Joint pain

MCW110
MCW110 Member Posts: 3 Member
edited May 8 in Colorectal Cancer #1

I had stage 3 colorectal cancer last year. I had radiation with oral chemo. Chemotherapy. Ileostomy for 11 months and Mass removal surgery. And now I have such SEVERE joint pain. It’s every single joint. I literally hurt 24/7. Has anyone else had this problem?

Comments

  • Trubrit
    Trubrit Member Posts: 5,804 Member
    #2

    Hello, and welcome to the forum.

    I do have joint pain from radiation, but that pain is in my hips - mostly the right, only. I wonder why your pain is in every joint? Have you talked to your Oncologist?

    Saying that, I remember both my radiation oncologist and oncologist weren't overly concerned with any of my side effects. They just wanedt to treat the problem and leave the side effects to be dealt with.

    The only thing I could advise, would be to keep a record of the foods you eat, and see if anything triggers the pain, or exacerbates it. I have joint pain tied to both radiation and heart medication, and have found that several food items, exacerbate the pain - sugar and salt being the biggest.

    I wish you all the best as you move forward with your journey, and hope that you can find relief for your joint pain.

    Tru

  • MCW110
    MCW110 Member Posts: 3 Member
    #3

    Tru

    Thank you for responding. My pain initially started bilaterally in my hips as well. Unfortunately it didn’t stay there. It just kept getting worse and worse until it is now every single joint. And yes. I mentioned numerous times to my oncologist and the only answer I kept receiving was “hmmm. That’s not a usual response” I 100% agree with what you said about they are only worried about the cancer and that is it! They don’t want to deal with the side effects etc. I have been having this issue since August. Finally put my foot down and got a referral to a pain management clinic this month. So we are now trying to figure out what is going on. But I never considered that it could be food triggered. I will definitely keep a food journal for the next few weeks and see if that could possibly be it!! It’s worth a try no doubt! Thank you for sharing that!

  • iron9nadin
    iron9nadin Member Posts: 6 Member
    #4

    I'm new to all of this, but in my 1st Oncology appt, he mentioned that any underlying or auto immune disease can be activated with chemo/radiation.

    Can you ask to get a blood test for autoimmune... possibly lupus. My dad recently diagnosed with lupus at 75 years old

    Best of luck for answes for you!!

  • MCW110
    MCW110 Member Posts: 3 Member
    #5

    I have wondered myself if it could be some sort of auto immune thing. I’ve been asking around to get some recommendations for a good internal medicine dr with experience with cancer patients. In the meantime I am seeing a pain specialist. When I told her that my oncologist blew me off and said that wasn’t normal she cut me off mid sentence and said “ um yes maam it is normal!!!!” She basically said that when you go through chemo,radiation,and eight major surgeries all within 11 months that it just breaks the body down. And some people will eventually recover physically from it and some just don’t. But she is at least helping me. But I do want to get in with an internal medicine dr and have them check me for auto immune.

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