Spinal Stenosis

islandgirlculebra

Three years after treatment still experiencing hip, buttock and thigh pain, stiffness and weakness...... Discussed once again with my (new) Chemo Dr. at a 6-month follow up visit this week. Instead of the usual response of silence I get from my doctors when I mention this pain, she pulled up the CAT scan results from May 2014, and it stated that I have severe degenerative disc disease of L4 and L5 vertebrate with severe left and moderate right neural foramina stenosis and moderate central canal stenosis. (Would have been nice if someone had mentioned this to me!!!)  Just wondering if anyone has knowledge if radiation could have possibly caused this. I realize that this is one of those things we get as we age, and maybe it's a coincidence, but my hip and leg pain started right after the radiation treatments and continues to this day. Just wondering if anyone has any insight. Thanks.

lilou

RADIOTHERAPY

hELLO  , 18 months after the end of my treatment  by radiotherapy, i   felt deep pains at the level of the sacrum and of the left hip. After many examinations to evict possible metastases, it has proved that it was multiple fracture of fatigue at the level of the pond owed to the radiotherapy and osteoporis. Everything is strengthened buti suffer even to day and i keep a boiterie  of the left leg. I am followed by a rhumatologist.   GOOD DAY TO YOU.

mp327

Spinal Stenosis

Obviously, I don't have M.D. after my name, but I have to believe that your issues are somehow related to the treatment.  I never had the hip pain that I am now having until treatment took place.  I hope that otherwise, you are doing well. 

Martha

RoseC

Yes, me!

Hi islandgirl,

I have the same thing. Mine is spinal stenosis in two directions. I had a two month hospital stay due to a blood disorder from the mitomycin four months after finishing treatment and then two months at home unable to do much. When I finally got back to work I noticed I couldn't walk very far without having real bad weakness and pain. I thought I could just 'walk through it' - that it would resolve after getting back into life, but it didn't.

I did two rounds of physical therapy, which helped a lot with flexibility but didn't touch the walking/weakness issue. I had an MRI and saw two spine specialists. One told me what he thinks happened is that a pre-existing minor spinal stenosis condition was worsened by the hospital stay and long recuperation. No one said it was related to the radiation, but I feel it's possible that the radiation was part of it. Should mention that back problems are common in my family -both my mom and my sister also have spinal stenosis.

What are you doing about it? They offered me steroid shots but my mom gets them and I know from her experience that you can only get them for so long. I want to save that treatment for the future. I'm planning to see an acupuncturist and/or a sports physical therapist as soon as the weather gets better (I'm in Massachusetts and we've been buried with snowstorm after snowstorm). Both were suggested as possible things that won't fix the issue but may help with pain and weakness. I'm also going to talk to my doctor when I see him in April and ask if I can have a scan to detect any fractures.

RoseC

islandgirlculebra

RoseC said:

Yes, me!

Hi islandgirl,

I have the same thing. Mine is spinal stenosis in two directions. I had a two month hospital stay due to a blood disorder from the mitomycin four months after finishing treatment and then two months at home unable to do much. When I finally got back to work I noticed I couldn't walk very far without having real bad weakness and pain. I thought I could just 'walk through it' - that it would resolve after getting back into life, but it didn't.

I did two rounds of physical therapy, which helped a lot with flexibility but didn't touch the walking/weakness issue. I had an MRI and saw two spine specialists. One told me what he thinks happened is that a pre-existing minor spinal stenosis condition was worsened by the hospital stay and long recuperation. No one said it was related to the radiation, but I feel it's possible that the radiation was part of it. Should mention that back problems are common in my family -both my mom and my sister also have spinal stenosis.

What are you doing about it? They offered me steroid shots but my mom gets them and I know from her experience that you can only get them for so long. I want to save that treatment for the future. I'm planning to see an acupuncturist and/or a sports physical therapist as soon as the weather gets better (I'm in Massachusetts and we've been buried with snowstorm after snowstorm). Both were suggested as possible things that won't fix the issue but may help with pain and weakness. I'm also going to talk to my doctor when I see him in April and ask if I can have a scan to detect any fractures.

RoseC

Thanks Lilou, Martha and RoseC for your input!

Having a bone scan tomorrow to make sure this isn't something bad (i.e., cancer). Talked to my General Practitioner/Osteopathic Physician today about this. He doesn't seem to think this is a big deal and I need to stay away from orthopedic surgeons cuz all they want to do is cut on you. I've heard horror stories about back surgery so that's not something I would want to jump into either.......He doesn't think my hip pain has anything to do with the stenosis in my back. ?????  Don't know what to think of that.........  I've had osteopathic problems/fibromyalgia like symptoms for years, so maybe the radiation just made it a little worse............Had an Osteopathic Adjustment and am feeling somewhat better this evening. He said we'll see what the bone scan shows and then do an xray to try to see what's going on in the hip.  He said he can give steroid shots to help relieve pain.  This hip pain is beginning to have an effect on my quality of life so I need to do something! Other than that, and the usual side effects from treatment (not able to tolerate heavy fats or real high fiber in my diet without resultant "issues", and the inflexible vagina tissue we all must deal with), I'm doing very well and thankful to be alive!!!! I don't come on here very often cuz i try to push thoughts of cancer to the back of my brain, but I think there are a lot of wonderful people on this sight and I wish you all well!!!!!

