Now I know what “bone pain” feels like. (There’s really only one way to find out, of course).
I woke up from an after-dinner nap about 7:30 this evening with intense pain in my hips, upper legs and across my chest. The pain was pulsing in time with my heart rate and I rated it about a 9 on a scale of 0 to 10. There wasn’t much I could do except let it pass, since every attempt to get up out of my armchair just made it worse.
When it did finally pass after 10 minutes or so, I got up and took half a Lortab (hydrocodone + acetominophen). The pain came back after 30 minutes, so I took the other half of the Lortab and called the cancer clinic — standard instructions in the case of any sudden and severe pain.
The on-call nurse listened to my description of the pain symptoms, and immediately asked if I’d had a Neulasta injection. I’d had one on Thursday of last week, of course. She said that what I was describing was the classic, textbook bone pain side effect of the Neulasta and told me to go ahead and take a Lortab every 4 hours for as long as I was having the pain, to alternate that with 600mg of Ibuprofen between Lortabs, and to take a Claritin once a day.
That gives me three different anti-inflammatory drugs to counteract the bone pain and it seems to be working. Up until about an hour ago, the pain always returned about two minutes after sitting down, starting at about a 3 and getting worse until I stood up again. Now, around 12:30am, I’ve been sitting for 45 minutes and the pain has not returned.
If I’d had any idea of what “bone pain” felt like, I would have known immediately that it was the Neulasta causing it. Now I know, and we’ve hopefully got it under control.
Pain can be scary when you don’t know what’s causing it. Now it’s just another symptom I’ve got to keep under control.
Posted by justt on June 25, 2009 at 12:45 am
While this is far from pleasant, in a weird way I’m glad you’re still just on these meds for pain. A very dear friend has had a combination of RA and diabetic neuropathy for several years, and now apparently she has some kind of spinal arthritis. She is out of pain management options aside from increasing doses of Oxycontin and Fentanyl patches. I agree with your observations on pain, and will keep my fingers crossed that yours will continue to be manageable.
Posted by Mark P. Line on June 26, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Thanks for crossed fingers. The doc says that sometimes the pain recurs after each injection with those patients who get it in the first place, but sometimes it only ever happens after the first injection. We’ll see.