Possible Bone Cancer? - Cancer: Bone Message Board

Pipknight · 05-23-2006, 02:59 PM

Hi I was wondering if someone could give me some advice or information about my knees. I am a 30 year old woman and for the past three or four months I have had knee pain and weakness that seems to be getting worse and worse. I had x-rays done which showed Osteopenia. Osteoporosis runs in my family, but not at 30 years old. My doctor said Osteopenia doesn't cause pain, so she referred me to an Orthopedic doctor who I'm seeing next week. I am not overweight and I was active up until my knees started hurting. At first I thought it was arthritis because that runs in my family as well, but the x-ray reports didn't say anything about that. The pain is constant, sometimes I stumble when I walk because my knees give out, and I don't know what to do. I also am very tired a lot of the time now, and I notice that I'm starting to lose weight although I'm not dieting. Does anyone have any ideas or advice? I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

dandoj · 05-24-2006, 04:27 AM

Pipknight,
I went through all the same things with my knees. All the tests and xrays showed no arthritis or damage but yet they hurt all the time. I don't know if it is connected to PD or not, but there are certainly a lot of PD people who have the same problem but do not have cancer. I thought for sure I had arthritis, but no. Personally I just started realizing that my knee pain could be due to the way I walk now. I didn't realize it but I do shuffle at times and don't pick up my feet as much because I am afraid of loosing my balance and falling. Try not to worry, because it just makes your pain a lot worse. Chances are you will not have any cancer in your knees. You might just ask a friend to observe the way you are walking now. Because of the pain your walk may be making that worse. Let us know how you are doing.
Blessings,
Jim

Pipknight · 05-25-2006, 11:10 AM

Hi and thank you for sharing your experiences with me. At least I know I'm not alone.

BB-I also have severe TMJ, so I take MS Contin (morphine) for the pain. I've also taken Vicoden. Neither of those meds even touch the pain in my knees. No one believes me when I say my meds don't help with my knee pain, but it's true. I wish people (especially doctors) would realize that morphine does NOT help with all types of pain. I can't believe the hospital didn't do any further testing. Most likely when the x-ray didn't show anything they labeled you as a junkie and didn't care enough to try other tests. In my opinion x-rays are so limited I can't believe they even bother doing them anymore. They should of done an MRI on your knee. Please let me know what the bone specialist says today. I wish you the best.

Jim-What did your doctor suggest you do?

Last night I was shaving my legs with one foot on the tub floor and the other on the ridge of the tub. The leg on the ridge shook the whole time.

I hope we all get some answers and start to feel better soon.

(((Hugs)))

Amy

shakorox · 05-25-2006, 11:57 AM

To rule out any kind of bone lesions you should get a Bone Scan. It's a simple procedure where you get injected with a radioactive dye (no you won't glow in the dark), then you wait a couple hours for the dye to disperse, then they put you on a table and take the pictures. If there are any abnormalities it will light-up on the scan and then you would usually get other tests like a CAT scan to corollate. But generally bone lesions are metastatic and originate from another source. For example, men with prostate cancer usually are monitored for bone metastesis, because for some reason that is where the prostate cancer likes to travel. Anyway, good luck.

-Derek-

Pipknight · 05-25-2006, 03:18 PM

Thank you for the info. I would like to add that bone cancer can be primary and not a secondary cancer than has metastasized from another location in the body. Also for the women, I have heard that Depo Provera has been rumored to cause a significant loss of bone density. Sine I'm only 30 and I used to be on Depo, I wonder now if it caused me to develop Osteopenia at such a young age. Even so, Osteopenia is not supposed to cause pain, so I'm still wondering what else is going on.