 

RoseC

islandgirlculebra said:

Thanks Lilou, Martha and RoseC for your input!

Having a bone scan tomorrow to make sure this isn't something bad (i.e., cancer). Talked to my General Practitioner/Osteopathic Physician today about this. He doesn't seem to think this is a big deal and I need to stay away from orthopedic surgeons cuz all they want to do is cut on you. I've heard horror stories about back surgery so that's not something I would want to jump into either.......He doesn't think my hip pain has anything to do with the stenosis in my back. ?????  Don't know what to think of that.........  I've had osteopathic problems/fibromyalgia like symptoms for years, so maybe the radiation just made it a little worse............Had an Osteopathic Adjustment and am feeling somewhat better this evening. He said we'll see what the bone scan shows and then do an xray to try to see what's going on in the hip.  He said he can give steroid shots to help relieve pain.  This hip pain is beginning to have an effect on my quality of life so I need to do something! Other than that, and the usual side effects from treatment (not able to tolerate heavy fats or real high fiber in my diet without resultant "issues", and the inflexible vagina tissue we all must deal with), I'm doing very well and thankful to be alive!!!! I don't come on here very often cuz i try to push thoughts of cancer to the back of my brain, but I think there are a lot of wonderful people on this sight and I wish you all well!!!!!

 

Thanks for the update,

Thanks for the update, islandgirl. If you could let us know how things turn out, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

mp327

islandgirlculebra said:

Thanks Lilou, Martha and RoseC for your input!

Having a bone scan tomorrow to make sure this isn't something bad (i.e., cancer). Talked to my General Practitioner/Osteopathic Physician today about this. He doesn't seem to think this is a big deal and I need to stay away from orthopedic surgeons cuz all they want to do is cut on you. I've heard horror stories about back surgery so that's not something I would want to jump into either.......He doesn't think my hip pain has anything to do with the stenosis in my back. ?????  Don't know what to think of that.........  I've had osteopathic problems/fibromyalgia like symptoms for years, so maybe the radiation just made it a little worse............Had an Osteopathic Adjustment and am feeling somewhat better this evening. He said we'll see what the bone scan shows and then do an xray to try to see what's going on in the hip.  He said he can give steroid shots to help relieve pain.  This hip pain is beginning to have an effect on my quality of life so I need to do something! Other than that, and the usual side effects from treatment (not able to tolerate heavy fats or real high fiber in my diet without resultant "issues", and the inflexible vagina tissue we all must deal with), I'm doing very well and thankful to be alive!!!! I don't come on here very often cuz i try to push thoughts of cancer to the back of my brain, but I think there are a lot of wonderful people on this sight and I wish you all well!!!!!

 

Good luck

I wish you the best with your bone scan tomorrow.  I hope whatever is causing your pain is an easy fix and that soon you'll be rid of it!  Let us know what you find out.

Martha

islandgirlculebra

mp327 said:

Good luck

I wish you the best with your bone scan tomorrow.  I hope whatever is causing your pain is an easy fix and that soon you'll be rid of it!  Let us know what you find out.

Martha

Hip Pain - Bone Scan

Since a couple people requested that I let them know about the results of the bone scan, just thought I'd tell you that it came back clear. So good news since it's not cancer! Still dealing with the hip pain, some days worse than others. Today's a bad day so it's on my mind..... Perhaps the next step would be x-rays to make sure there are no small fractures due to weakening in the bones due to radiation, which I've read is one of the side effects....... Sigh. "Radiation, the gift that keeps on giving".

mp327

islandgirlculebra said:

Hip Pain - Bone Scan

Since a couple people requested that I let them know about the results of the bone scan, just thought I'd tell you that it came back clear. So good news since it's not cancer! Still dealing with the hip pain, some days worse than others. Today's a bad day so it's on my mind..... Perhaps the next step would be x-rays to make sure there are no small fractures due to weakening in the bones due to radiation, which I've read is one of the side effects....... Sigh. "Radiation, the gift that keeps on giving".

islandgirlculebra

That's very good news about your bone scan.  If the hip pain persists, I would definitely ask for further evaluation.  I'm dealing with a bout of hip pain right now myself and if it doesn't go away soon, I will be seeing an orthopedist.  I have found that not sitting for long periods of time is helping.  Sitting seems to bring on the pain.  I am still able to run on my treadmill, but right now I must hold on to the rails, due to a feeling of instability.  I don't know if I pulled something or if it could be an issue with my bones.  At any rate, I hope you either get past this or can find out the cause, which hopefully is something minor. 

Martha