting to age
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